Why can't you change your bad habits?

Translator: Want to go back to the south of the small one

Source: Change Yourself (No.: Wechanger)

Over the years, I have been like a fool, trying to get rid of bad habits.

Several times I've been claiming to start exercising or dieting with an ineffable passion. About seven or eight times, I threw all the cigarettes out to give up smoking. I try to get up early, read more, write every day, break out of debt, watch TV less, but not as successful.

The feeling of not sticking to the end is too bad, so I am often disappointed in myself. It was not until the end of 2005 that I succeeded in getting rid of my bad habits that I was not self-disciplined enough before, but that the beginning was wrong.

I have many misunderstandings in getting rid of bad habits. I found that once these errors were corrected, they would soon be able to persist longer. If you are also struggling with bad habits, you can see what mistakes I have made before, and I hope you will not repeat my mistakes.

1. Do not change the environment.

When we get rid of bad habits, we often hope for willpower, but the reality is not very good. The more you should do is to change the environment around you. Take some action to make the environment more conducive to good habits, such as putting running shoes on the bed, sleeping in a sports suit, or making healthy food readily available, and documenting some of the small ways in which you can use your spare time to save money. You can also set some obstacles to your bad habits, such as cleaning up all the junk food at home, ask a friend to supervise, if you do not exercise or eat junk food will have serious punishment, or put the TV set up, the router unplugged to others for a few hours. Take some time to think about how to change the environment to develop good habits, if not, you do not enough, you can continue to work hard in this area.

2. Want to stay in the comfort zone all the time.

Changing habits is inherently uncomfortable, and most people want to do the same thing all the time and don't want to get out of the comfort zone. That's why most people don't want to exercise because they hate discomfort. If you let go of yourself and accept discomfort, at least once, you're not giving up so soon. Don't you like running? Then come at 1.1, and think that as long as you overcome a little discomfort, you will know that it is not difficult, and defeating it means having a strong backup force to break the habit.

3. Do not start with small things.

Most people are positive and optimistic, and want a big change in a sudden. Why do we start with the small things, the reasons are countless, we will pick a few of the most important. If you start from the small things, the discomfort caused by the change will not be too serious, you can overcome the inertia and begin to act. You don't have to run out of enthusiasm or willpower all at once. If you start with small things, you cannot refuse or fail. For example, meditate for 2 minutes, walk to the outdoor trot for a while, eat a vegetable every day, smoke 1 times less every day.

4. Have unrealistic illusions about good habits.

Usually we start to change because we think in our minds how good life will be when we get into the habit, like we'll be healthy, slim, sexy, and our life will be organized, simple and beautiful, and we'll be happy. Unfortunately, the reality is not as beautiful as we thought, and then we are disappointed and frustrated. What you have to do is to realize that these fantasies or visions are untrue, don't cling to it, and remain curious: what happens when you change? What is the feeling of discomfort? How do you enjoy the joy of every step of the process and not just the goal?

5. The heat of mind begins hastily.

I can't remember how many times I had the idea of quitting smoking and throwing cigarettes into the trash. Later I found that this kind of brain fever was totally not good, because I was too easy to make a decision to change. This promise is easy and easy to procrastinate, as you promise to take the trash out of the house. As you can imagine, the rubbish doesn't stink and I can still keep it in the house. So I learned to be smart and set the date for the change to be in the future, at least for a period of time, say, two weeks from now. The day I started quitting smoking was on November 8, 2005, when I marked this important day on my calendar and wrote a plan that assumed that I was under stress or when someone around me was smoking, and signed a commitment letter. Changing bad habits into something important is not so easy for me to give up.

6. Not liable.

You don't have to take responsibility for this. One of the best ways to change your surroundings is to take responsibility. Challenge yourself and tell the people around you what to do if they fail. I once told a friend that if I didn't stick to it, he'd throw a pie in my face. You can also add a group, clock out every day, we supervise each other. Even if other methods fail, the promise will keep you going.

To avoid these errors is not difficult, the probability of success will become larger. This is how I have changed my life, and I hope to help you.

I seldom recommend books, but if you want to read this book, I would suggest that you look at my friend Tynan's new book, "Habit-making super-human", which is one of the most useful books I have ever read about habits.

Why can't you change your bad habits?