Men are said to be creatures of habit. Once they have finally established a routine that they have grown accustomed to, it is surprisingly hard for them to be susceptible to any changes to this lifestyle. This can have its share of advantages and disadvantages. If the person is able to achieve very healthy habits, such as making certain to exercises on a daily basis, or to eat a specified amount of fruits and vegetables everyday, then falling into this daily habit will actually improve his health. However, if the person chooses instead to make it a regular habit to smoke after meals, or to frequently eat junk food, then he is practicing bad habits that will affect his health if he continues longer. Unfortunately, some habits can be hard to break.
To further one’s personal development, it is important to first assess and come up with a list of habits that you would like to keep, and a list of all the habits that you would like to get rid of. This is because it is important to know at a glance all the bad habits you possess that you want to break, and to list them according to priority or severity. Once this is done, it is important to now list all the causes of your bad habits. Do you overeat because you have nothing else to do, or do you smoke whenever you feel stressed or irritated over something? Knowing the factors that can result in your bad habits can also give you an idea of how to avoid or prevent yourself from doing them the next time around. Also keep note of the frequency that you perform these bad habits. The more times you do a certain habit during the course of the day, the harder it will be to break, so it is important that you are aware of the difficulty as early as possible, in order to plan ahead.
Once all these have been written down, it is now time to make a note of all possible solutions that you can make in order to break yourself of these habits. Choosing to work on something else, or take up a more fulfilling hobby instead of encouraging vice like smoking or overeating for example, can be better substitutes. Put down a schedule of things to do that you are to follow over the course of a few days or a few weeks, making sure that the substitute habits that you put down are reasonable. For habits that you do much more frequently than others, it is always advisable never to quit cold turkey, simply because the urge to fall back on these vices will be stronger. It is advisable instead, to slowly cut back on these habits every few days.
For example, if you are of the habit of smoking five or six times a day, and can finish a pack daily, then start off your schedule by limiting your smoking habits to first three or four times a day, with only half a pack of cigarettes, and then whittling it down to two or three times a day, at a quarter pack. After several more days, once your body has quickly adjusted, you can even whittle it down further to only one cigarette a day.
You are also not limited to just physical bad habits. Consider that if you suffer from other mental habits such as procrastination or workaholics, understand the value setting limits to yourself, or forcing yourself to accomplish certain things everyday. In doing so, you then become accustomed to the extent that you will realize that you no longer need to follow a schedule because you already develop the habits you needed for your personal and interpersonal well being.
