Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Getting Rid of Those Annoying Habits

So now we know why it's so hard to change a habit but we also know we can and after a few weeks it will become easier and eventually become comfortable for us.

So here is how to get this going:

1. Identify your annoying habits - if you want to be really brave - ask the person closest to you but you have to be prepared not to get upset - remember you are asking.

2. Make a list of easiest (newest ones) first. Work on the easiest one first - this will be fairly easy and will give you confidence for the hard ones

3. Begin to work on the most annoying habits one at a time: As you conquer each one check then off your list.

4. Once you have chosen the habits to work on create a plan: Remember a habit is something you do almost unconsciously so you have to become very aware of it and usually began because at some point you just happened to do thing and have just continued to do it over and over again.
  • The plan may be to change the conditions that create the habit. Usually this will involve changing a routine. For example: if you have a habit that is done as soon as you get home from work or a certain time at night then you would change up your routine to help change that habit.
5. Be accountable to someone: If you are really serious about this ask someone to help you monitor your progress and tell you when your are slipping into the habit

6. Measure your progress: Keep track on paper of when you slip and not what the circumstances are. This will help you see if there are any triggers causing you to slip.

7. Move on to the next one: Once you have conquered a habit on the list - continue on to the next one until you have checked each one off your list.

Remember, annoying habit are not essential to you identity and are not impossible to change. They are there for trivial reasons and can be changed.

Next Post: Overly Independent Behavior - our last Love Buster.

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