Hello, valued reader and welcome back to my personal blog. Don’t forget to “Like” and “Share” if you found the info of value!
In my last blog post, we talked about empowering yourself by eliminating negative habits.
Well, today, we’ll focus on replacing those negative habits with positive ones.
Bad habits throw a wrench in your plans and interrupt your life. They also prevent you from accomplishing your goals and in some cases, they may even jeopardize your overall health. Yet, many of us still do them.
If you analyze why the bad habit formed in the first place, you might discover that it was because of stress, or perhaps boredom. Everything from smoking, to procrastinating often stem from anxious, stress-inducing situations. But it doesn’t have to be that way.
Recognizing the causes of your negative habits is crucial in understanding and eliminating them, but you can take things a step further and replace those negative habits with positive ones.
This can work towards filling a void, but more importantly, it reprograms your brain so that rather than focusing on continuing the bad habit, you are replacing it with a new type of benefit.
For example, if you find yourself smoking whenever you get stressed, rather than simply tell yourself “I can’t smoke” (which rarely works), think about other ways you might manage stress. Build that into your anxiety-combat routine and make it become your new “go-to” strategy.
Choosing a substitute for your bad habit is the easiest way to overcome it. To do this however, you need to come up with a plan ahead of time so that you’re ready to change your reaction when you would normally slide into that bad habit.
An example would be those who procrastinate. Perhaps you’ve acknowledged the routine you find yourself slipping into whenever this happens.
You start browsing social media, you check your inbox far too many times, and so on. Instead, whenever you find yourself going down that path, write a simple goal based on the project or task you are trying to avoid. Just one line will do.
This will help you stay away from your usual distractions, and help you re-establish focus. Try it and let me know how it worked for you!
Above all else, keep in mind that your environment will either help or hinder your ability to break a bad habit and replace it with a new, positive one. So, look for ways to change your environment, such as by cutting out as many triggers as possible, so you can finally change the outcome.
Until next time,
Jimmie Wilks, MBA
Retired Air Force Vet & Online Marketer
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