Mastering Good Habits and Bad Habits: 4 Cool Tactics As I 've mentioned before, self-improvement really comes down to daily habits and the compounding effects of them. But how do we make sure we do our good habits and avoid the bad ones? I 'm sure you 've heard this a million times before, but according to the book, The Power of Habit, habits follow the same pattern: Trigger Action Reward While this isn 't new news, here are some great tactics that plan around this that can really help you out! Good Habits It 's a lot easier to create good habits than to get rid of the bad habits, so let 's start with that. Tactic #1: The Best Trigger The best triggers are the ones that hunt you down no matter what. While your friend might forget to call you or …show more content…
It sounds odd but it works. I promise! Each time you do a good habit, reward yourself with an amount you feel that is right. Habits - Reward yourself with fake money And at the end of the day you get to see how much "money" you made! But, here is one thing to keep in mind with this strategy: the trigger is somewhat lacking. So I would suggest you have your list be something physical you keep around to remind you (a notebook, sticky notes, etc.), instead of keeping it on a computer. Bad Habits Bad habits are hard. The elephant in the brain takes over and the rider seems pretty much powerless. You become the cookie monster. We 've all been there. Tactic #3: Action Swap You probably know about this one. You have your trigger, but you do a different action/reward. You go for a walk and get hot cocoa water, instead of the caffeine, sugar bomb you get at Starbucks. It does work, so do use it, but I never really liked this tactic. First, it can take you a while to find the substitute your brain will accept. Despite being a vegan, I 'm very addicted to nachos (cheese is very bad for you). The only food that can curb the craving, which took me forever to figure out, is a big thing of mashed
feeling of accomplishment. I will explain a couple of the habits which I found to be the most
Miller, Angela. Rewiring Your Self to Break Addictions and Habits Overcoming Problem Patterns. Santa Barbara, CA: Praeger, 2010. Print.
By improving these habits and changing lifestyle we can slow the aging process upto some extent.
Charles Duhigg’s The Power of Habit, acknowledges how habits control our daily lives in every decision we make. For Instance, an ambitious woman named Lisa Allen, has not always had a fruitful life. Previously, she had abused her body with harmful toxins such as tobacco and alcohol since the beginning of her teenage years. Carrying out these habits everyday resulted her into being unmotivated and unconfident. In fact, she never kept a job longer than a year and began to fall into major debt. “She needed a goal in her life, she thought. Something to work toward” (xii-xiv). It begins with the “three-step loop” a cue that triggers our brain to do the habit. Next a routine, a set of actions that are either physical or mental. Finally a reward of satisfaction that determines whether or not this habit will be continuous (19). Not all habits can be good, but this is where the golden rule applies. Duhigg explains that in order for you to change your habit “ you must keep the old cue, and deliver the old reward, but insert a new routine”(62). “However, simply understanding how habits work- learning the structure of the habit loop makes them easier to control”( 20). Reading The Power of Habit, helped me understand the process by which I made a positive change to fight procrastination.
The first thing we will look at is what drug abuse is. Drug abuse is a condition that results when a person ingests a substance, such as cocaine, or heroin, that can cause pleasure, but the continued use of which becomes compulsive and will start interfering with everyday life, such as school, work, parenting responsibilities, or relationships. Addicts are not generally aware that their own behavior is out of control and are usually oblivious to the problems that they are causing to themselves and to others.(“What is Addiction?” 2014) The longer the addiction and addictive behaviors persist, the worse the person will become, and the more dependent they will become on the drug. The reason it is so hard for an addict to change their ways is because the brain’s chemistry is altered from addiction.
The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People is written in a way that, if it is acted out in everyday life, will improve not only the original reader, but everyone who is to come in contact with that individual. The seven habits are little things to be incorporated into everyday life, and easily can be with a little practice. The first habit is be proactive; simply
When picking a health habit that I would like to challenge myself, there were many that I want to choose but I want to choose something that I know that I can fully commit to it and know that I can do it. I want to start something small and then in the future if I want to challenge myself then I will gradually go for a health habit that is more challenging. The health habit that I decide to go with was eliminating my intake on soft drinks or drinks that have high sugar including drinks that contain high-fructose corn syrup. In addition, I want to drink more water because I notice that I do not drink enough water, therefore, I want to incorporate that into my life. I chose this health habit because I notice that my intake of sugar is high and I want to stop myself from doing it but I cannot be commit to it.
There could be more different ways to prolong our lifespan but according to me, these are the important aspects which are needed to be done first. It is actually really hard to start a good habit especially if we have stick to our bad ones for years. A motivation from someone you care is the most helpful need that could make you think before taking a risky choice. It could be a family member, a boyfriend/girlfriend, friends and even God. Eventually in the end, the choices you make is in your hand and be sure to think for a thousand times literally before making a step since a wrong step could be very fatal for your future later on.
In order to develop a fixed negative reinforcement schedule, I divided my cigarettes into groups allowing myself only three cigarettes a day. I placed my daily ration of cigarettes into envelopes and labeled them for each day of the week. I smoked one cigarette after lunch, one after dinner, and one later at night. I would reward myself with a cigarette after attending classes and eating lunch. I would then reward myself with another cigarette after homework and dinner. Through the course of my week, I violated my regimen only twice. On Wednesday and Friday, I “bummed’ a cigarette from one of my friends. After feeling guilty about violating my regimen, I repented for hours, and swore to myself that I was going to beat my addiction. Primary negative reinforcers also helped me stick with the plan such as improved stamina during physical exercise and more money in my pocket.
When it comes to the topic of addiction, most of us will readily agree that it is a miserable trait to possess. An addiction is a physical and psychological state of being that if not treated correctly could result into harmful wrongdoing. In The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg, he recounts a story in which a fatigued housewife named Angie Bachmann lost all of her family’s assets, amounting to a million dollars due to a gambling addiction. Every habit has three components: a cue or a trigger of an automatic behavior to start, a routine the behavior itself, and a reward which is how our brain learns to remember this pattern for the future. According to Duhigg, “you cannot extinguish a bad habit, you can only change it” (63). Duhigg suggests that in order to change ones bad habit the “Golden Rule” must be implied. The Golden Rule is a theory of shifting a habit by retaining the old cue and reward, and tries to change only the routine. Duhigg’s answer to the question in the chapter title, “Are we responsible for our habits?” is simply “Yes.” If we have an awareness of our habits, then we are responsible for their consequences. In the case of Angie Bachmann, she should be held accountable for her gambling debts because she was well aware of her own bad habit and did not try to seek for help.
Habits could lead our lives in two directions, A path that leads to success and well-being, or a path that leads to nowhere and laziness. Currently, I am on the path the leads to nowhere and laziness. However, modifying or eliminating a bad habit is not an easy task to accomplish. In the book The Power Of Habit by Charles Duhigg, explains with willpower and determination you can change a certain habit and achieve any long goal you wanted to achieve. A change in bad habits leads to a change in life"(Jenny Craig). Personally, my bad habit is coming home from college, proceed to laying down on my bed and go on my phone, which leads to losing precious time for completing my homework. I created an experiment where I tried to adjust my habit
It is important to develop a sense of what is most important to your one true self and to others around you as well. These seven habits are very important to use in our everyday lives and with practice and dedication involved, you will succeed in obtaining a more effective life. You just have to commit to make progress and improve. Even though this may be a constant battle, you have to remind yourself that these habits and practices is what will make you a more successful and valuable individual and that is what is important.
But how do we make sure we do our good habits and avoid the bad?
Once you’ve discovered your trigger and craving, you need to come up with a plan of how to redesign your own habit loop. If it’s a particular time that triggers you, you can find something different to do at that time that fulfills your craving. If it’s a particular person, you can find a different way to behave when you are with this person. It may need you to set yourself a reminder like post-its or an ...
The first bad habit we will talk about is drinking. Drinking is not a bad habit when done responsibly. Anyone should be able to consume alcohol when they want, as long as they have a sane mental state and recollection of what they are doing. Drinking becomes a problem when people consume too much alcohol and they cannot make good, rational decisions. When this happens the alcohol content in your blood flow to your brain and affects your decision-making and reaction time. This makes perfectly normal human beings think that they can do superhuman things. Most people end up injur...