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Effects of bad habits Essay
Effects of bad habits Essay
Effects of bad habits Essay
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I’ve Got to Habit
Overcoming bad habits or creating new ones is easier than one might think. Quality of life can be compromised by behaviors such as procrastination and reluctance to change. There are people who believe they are set in their ways or who resist change by denying there is any need for it. Those are simply cop-outs. Habits are broken by the same method they are created. When individuals begin tackling a few stubborn habits and creating a few more desirable habits, life can become more enjoyable and worthwhile. It is important to distinguish behaviors from habits and habits from addictions. As defined in the New Oxford American Dictionary, behaviors pertain to the way in which one acts or behaves. When a behavior is repeated continually until it has become almost involuntary it becomes a habit. Lastly, addiction is the state of being enslaved by a habit, such as drugs or alcohol. Unlike addiction, making or breaking a habit can be done with a little will power. Creating a habit is learning a new behavior and exercising this behavior until it becomes a natural part of daily habits. Having my first cup of coffee to start my day or winding down at the end of the day are just a couple of my own personal habits for example. A habit is nothing more than a learned behavior and it has been hypothesized that behaviors can be unlearned or relearned in the same way they are formed. There are good habits, such as exercising for optimum health, and bad habits, such as biting one’s fingernails. For most individuals identifying their habits is quite simple, the problem begins when attempting to make changes. Procrastination is one of the world’s worst culprits in hindering change. Sometimes a procrastinator will create the mos...
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... smaller ones. Experiencing change became my norm and it has enhanced my life again and again. I feel I must, yes, I’ve got to habit!
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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
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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.
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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...
A habit can be many things, some good, some not so good. Everyone has habits that they would like to change and maybe improve upon. I believe the majority of habits I have are good ones but some are not. These bad habits are the ones I will talk about.