Changing Habits – How to Break Bad Habits
It can take 3-4 weeks to form a new habit. When you think about it, that’s not a long time, and yet so often, we get stuck doing the same bad habits over and over.
Breaking your bad habits and forming healthy ones isn’t that difficult if you commit to changing your lifestyle. All you have to do is shift your focus from believing that change will be difficult to believing it will be easy. When you believe something is easy, you don’t struggle against it. Your thoughts and emotions are in alignment with your goals, so you are happy to take the appropriate action.
When you believe something to be difficult, just the opposite happens. Your mind comes up with all sorts of excuses to sabotage your efforts. If you’ve ever tried to lose weight or quit smoking, you know how easy it is to come up with all sorts of reasons why you should order a pizza instead of cooking a healthy meal or how you need just one more cigarette to stop your nicotine craving or cope with stress.
Your experiences will align with your beliefs.
Break Bad Habits
How do you usually go about trying to change your behavior? Perhaps one morning you wake up and decide that today is the day you will start losing weight. No more junk food for you, even when things get difficult. Whenever you want to reach for that cookie or bag of chips, you will find something else to focus on. Sure, it may be tough at first, but you’ll try.
Now, how long do you think you will last with this mindset?
Chances are, not too long. You can see you’ve already decided that losing weight will be difficult and have negative thought patterns in place. Words like “when things get difficult” or “it may be tough at first” or “you’ll try” show that you are already setting your self up just in case you fail. You really aren’t 100% committed.
Losing weight doesn’t have to be difficult – but if you convince yourself that it will be a challenge, and that you will have to forego the foods you love for a few months, you will find your thought patterns are stronger than your desire to change.
Change Your Thought Patterns
That doesn’t mean you can’t change, though. For instance, last year I lost 25lbs in 3 months following Tim Ferriss’ Slow Carb Diet. I decided I needed to change and that I had to take action towards achieving that goal.
First, I had to change my way of thinking about losing weight. I was unhappy with the way I looked and felt unattractive. I was at the heaviest I had ever been and horrified I had let myself get so heavy. So I decided I had to change – it was no longer an option.
Next, I started researching various diet and fitness plans. I happened to stumble upon that low carb diet and was surprised at how simple it was. You eat a certain way for 6 days and then can eat whatever you want on the 7th. Suddenly, losing weight was no longer difficult – it was pretty easy, actually.
Finally, I started looking for motivation. During those few months of weight loss, I actively searched the Internet for motivational and inspirational quotes and stories that resonated with me. I needed to hear others achieving success or struggling with what I was currently struggling with. I re-read the comments on Tim’s blog over and over (there are 2600 comments as I write this now) and kept up with other people’s progress.
Because I was able to change my thinking about weight loss, I quickly lost the 25 lbs I wanted to and have kept it off for over a year. I feel so much lighter and far happier. I also weigh myself regularly and watch my weight so that it doesn’t blossom out of proportion again. I have an upper weight limit that if I hit, I put myself back on the diet until I lose those few extra pounds – and I consider this a non-negotiable.
Whatever your goals, you can achieve them by changing your thought patterns. Be patient and stick with it. Yes, it will probably take some time to see results, but you will eventually see them.
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