9 Ways to Stop Bad Habits To Live More Productively

Everyone has a habit of doing something, whether it’s a bad habit or a good one.

Behavior that is done repeatedly tends to be difficult to let go, moreover, the behavior is done unconsciously.

In order to live productively every day, you always have to reduce negative or bad habits that can reduce your productivity.

First, know the reason for this habit to occur. Usually, this concerns the behavior patterns of those around you or simply following your own personal emotions.

For example, if you are angry, you unconsciously always swear to many people. Or you keep gaining weight because every night you are always hungry and decide to eat instant noodles.

Of course, both examples are not good habits. The future impact could be even worse.

The question now, how to stop and solve it? Are there certain things that can reduce bad habits so that life becomes more productive?

Check out the following tips.

9 Ways to Stop Bad Habits To Live More Productively

Replace with New Habits

The first tip in eliminating bad habits is to replace them with new, healthier and more positive habits.

For example, you are an active smoker, you have been wanting to get rid of this habit for a long time but find it very difficult.

Smoking habits can’t be eliminated just like that, some of them even admit that they can’t get rid of it 100%. As a solution, you can try to reduce it slowly.

Replace your smoking habit with:

• Eat your favorite fruit
• Chewing gum
• Drink water
• Go to your favorite place

If the urge to smoke arises, just switch it by taking candy or pouring water into a glass.

Therefore, always provide alternatives above so that your bad habits can slowly disappear, at least reduce a little.

Celebrate Your Little Success

Getting rid of a habit certainly takes time. It depends on how you instill a good lifestyle in your life.

Give yourself a reward every time you succeed in not repeating your bad habit. By doing this, your enthusiasm will increase and you will be motivated to get rid of your bad habits faster.

You can use this strategy:

• Challenge yourself to avoid bad habits for 3 days. If you make it through, gift yourself something you love.
• Challenge yourself again to avoid bad habits for 7 days. If you make it through 7 days, give a different and more motivating reward .
• And so on with a longer time challenge than before.

Subconsciously and slowly, you will feel that the bad habits you have been doing are useless and no longer feel binding.

Change Mindset

The difficulty in breaking a habit is due to the difficulty of changing lifestyles and actions in daily life.

Especially if your thoughts about breaking bad habits are too deep and focused, so that you feel overwhelmed and make you even more depressed.

In order for this change to really happen, you have to start changing your perspective or mindset on something you are facing now. Where it is still related to the purpose of your change.

Let’s take the case that you are an active smoker.

When you intend to make changes, you must say “I am a smoker trying to quit smoking” .

Try replacing the sentence with “I am not a smoker and I am always in good health” . Simple but different, right?

When you say the first thing, you seem obsessed with quitting smoking. However, this situation makes it even more difficult for you to stop even for a moment.

While the second sentence seems to replace your initial identity who has a bad habit of being an active smoker. You will feel that you are truly a ‘non-smoker’.

You can play the recorded words over and over in your mind and slowly begin to change the way you identify yourself.

Use the Mobile App

So far, you use your cellphone only to see the lives of other people who are exposed on social media.

This time, ignore the negative side and move on to the positive side of using a digital phone that you have.

The cell phone that you hold for a full day turns out to have advantages that you don’t fully realize. Who knew that there were tons of phone apps that you could use to break your bad habits in an instant?

Like a financial management application, this is very useful for your financial side now and later in the future. In addition, there is a heart rate counter application or step counter that you can use to exercise every morning.

Or, the YouTube application that you can use as a cooking guide, make unique crafts, and learn something you’ve never known before.

That way, your bad habits will slowly be forgotten and replaced with new, more positive habits.

Remember the Purpose of Life

One of the most effective and easiest tips to do is to always remember your purpose in life in this world.

Use a calendar or small notes taped to items (which you pass every time) such as refrigerators, mirrors, and so on.

For example, you have a life goal that you want to get married and go around the world with your family. When you remember it, your mind will engage automatically that you have to make it happen.

Thus, the bad habits (let’s say one of them is smoking) that you live are getting eroded.

Because, if you want to make that dream come true, of course you must always take care of your health and not spend money to treat your lungs that are sick from cigarette smoke, right?

The life goals you write down can be a powerful mental cue to help you break bad habits.

Ask Close People for Help

No matter how difficult it is to get rid of bad habits, it will become easier if you have support from the people closest to you, such as family, friends, or partners.

Tell them that you really want to reduce the negative habits that you have been living. Ask them for help to make it happen. But on one condition, you also have to try hard and listen to their support.

Here’s what they can do:

• Forget your bad habits.
• Helping you remove triggers from the environment around you.
• Gives you a reward when you manage to minimize the habit.
• Doing new habits that are more useful together.

Perhaps, support from a partner is the right choice because people tend to listen to something that comes out of the mouth of their loved one. Is not it?

Do it Together with Good Habits

Small habits are often done unconsciously, such as forgetting to turn off the stove, forgetting to put glasses on, forgetting to comb after bathing, and so on.

These actions are difficult to prevent. The best solution is to add a new habit on top of the old one.

Let’s just say, you always forget to turn off the stove when you are heating food, it happens because you are doing other things.

To minimize the risk of a fire due to forgetting to turn off the stove, you can wait while doing a 7-minute workout in the kitchen. Not bad can burn calories right?

That way, you won’t forget to turn off the stove again because you accidentally left the kitchen for a long time.

Visualize a Positive Routine

Imagining something fun can break bad habits, you know . Instead of focusing on visualizing results, it’s better to visualize the processes you need to run to achieve those results.

Start by drawing up a plan of accomplishment, at least thinking about it for 2-3 minutes a day. If you are sure you can do it, do it right away.

Practicing visualization can also help reduce anxiety about breaking bad habits. Even in some cases, it will only cause stress from constantly thinking about it without finding a way out.

Stop thinking “ I want to be skinny! ” and change it to “ How do I get to my ideal weight? “. As simple as that.

Pay More Attention

The last tip you can do to break bad habits is to pay more attention to yourself.

By paying attention to the little things that happen to yourself, you will tend to be more sensitive to the triggers that are present to bring that bad habit.

Find the reasons and causes, then you will be able to control and limit bad habits that have been ingrained.

In fact, it will take effect more quickly and feel effective than you just focus on eliminating it.

Don’t forget to divert to other, more productive habits, for example, like taking courses according to your interests and talents.