3 Hacks To Help You Break Habits

You are probably thinking this time of year, what will be my NEW YEAR RESOLUTION ? Have you thought about it yet?

Now nearly everyone has a habit that they would like to kick. Whether it’s drinking less caffeine, to stop biting fingernails, stop overeating, or to exercise more, the list goes on and on. Bad habits feel so good and are hard to break. We have to retrain our minds. So, the goal of breaking a bad habit is to retrain the brain into not using the behavior as a reward or just a feel-good moment.

For me this year I broke it down to every month I pick something I want to stop or change. Now nothing major, but this month has been the hardest...stop drinking Pepsi. I've been drinking this soda for years ( I am 52), and yes, I know it's not good for me. I have stopped drinking it before, one time over a year. WE all have our vices.

Think about what bad habit you want to break- write it down if you have to, and you don't have to wait for January 1st to start. You can start anytime you want! Here are a few simple hacks that you can use to help you along the way.

REMINDERS

Reminders can be used in several ways- write yourself a note and put it on the fridge, or set the alarm might even help! I use an APP on my phone- Habit Tracker. I'm in love with this app! I can pick a new habit or even create a NO PEPSI Today and say yes, I didn't drink one. You can also create new patterns, I created a DRINK YOUR WATER habit, and I'm doing okay- I need to do better but seeing the progress on the app makes me want to continue!

Getting back to reminders...you can set the alarm on your phone that rings once or several times a day to help you keep focus. You can enlist the support of a friend or family member to help remind you of your goal. Having to report to someone else does wonders; my daughter is my support system. When I want a Pepsi, she tells me to drink tea.

TAPPING

If you need something physical, then try TAPPING. Tapping is the practice of tapping your fingertips on specific meridian points on your body. It’s generally used as a therapy technique to help with anxiety, fear, and achieving one’s goals. You can use tapping to help you break a bad habit.

One way to do so is, when you feel the urge or the trigger to perform the unwanted behavior, you score your urge on a scale from 1-10. Then, you start tapping. After you tap for 30 seconds, you score your urge again. In many cases, the urge score has decreased significantly. You can repeat this process until your urge has reduced enough that you can move on at that moment without performing the undesired behavior. It does help!

RUBBER BAND METHOD

Another physical hack used to catch yourself in a bad habit and curb it is the rubber band method. You can put a semi-loose rubber band around your wrist. When you get the urge to act on a bad habit, you pull the rubber band slightly and let it snap back on your wrist. This technique is not designed to hurt. Its purpose is to remind and distract away from the unwanted behavior.

When I was younger, I used this to stop biting my nails, and YES, it worked! Every time I bit or wanted to bite a nail, I pulled that rubber band. It won't hurt unless you snap it hard- no need to do all that, though.

Breaking habits is not easy or something we like to do, but it is necessary sometimes. But, these hacks will help you stay on course along the way once you decide on your goal of breaking a specific bad habit. Let me know (in the comments) what you use to break a habit- the more ways we can share will give people more ways to help them break the habit!

Thank you for reading!!