We are all born with habits, learn to live with them and stop letting them outlive you. YOU are in control of your life not your habits.
We all have habits but it’s all about learning to get around your BAD ones and accepting who you are while still being successful. As soon as you feel yourself getting the urge to partake in a bad habit acknowledge it and fight it.
The History Behind Habits
It turns out that every habit starts with a psychological pattern called a “habit loop,” which is a three-part process. First, there’s a cue, or trigger, that tells your brain to go into automatic mode and let a behavior unfold.”Then there’s the routine, which is the behavior itself,” Duhigg tells Fresh Air‘s Terry Gross. “That’s what we think about when we think about habits.”The third step, he says, is the reward: something that your brain likes that helps it remember the “habit loop” in the future. You can do these complex behaviors without being mentally aware of it at all,” he says. “And that’s because of the capacity of our basal ganglia: to take a behavior and turn it into an automatic routine.”
Studies have shown that people will perform automated behaviors — like pulling out of a driveway or brushing teeth — the same way every single time, if they’re in the same environment. But if they take a vacation, it’s likely that the behavior will change.
Solid/Soft habits
Habits that are embedded in you and habits that come and go or show during certain circumstances/environments. Solid habits are habits that you are aware of and 9×10 other people are as well. Soft habits can be hidden, they usually appear when you’re alone or every blue moon.
Habit System
A habit system is designed to help you grow out of the habits you feel like are holding you back. What you do on a day to day basis ultimately forms the person you are today, the things you believe in/practice, and the personality that you portray to others. Not ALL habits are bad. Some are for the better like always unplugging the iron when you’re done, turning the tv off before bed, or cleaning as you cook. We have those good ones then those bad ones that hold us back from creating more good ones.
MY NEW MINDSET AND PRACTICES
Cut the talk, what do you do on the daily? How are you incorporating these new habits into your routine/practices? How do you plan to?
Find a routine that works for YOU and stick to it. Don’t let anything that doesn’t contribute to your end goal interrupt it.
HABITS VS LAZINESS
Know the difference between being lazy and really facing a habit within. I personally feel like procrastination is a form of laziness versus a habit.
Visual Representation of Me Hacking My Habits
I tracked my days for a whole week to see where a lot of my time goes to waste. This helped tremendously. It showed me that I really have been hacking my habits as you can see I didn’t spend much of my free time doing unproductive activities. On the second photo I mapped out my entire month with side notes. Following a set schedule can help cancel out those bad habits you have obtained.
TAKEAWAY
YOUR LIFE IS IN THE HANDS OF YOU. Your dreams, goals, passions, all can be achieved and reached if you put in the correct practices. One of the most important steps to becoming better is realizing what you’re doing wrong and what you should be doing differently- Joanna East taught us exactly how to see.
Source: https://www.npr.org/2012/03/05/147192599/habits-how-they-form-and-how-to-break-them