An Easy Way Of Breaking Bad Habits(Proven)
“Change might not be fast and it isn’t always easy. But with time and effort, almost any habit can be reshaped.” -Charles Duhigg,
the steps that I will discuss here will help breaking your bad habits within a few days
But, before we jump in, The explanation is broken down into 4 steps
- What is A habit
- How Habits are Formed
- Why it is so difficult to break bad habits
- The ultimate way of eliminating bad habits
In simple words, to overcome your bad habits all you need to do is to change your routine or commonly know as a trigger for those particular habits. A habit can’t be fully eliminated, hence you have to replace them with other habits which are productive. With extensive research and reading, I have found the formula for building a great habit that can change your life.
Habit definition ? How Habit Loop is formed?
Habit in simple word is a phenomenon or a process which is a combination of triggers satisfied by an end result called the “Reward”.In other words, habit is an automated process your brain follows buy the frequent practice of the habit loop as explained below
Habit is formed consisting of 3 main behavioural patterns also known as the Habit loop.
The Habit Loop is a neurological loop that governs any habit. The habit loop consists of three elements: a cue, a routine, and a reward. Understanding these elements can help us understand in breaking bad habits or form better ones.
How Habits are Formed?
These following are also known as the three parts of the habit loop
1. The Cue/Craving- it is simply a process or a trigger, which tells your brain to go into automatic mode and choose a habit.
2.The Routine- It is the physical, emotional, and mental response from your side.
3. The reward- The prize you get from completing a habit loop tells your brain the loop is worth saving for the future.
Why it is so difficult breaking bad habits?
For, example
1. Loneliness hit you you felt boring ( the cue)
2. The laptop is right in front of you, you decided to jump onto Netflix ( the routine)
3. You watched an episode and felt satisfied, the brain craves for more ( the reward)
Our brain is stupid, it searches for small gaps and quick satisfaction, which we, in fact, give it, which is harmful in the long run. The feedback/rewarding loop that your brain crates in its system makes it think that it is worth trying again.Easy work right? , No challenges. The same feedback loop is generated when someone watches porn.
So, what is The solution to overcome Bad habits ?
here is a chart that I prepared, after learning how habits work from different sources.
When the cue arrives, suppose you don’t want to spend another hour watching Netflix, but still, you are curious about the next episode, then do one thing. Put your laptop in the bag, so that you can’t see The laptop. ( note: here the laptop is triggering your habit loop )Make the craving unattractive, by thinking what will happen if you watch another episode, probably time will be wasted. Make the reward unsatisfying by Speaking out the consequences loud and clear so that you can hear it.
by doing this you did a simple technique of
Why is it important to have productive environment?
As a human being, your most important and powerful ability is Vision. Research shows that the human body has about 11 million sensory receptors. Approximately 10 million of those are dedicated to sight.
Some experts also say that half of the brain’s resources are used in vision.
Therefore,
without any surprise, Visual cue/craving is the prime promoter of a habit loop and because of this, a small change in what you see can lead to a big shift in what you do.
Therefore, just imagine how vital it is to work in an environment that is filled with productivity cues and eliminate unproductive ones.
As, James clear once said — People often choose products not because of what they are, but because where they are.
read his book atomic habits from amazon if you want to know more.
The identity based technique of stopping a bad habit
Your habits, in fact, is shaped by your identity and environment. The number one reason why it so hard to break bad habits and installing the good one is that — You never tried to set a vision of who you want to become in the coming years.
In another word, when there is no proper plan and path of your identity you become lost in the habit loop.
Most people, do the opposite, they try to change the outcome instead of their identity and get trapped in the turmoil. But following the identity as a base for your habit-building as identity based habits
- Outcomes- The first layer is to change your outcomes, this layer is associated with changing the outcome of your life which in fact starts with a goal like writing a book, buying that house, having that car, or starting that business.
- Changing the process- Now it is the time to change your habits system which involves a series of implementation of the new routines like choosing a time to write, earning a particular level of income, etc.
- Identity — The deepest and the most important layer is strengthening identity, this layer is concerned with changing your belief system to be the persons you want to be. Most of the beliefs, biases, and assumptions you hold are related to this level. in other words, identity is what you believe in.
When you want to change your habits the sources that structures your mental patterns for the construction of those habit cycles are quite aligned to what you believe in and want to see. The direction of change is what you need.
But, the problem is
Many people start the process of changing their habits by focusing on “What they want to achieve”, instead of focusing on “Who they wish to become”.
In other words, it creates outcome-based habits
1 represents Outcome
2 represents process
3 represents Identity
But, those of you who really want to change the way of life by avoiding all the constraints that are pulling them off for a healthy lifestyle, then you should follow the opposite of outcome-based habits, which is the Identity-based habits
1 represents Outcome
2 represents process
3 represents Identity
identity-based habits simply mean to focus n the person you want to become, rather than focusing on the results, it applies the theory of enjoying the process of becoming that person.
Why Identity based habits are so helpful?
just imagine this, here is a name of 3 most influential person in the history of the world
- Albert Einstein
- Nikola Tesla
- Mark twain
Just choose any one of the above, and imagine him as your idol, once you have done that, now print out a big picture of your idol and paste it on your bedroom.
Now, every morning when you will wake up you will get a glance at it.
so, this is the starting point of identity-based habits.
Step1 — is to choose your idol or vision
Step 2 — Is to get them close to you through visual pictures or affirmations
Step 3 — Go in the direction of becoming your future self, by daily small and incremental habits.
Step 4 — Change your vocal outcome, speak out loud to yourself, and discuss your future ideas and thoughts all alone.
glancing daily at you future self reshapes your mind into thinking that again and again, eventually, you become massively focused and determined because of in human being Visual triggers are the most powerful triggers.
Now, that you have seen your idol on the wall, you just can’t spend one more hour cuddling with Netflix and stuff.
these habits are a surefire way to find out the main essence of the ideas on “Why you are living”
For any person out there, the only thing that completely breaks a bad habit is his ideas to look and dive deeper into the future self and talk.
Was that helpful?
How do you feel about the last technique, please let us know in the comment. Check us more content, I hope it inspires you.
