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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?
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 ones, 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
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I 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 curve the craving, which took me forever to figure out, is a big thing of smashed
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Second, it doesn 't really address the underlying issue.
And that brings us to our last tactic.
Tactic #4: Power of the Social
I won 't even say anything, just watch this video:
You want to break your bad habits? You need people.
I 've talked about it again and again: happiness is external.
And what is the best way to start making connections?
Well it isn 't cold approaching some random guy or girl at a bar.
You need to join a group with the right culture.
This can be a new job, going back to school, or joining an organization (for all you shy introverts, please read that article).
If you do that, you 'll notice you 'll stop doing your bad habits.
You 'll stop watching porn and eating junk food, but you 'll also start feeling better. You 'll finally feel like a human being.
One Last Thing
So a lot of you are worried about habits because you see it as the key to becoming happy.
You 'll get a ton of money and that six pack.
But the research keeps showing us that happiness almost always goes before success.
So stop chasing after sex and money and put people first.
Find that group where you belong so you can master your habits and become
Whether they are positive or negative, our habits are an integral part of our lives. Because of this, when Professor James VanderMey addressed the 33rd annual Honors Convocation at Mid Michigan Community College, he decided to speak on the topic of habit. In his speech, entitled “Remarks on Habit,” VanderMey (argues against Sartre’s point of view by) discusses the advantages of having good habits, especially the habits represented by the Diploma Qualification Profile, a series of proficiencies that students learn as they are educated at Mid Michigan Community College. First, he shows that good habits lead to creative problem solving. Then, he argues that our habits make us who we are. Finally, he shows how good habits may grow and multiply. Habits, especially DQP habits, are positive and useful, because they allow one to think creatively, become a better person, and find innovative ways of doing.
Chapter two of The Power of Habit, by Charles Duhigg, reveals that a cue and a reward alone are not enough for a habit to last. However, for a habit loop to be successful, it must contain a sort of crave for that person (Duhigg 33). For instance, in the 1900’s Claude C. Hopkins was proposed an idea to sell a product called Pepsodent toothpaste. On the other hand, majority of society did not brush their teeth which then resulted in bad hygiene. To grasp his buyers Hopkins announced if you ran your tongue along your teeth you would notice a film layer on top that gave your grin a dull appearance. He then began luring people into thinking everyone should have a beautiful smile! (34-35). To retain his audience once more he added a minty taste
We must focus on the most important things to us than the more required because when you focus on something that is important to you, you will do it with passion. However, when what you do is the most urgent, you do it in a way to get it over with. Habit 3 presents the idea of remaining focused throughout whatever you do and applying your values to whatever decision you decide to make. Stephen Covey even describes this through the quote "The key is not to prioritize what’s on your schedule, but to schedule your priorities."
Food addiction appears plausible since the brain pathways that changed to react to natural rewards are triggered by addictive substances (Avena et al., 2008; Davis, 2013). Palatable foods such as sugar have the same characteristics as substances that produce dopamine and opioids. Hence, sugary foods may have addictive potential. The belief that some of the drugs may lead to addiction raises the probability that even some types of food result in food addiction. The study indicates that some people are forced to consume sweet foods in the same way alcoholic may feel forced to drink (Avena et al., 2008). Avena et al., research focused on sugar dependence evidence in a model of animal (Avena et al., 2008). The researchers analyzed four addiction components (bingeing, cross-sensitization, craving, and withdrawal). Further, they related these behaviors to neurochemical changes that take in the brain, and also occur with addictive substances such as alcohol. Neutral systems that progressed to stimulate and reinforce foraging and
Charles Duhigg's The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business.
Habits are choices that one continues to do repeatedly without actually thinking about them. Habits start with a decision, but they eventually become automatic. One can probably think about things we do every day that we wish we did less of, perhaps like binging Netflix, constantly checking social media, or snacking when not being hungry. If one can understand how habits are triggered, one can learn how to overcome them. The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg and “Rat Park” by Lauren Slater will reveal the main strategies to recognize and overcome habits. Angie Bachman, a women who developed a gambling habit due was well aware of her habits, but she continued to drag herself into debt, resulting in losing all that she owned and getting sued by
It is easy for people to turn everyday behavior into a habit and this can happen to any behavior whether good or bad. Any behavior that needs to be changed must
For this self-awareness paper, we were required to give up an addictive behaviour or habit for three weeks. I hope to think that I do not have many addictive habits or behaviours, and therefore it was difficult for me to decide what to give up. An addictive behaviour can be hard to define, however they often increase as time goes on, lead to an inability to stop even if one is motivated to do so, lead to a discontinuation of other activities in favor of the behaviour, and often times are difficult to stop even though they cause harm. Sometimes withdrawal and tolerance are also present (Moss & Dyer, 2010). None of my behaviour really qualify for this, however keeping this definition in mind I decided I should try to give up drinking coffee. Not only is caffeine a mood altering substance, but drinking coffee is one of the few things I do
Every highly effective human that I know of has these routines. The crux of the routine is if it not fulfilled; it can have a negative effect. Mostly subtle but with numerous
The behavior that I noticed about myself and I perceived as a habitual action that required change was my frequency in coffee consumption. Before the start of the project, I became aware that I drank about 3-4 cups of coffee per day throughout the course of the entire day, every day of the week.
The main reason why I have been having such a hard time in completely changing my bad habits is because of time. Between school and work I have found it immensely difficult to find time to cook or go to the gym. Every now and then I am able too but it’s not consistent enough to make any real impact on my daily life. I also find that I do not have enough motivation to even attempt to work out or cook. After school or work I’m usually too tired or busy to even think about doing anything else but sleep. After seeing “where you are now” on my life check, I see why it’s necessary to improve my health.
Many individuals experience a compulsive act towards something which causes harm to them and sometimes even those around the individual. Addiction is the term used to describe such behavior and it eventually causes many individuals to lose control over their own actions (Tracy, 2016). Excessive engagement in addictive behaviors or the use of substances is caused by the brain reward effect of it which causes “neuroadaptation circuitry leading to impaired control over further” substance or behavior (American Society of Addiction Medicine, 2011). Millions of individuals around the world have addictions to drugs, alcohol, cigarettes, and even to behaviors such as shopping and eating. Eating is a normal process since food is essential for survival.
Do you have a habit you would like to eliminate? Is your habit your servant or your master? Are you aware that ultimately, your habits determine your future!
For this nine week abstinence experience, I had a couple of habits or behaviors that I thought of giving up. First it was chocolate, then it was cussing, but I finally decided to give up Netflix. I thought of giving up chocolate, because I am definitely a chocoholic, but I noticed that Netflix was starting to take over my life. This is not an exaggeration. After any class when I had free time, on the weekend, or whenever I felt like I had nothing better to do, I had need to watch Netflix. The funny part is I started watching Netflix in the middle of the fall semester. I would get so wrapped up in watching Netflix because I would start watching a television series and I felt the need to know what would happen next and would want to know how the show would end. I chose to give up Netflix because I wanted to work on time management rather than procrastinate with homework and develop healthier habits like get more sleep, and become less anti-social.
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...