5 ways to break free from bad habits

What is it about life that attracts us toward bad habits and makes good habits such a struggle to start and maintain?

Conceptually, we KNOW that bad habits are bad. Conceptually, we KNOW that good habits are good. And yet, most of us are magnetized toward the bad habits. And once they become part of our lives, they become so difficult to break free.

Here are 5 ways to break free of bad habits for good.

1. Keep the big picture in mind

At the risk of over-simplifying, I think a lot of bad habits usually feel good right now but have generally negative consequences in the future while good habits feel difficult right now but have generally positive consequences in the future. By keeping the big picture in mind, we can remember that our choices today will influence our future.

List your dreams and goals for the future and figure out how your bad habits are “costing you” in achieving those dreams. In my experience, bad habits often come at a price of time, money, and health (but there are other factors, too).

2. Replace bad habits with good habits

I used to drink TONS of coffee every day. The habit was hard to break not because of a caffeine addiction but because of boredom — I liked the ritual of working with a steaming cup of coffee in my hand. I’ve heard the same of people who smoke: They need something to do with their hands.

Rather than trying to break a bad habit and just stop altogether, try replacing the bad habit with a different (positive) habit. Instead of going outside for a smoke, take a walk. If you go for a walk every time you want to go for a smoke, you replace your bad smoking habit with your good exercise habit.

3. Forget stopping altogether

The idea of stopping a habit completely is not appealing. And it seems impossible. Instead, draw inspiration from one of the most powerful habit-breaking systems we have: People in Alcoholics Anonymous never say they’ve stopped drinking altogether, they only decide not to drink today. (And then tomorrow, they decide not to drink that day too). “Forever” is too hard of a timeline.

One great way to stop a bad habit is to pick a timeframe and adopt that timeframe only as a challenge to go without doing the habit. For example: “I won’t eat junk food for a month” or “I won’t I won’t watch TV for 3 weeks.

A month is a good timeframe. (Similarly, I use a six week challenge for my exercise habit. Instead of deciding to workout for the rest of my life, which sounds nearly impossible, I just challenge myself to six weeks at a time. And when the six weeks is up, I do another six weeks. That has worked for me for years.)

Depending on the hold that the habit has on your life, you might need to choose an even shorter timeframe, like a week or even a day: “I won’t smoke for 24 hours”, for example. Or, “I won’t say negative things about myself for 1 week”.

4. Don’t try to do too much at once.

It would be great if we could just hit the reset button in our lives and suddenly fix all the stuff we wanted to change all at once. But it doesn’t work that way. So don’t bother trying to change too many habits at once. Pick one habit and attack it. Put your full focus into breaking free from it.

Once you completely overcome it (which might be a few days or even a few months down the road), move on to the next habit.

5. Find something that inspires you and make it your mantra

When the going gets tough, we can snap back into old habits really easily. For example, when I’m trying to break a bad habit, I usually find the first couple days are no problem. The real problem is day 3, 4, 5, and so on… THAT’S when the difficulty sets in. So each time you try to correct a bad habit, you will encounter a difficult point. Surpassing that point is the hardest part and it’s the time when most habit-breaking attempts fail.

Figure out something that inspires you — it could be a picture of your loved ones or it could be a motivational saying. When I was trying to break a procrastination habit, I kept reminding myself “Everything I want is on the other side of hard work”… and it was inspiring enough for me to push through.

There are many other ways to break free from bad habits. I’ll blog more about it in the future but I’d love to hear from you! What are some of your best habit-busting tips?

5 ways to get “re-motivated”

I struggled with a lack of motivation last week. I think it struck around Tuesday and lingered until Thursday afternoon or so.

I’m not exactly sure why (although I’m of the opinion that a combination of diet, exercise, stress, sleep, and a bunch of other factors will all play a part in how you feel). So there I was on Thursday afternoon looking at a big pile of work and wondering how I would possibly get it all done by the weekend (and regretting that I hadn’t been motivated earlier to do it).

Sometimes that happens to all of us. We just get into a sort of mental funk that keeps us from moving forward and taking action on the stuff that is important in life.

So when that happens, here are 5 ways that I get re-motivated:

Exercise or go for a brisk walk

Be careful not to use this as a procrastinating or delaying tactic. However, you can instead use it as a way to get the blood pumping. And in my case, I can sit in front of my computer and be unmotivated but as soon as I get some new scenery, I feel a lot better and can’t wait to get back to my desk.

Revisit your purpose, vision, goals

We all exist for a reason and we all have dreams that excite us. And there’s a very good chance that you are working to fulfill those dreams. So sometimes what you need to do is take a step back from the mundane “grind” of the workload and remember why you’re doing it in the first place.

Drink a bunch of water

I keep a 1 liter (or 1 quart for my American friends) water bottle in the fridge and when I get unmotivated, I try to drink it all at once. Okay, I realize that probably sounds crazy but there’s a point at about 3/4 of the way through the bottle when I start to feel so much better.

Set a timer for 10 minutes and do something

After being unmotivated for a while, it’s hard to pop the cork and get to work. A lack of motivation tends to lead to procrastination and fear of starting something. So I set a timer and do SOMETHING for 10 minutes. Often, it’s enough to just get things moving again.

Announce your goal

One of the best motivators is the threat of public shame. So when I really want to get something done (ESPECIALLY if I’m reluctant to do it or I’ve been unmotivated for a while), is to announce that you’re about to do it. Find a network in which you’re really connected (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, your blog, or a forum that you’re an active participant in) and announce your plan. You don’t have to admit that you’ve been unmotivated, just write something like: “I’m about to start on a report for my client”. Then look forward to finishing it and posting your successful completion.

Not feeling well? Here’s the reason…

A few weeks ago, I was sick — throwing-up sick. Fortunately, it didn’t last long. But what really bugged me (after I got better and returned to my normal life) was that everyone wanted to diagnose the problem.

“There’s a flu going around” some said.

“Maybe it’s something you ate” someone else said.

You’ve probably heard these diagnoses from well-meaning (and non-medically trained!) friends and family. I don’t think they’re trying to cure you, I think they just want to share their thoughts about why it happened.

But I know why I was sick. I know why I get sick EVERY TIME I get sick (which isn’t that often). Guess what, I know why you get sick, too.

The reason is: There isn’t usually ONE reason we get sick. It’s usually a combination of factors.

• Maybe we caught a “bug” or ate something bad
• Maybe we’ve been cutting into our 7-hours-of-minimum-sleep or maybe we’ve been oversleeping
• Maybe we haven’t been eating balanced meals
• Maybe we haven’t had enough exercise
• Maybe we haven’t had enough water
• Maybe our stress level is high right now

I think that we can’t just blame our sickness all on one thing and exclude the possibility that there were contributing factors. If our stress level is up and we haven’t been eating or sleeping properly, our natural defenses are down and our immune system isn’t what it should be… and when we do come into contact with something or we eat something that isn’t quite right, we will get sick.

(Note: I don’t want to get all weird and mystical about the causes of sicknesses and I’m not suggesting that if you eat right and drink 8 glasses of water a day, you’ll avoid cancer. You realize what I’m saying, right? I’m saying that our bodies are a variety of systems that all exist in balance with each other and when we keep those things in balance, we’ll live healthier lives and avoid a lot of the really common colds and flus that can get us down.)

So the next time you find yourself feeling under the weather, take a look at your life: It’s possible (and entirely likely) that there’s a primary trigger, like maybe you ate some bad sushi at your cousin’s wedding yesterday. But it’s also likely that there are several underlying reasons as well — perhaps you’ve been slacking in the exercise department and indulging a little too much in treats from the candy cupboard.

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