Outsmarting your habit

You already know, the majority of things that you do daily consist of habits. From the side of the bed you sleep on, to the time you wake up, or what you do from the time you wake up, the food you eat, the route to work, your routine at work and dozens of other tasks you complete – are all habitual.

Habit is something we do without much thinking. The activity is already embedded in our memory and triggered by some kind of deficit faced in a situation or activity. The bad taste in your mouth in the morning triggers the habit of brushing your teeth. The smell and taste of the rice on your plate triggers the habit of adding beans as well. The annoyance your husband causes you triggers the habit of brushing him off and diving into Facebook for the next two hours. (You can’t imagine the power of habit.)

That’s where the problem lies. Bad habits create bad results. We know this, but we’re still not able to break them. Why? Because we’re not outsmarting them.

It’s possible for you to break a habit, if you only take your brain off auto-pilot and use it.

Want to break a bad habit? Are you up for an experiment?

Okay, here goes. The first step is to identify the bad habit that you want to break.

Write it down on paper. But before you do pay attention. It has to be something:

1. that really bothers you
2. that you’re sick of falling for, and
3. that will bring you positive results, a good reward, when broken and substituted with something better

These three points are very important. The habit that you want to break has to be included in one of the three. So now, take a couple of minutes and write what it is.