4 Ways to Break Your Bad Habits & Replace Them with Better Ones

Everyone has at least one bad habit that they wish they could overcome. Maybe you always run a few minutes late for every appointment, you can’t seem to shake your nail biting habit, or you’re a chronic procrastinator. Regardless of the bad habit you want to overcome, the steps to breaking it are the same.

Habits, good or bad, develop over time. Some bad habits become reinforced by rewards, whether you’re conscious of them or not. If you have a sweet tooth, that cookie or dish of ice cream falls in this category. Chances are you engage in these bad habits because they make you feel better temporarily. 

With these habits, the brain issues you a shot of dopamine which cements that good feeling. With every hit of dopamine your body receives, it is more and more likely to repeat that bad habit so you can continue to experience the good feeling. 

So, how can you overcome your bad habits and replace them with better ones? 

Identify Your Why

If bad habits make you feel good, you might have a hard time identifying exactly why you really want to change. You need a compelling reason to counteract those dopamine hits. People who lack the motivation to want to change often find themselves stuck in the cycle of bad behavior longer than they would like. 

Clarify your reason you want to change, and post it somewhere visible so that you can refer back to it when you are tempted to engage in a bad habit. Pin it to your computer at work, stick it to your bathroom mirror, or set an alert on your phone. Get creative, but make sure your reason is staring you in the face time and again. 

Create a Substitute

One of the top reasons that people fail at combating bad habits is that they don’t replace them with something better. Let’s consider the habit cycle of smoking: You start to feel stressed out at work, so you would usually go outside for a five-minute smoke break. The trigger is the stress you feel from working nonstop on your presentation for the past two hours. The bad habit is lighting up that cigarette. 

Rather than smoking, what else can you do when you feel stressed and tempted to take a smoke break? Learn some yoga poses that get you out of the chair. If you prefer to go out, take a five-minute walk around the block instead of a five-minute smoke break. Find something enjoyable, but healthier, to replace your bad habit. 

Pinpoint Triggers

You can easily start to modify your bad habits when you become aware of the triggers for them. There is usually a preceding feeling or action that triggers you to engage in a bad habit. Think about the times when you are most likely to indulge in that habit. Does it happen after you start to scroll through social media? Maybe it comes after your morning meeting with your boss. If you can identify when you are most likely to engage with your bad habit, you increase the likelihood of eliminating the triggers.

For example, maybe you find yourself staying up too late, and then not getting enough sleep. If you’re bing-watching a Netflix series, then watching television is the trigger. Instead of plowing through three episodes a night, set an alarm on your phone, and stop at a certain time. Or, stop watching television at night, and replace it with another activity – one that will support your getting to bed at a reasonable hour.

By eliminating the primary trigger, you can start to develop new (and better) habits. Ideally, you will begin to focus on new, constructive triggers that help you engage in the new habit you want to adopt. 

Create Community

Creating change can feel monumental, especially if you think you are doing it alone. Instead of trying to tough it out, consider enlisting the help of a spouse, family member, or friend. Let them know you are trying to change a bad habit, and explain the plan you have to replace that habit with something more desirable. 

If you encounter someone who is unsupportive of your habit change, surround yourself with new and more supportive peers. Finding your cheerleaders allows you to get the support you need, and your friends can remind you of your reason for wanting to change. 

Bad habits can be problematic for just about everyone, but they don’t have to rule your life. Begin today to replace your bad habits with better habits. These four steps will make it easier than you thought possible to kick bad habits to the curb once and for all.