Habits are actions performed time and again, usually without much cognizance.
Everyone of us has habits, and whether these habits are poor or not, is determined by how negatively or positively they affect us.
A person may form the habit of drinking coffee first thing in the morning. or makes it a point of duty not to be late to appointments or a host of other habits.
So, what about you? Are there nice habits you would like to take up? Perhaps you would like to take daily exercises or relaxation seriously, or to make quality use of your time?
What about those poor habits you would like to eliminate? Are you a cigarette, drug or alcohol addict? Or you’re always late to work and functions? Or any other unappealing habits you might be battling with?
Truthfully, eliminating poor habits can be very challenging. In fact, poor habits can be likened to a warm bath on a chilly day. You wouldn’t want to get out of it easily.
However, the difficulty of eliminating poor habits shouldn’t deter us from taking that bold step. How then can we eliminate poor habits?
Let’s take into account the following elementary processes:
The Determination To Be Better
The first step to eliminate poor habits is the determination to do so against all odds. Believe me, you cannot make any headway if you are still conflicted and cannot take a stand.
Resolve within yourself to eliminate once and for all, those poor habits that hinder your development and progress.
Only when you have made such resolution, can you take the next massive step.
Consider A Pragmatic Approach
In our journey towards eliminating poor habits, we should consider a pragmatic approach to things.
Prudent persons realise that there are limitations to their time and energy. Hence, they do not try to eliminate poor habits all at once. Rather, they take it a step at a time till it’s all done.
Therefore the best pragmatic approach to take is to create a list of poor habits you want to eliminate, and the good ones you would like to take up, in their order of priority.
Then, choose one or two habits from each list and intensely focus on them. For better results, you can try to replace a poor habit with a good one.
For instance, if one of your poor habits is excessive alcohol intake, you can cut down the amount of time you go to bars.
Or if one of your poor habits is idling away your time, you can create a workable timetable to help you manage your time effectively.
The point here is to make it harder to engage in those poor habits, and easier to take up healthy ones.
Practice A Regular Approach
Eliminating poor habits is undoubtedly very exigent. But the ability to regularly fight against them is the key to better life.
Remember that you’ve lived with these poor habits for some time, and as such, it would take some time and regular practice to eliminate.
For instance, if you feel like you’re consuming too much calories and taking up much body fat, you can consider regular exercise.
Furthermore, to keep up with the daily exercise, set reminders and alarms to help you keep track of time.
However, do not beat yourself up if you relapse. Remember that you’re bound to encounter backslides on your journey towards your goal. So it’s okay to fall.
But, it is definitely not okay be discouraged and to not get back up and keep pushing till you achieve your desired result.
For better results, just envisage yourself succeeding on the long run, reverie in the moment a bit and get the full satisfaction of what the feeling is like.
Trust me, it will push you to regularly fight hard to eliminate your poor habits.
Control Your Environment
Environmental control is another elementary process to eliminate your poor habits.
Take charge of your environment, and be ready to change anything or anyone that makes it harder for you to get rid of those poor habits.
Remember that our environment and the people in it, positively or negatively impact on our journey to eliminate poor habits.
For better results, spend time with people who motivate you to be better. Or even someone whom you have the same ambition with. Trust me, it will introduce some fun into the experience and make it easier.
Also, make it harder to engage in poor habits and easier to engage in healthy ones.
For example, if you are addicted to cigarettes or hard drugs, then avoid going to places and spending time with people that tempt you into the act.
If you spend less time with your family because are addicted to your cell phone. Consider hiding your cell phone, or enlist another person to help you with the task.
In that way, when you calculate the time you will spend looking for the phone, you rather spend it with your family.
Finally, eliminating poor habits is demanding, difficult and tiring. So, do not judge yourself if you fail, rather learn to persevere.
Remember that you have the opportunity to try again and again till you succeed, only if you are determined.
It only gets better.
Good luck!
