It’s not easy to get rid of bad habits? Because they’re ingrained in our daily lives, and we don’t always know how or where to start? That’s why here’s some powerful advice on how to change your habits and finally live a happier, healthier life.

Becoming aware of bad habits

What are bad habits? We can smoke, snack or play video games, for example, and yet these are not bad habits.

In fact, what makes certain actions bad? The consequences. Consequences for our physical and mental health, consequences for our financial health, consequences for our interpersonal relationships too.

In general, we don’t have much difficulty becoming aware of our bad habits, although sometimes denial is present. However, if you’re reading this article, you’re not really in denial, and that’s a very good thing.

Because realizing that bad habits are ruining our lives and that it’s time to break free is the first step!

Analyze the triggers of bad habits

There are triggers that drive us to develop bad habits. For example, a stressful situation will drive us to smoke or snack. An evening out with friends will drive us to smoke and drink. Or boredom will drive us to snack or play videos.

So, take a moment to ask yourself what particular situations push you to adopt bad habits. It could also be particular moments. For example: smoking a cigarette after every meal. Or eating sweets every day for a snack.

I invite you to do this exercise, because if you better understand what triggers your bad habits, you’ll be able to change them much more easily.

For example, you could decide to replace your after-meal cigarette with an herbal tea, you could decide to eat fruit instead of sweets at snack time, or you could decide to read or do sport instead of playing video games at the end of the day.

Discover the benefits of our bad habits

We don’t often talk about the benefits of our bad habits. Yet they are there, and it’s often they that keep us stuck in our bad habits. Because yes, your bad habits also bring you positive things.

For example: you smoke because it makes you feel part of the group, you play video games because it relaxes you and maybe you eat sweets because it reminds you of something from your childhood or something else.

Find out what’s behind your bad habits. What’s in it for you? Once you’ve found the benefits, you can think about setting up a healthier habit that will bring you the same benefits.

For example: talking about a common interest to the group to feel good, practicing meditation or reading to relax, and cultivating a childhood passion to recapture fond memories instead of eating sweets.

Set yourself a 30-day challenge to get rid of bad habits

So, now we’re going to get to the heart of the matter, the part where we roll up our sleeves (laughs).

To do this, I’ve found that what’s most effective is to set yourself small challenges over a short period of time. I’m talking about a 30-day challenge, but you can very easily set yourself a 7-day challenge. In fact, the advantage of setting yourself a challenge over a short period of time is that you have an end date, which is both comforting and motivating.

Indeed, I’ve noticed that what stops us from changing our bad habits is the feeling that we’ll never do such and such a thing again. In one sense, we like it because it’s ruining our lives, but in another sense, it’s frustrating because part of us likes it.

That’s why, personally, to change my bad habits, I set myself 30-day challenges or smaller ones: 30 days without dessert, 7 days without social networks and, as my challenges progress, my bad habits change.

Because I’ve noticed that a bad habit is something we do too often. And that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t do it anymore, but rather that we should do it less automatically, less “compulsively”.

Because smoking, snacking, playing video games, not doing much sport, going on social networks, it’s not a big deal as long as we do it infrequently and consciously.

In fact, it’s important for me to remember that a happy, healthy life is not a perfect life. What do you think?

Encourage and reward yourself to get rid of bad habits

One of the secrets to getting rid of bad habits is knowing how to encourage and reward yourself. In fact, we’re far too hard on ourselves and criticize ourselves at the slightest mistake or deviation. But you can see that this doesn’t work, so why not decide to encourage yourself to change?

Because encouraging and rewarding yourself is a really effective method. It motivates us and greatly improves our self-confidence. And it’s when we’re motivated and self-confident that we feel able to rise to challenges.

So, in concrete terms, every evening, look back on your day and congratulate yourself on 3 things. And reward yourself regularly. Every weekend, for example.

Have fun and be creative to get rid of bad habits

Nothing happens perfectly in life, so nothing’s going to happen perfectly in your plan to free yourself from bad habits. And, instead of getting frustrated, you can choose to have fun and be creative.

Find creative solutions to the problems you face. And stop being so serious about your efforts. Instead, have fun changing your bad habits.

Because the more rigid you are, the more likely you are to give up. Instead, be flexible in your efforts and take things one step at a time.

Be persistent

Finally, getting rid of bad habits doesn’t happen in a day. Some people say it takes 21 days. Personally, those 21 days put more pressure on me than anything else. I think you have a whole lifetime to get rid of bad habits, one by one.

So, sometimes there’s an urgency, because the consequences are really too negative, but in those moments, we know very well what we have to do. So trust yourself! Go forward step by step, but go forward every day.

In fact, I’ve noticed that talk about bad habits is often guilt-inducing. But guilt is not a good ally. That’s why I prefer softer, happier talk. So trust yourself and stop putting so much pressure on yourself. Do what you have to do to be happier. And never stop!

Find out more:

I invite you to read these 2 complementary articles:

Discover How to reach your goals: My 5 powerful tools
Discover Wanting to change your life: 5 tips for successfully changing your life

I recommend this inspiring book:

Tiny Habits: The Small Changes That Change Everything by BJ Fogg

This book was written by the Stanford professor who ran the Human Performance Lab at Stanford. It shows you how practicing daily habits, starting with small habits and building on them, then using habit stacking and habit cues for other habits, can make a huge difference in your life. This is the case in mine.
It introduces the concept of small changes to create big habits, emphasizing simplicity and consistency as key factors in breaking and forming habits.
I highly recommend it.

Thank you very much for reading this article.

If you liked it, let me know in the comments.

Take care of yourself