As the beloved mom of your home, do you have any bad habit that you would love to change?
Is there something that you are doing that is destructive to your health and/or your well being? Is there something you are doing that you wouldn’t want your kids to follow or emulate?
Bad habits differ with everyone. They could be negative thinking, raising your voice, drinking too much, eating junk food, drinking sodas every day, eating too much sugar, leading a passive life without exercise, eating processed foods, watching too much tv, eating processed foods, gambling, being messy and the list goes on.
The question is WHY do people continue with bad habits? How could all of us know deep down that they are doing something that is bad for your health or well-being and not change?
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Do you have a bad habit you want to change?
- Why do people keep drinking soda pop despite all the destructive evidence of what this does to your bodies?
- Why do people keep smoking when they know they are more likely going to get Lung cancer and a host of other diseases?
- Why do people not exercise when they know that it is one of the best things you can do to prevent diseases of all kinds and feel so much better each and every day?
The reason is simple.
When we as humans perceive that the BENEFITS we get from continuing our bad habit are GREATER than the perceived benefits of changing the habit; we will not change. It is a basic pleasure/pleasure concept. Yes it’s about pure pleasure with habits. Where do we think we get more. From our habit, or the results of changing our bad habit?
Until the perceived PLEASURE of the changed new habit is greater than the pleasure we currently PERCEIVE we are getting from our bad habit, then nothing will occur.
The wonderful news is it actually EASY to change any bad habit you have by following these 5 simple steps and by deeply and fundamentally understanding this concept.
5 Steps On How To Break Any Bad Habit
I am going to use the habit of eating too much junk food as an example. You can insert “your bad habit” into every one of these examples, as the process is the same.
So, if you feel ‘YOUR BAD HABIT” such as eating junk food is something you want to change but have struggled in not getting fast food frequently and eating chips while watching tv, stop and try these following steps. It is easier than you think.
NOTE: You can apply these same principles to any bad habit you want to break.
STEP 1 to Break Any Bad Habit:
Get a binder and do research for a few hours, days or weeks on the topic of junk food (or your bad habit topic) and everything related to it.
- Watch some great documentaries like Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead and Food Incorporated.
- Get yourself informed about what junk food does to your body.
- Read books and magazines on the subject and write down notes.
- Google everything related to junk food like obesity, junk food, diseases, deceptive marketing, what it does to your kids, how it makes you feel etc.
Find the stat for each disease and write these stats down and the source you found it from. This is important. (It is easy to say something isn’t healthy, but when you see stats and facts in black and white it is hard to ignore. )
STEP 2 To Break A Bad Habit:
After doing your research, make a list of reasons why eating junk food (your bad habit) harms you, your health and your family. Why do you want to stop or cut down?
-The following is an example of the list you might create.
How Junk Food Harms Me:
Examples:
- It makes me weigh 40 pounds more than I should. Chances are likely I will continue to gain weight and run the risk of becoming obese.
- I have an x percent greater risk of major diseases as a result of the junk food I eat and being overweight.
- I don’t look as good as I could. I am heavier than I want, my complexion doesn’t look as nice, my hair doesn’t grow and my nails break. My research shows that all of this can happen from eating junk food.
- I don’t feel as happy or good about myself.
- I don’t have energy and am not as productive in my line of work.
- I don’t sleep as well which will make me feel bad during the day.
- I feel groggy every day by 3 and often very tired.
- I don’t feel as good in clothes or as sexy with my husband. This hurts our relationship.
- I am being a terrible role model for my kids who will follow in my footsteps. They will have a higher chance of being overweight and having health problems.
- I don’t feel like working out after eating junk. This puts me even more at risk for heart problems and I don’t feel as good no exercising.
- I don’t feel as good in clothes.
The list goes on.
STEP 3 To Break Any Bad Habit:
List your perceived BENEFITS of continuing your bad habit. Yes, if you don’t change your current habit, what are the perceived benefits of this habit?
Think of every way this bad habit is affecting you. Make it personal, and well thought out. Your list should be long, deep, engaged, specific and full of facts and understanding of the topic.
Example:
The benefits of eating junk food for me currently is:
- It’s easy!
- It’s cheaper.
- It tastes good.
- My friends go there for lunch etc.
ETC…..think of everything that you get from this habit.
Okay…..the next step is where everything is put together and your bad habit is on it’s way to being broken!
STEP 4. Challenge all your perceived benefits by reviewing the negative and challenging your old beliefs given your new information.
For example, look at the benefits of why eating junk food is a benefit.
1. JUNK FOOD IS EASY
-Challenge: Is it really?
- It is just as easy to find a place that serves healthy food than it is to find one that serves junk.
- “Easy” won’t make me live longer or live a better quality life.
- Is this what I want to teach my kids-take the easy way!
- Easy shouldn’t take priority over how food I feel and how healthy I am. This isn’t a good reason to eat junk food.
2. JUNK FOOD IS CHEAPER
Challenge:
- Is it really cheaper to eat junk food when I am not as productive at work and could face skyrocketing health care costs?
- Is it cheaper when it makes me crave more junk food which costs more according to my research than real food?
- All studies prove that it isn’t cheaper than eating good food. Find a lot of sources like this New York Times article Is Junk Food Really Cheaper?
- Calculate how much you are spending on sodas a day? If I eliminate those sodas at $2 a day and drink water instead, I would actually save $60 a month. So I guess I am not saving money by eating junk food.
3. JUNK FOOD TASTES FOOD
Challenge:
- Does grease, fat and processed chemicals really taste good or have I numbed my body into being used to these foods?
- Are there healthy foods I can eat that really taste good? What are they?
- Perhaps if I ate clean for 1 week and then tried these foods, they would not taste the same.
- Even if I like the taste of soda, if it makes me fat, sick and feel bad who cares? Aren’t there enough other options to chose from?
My point is to really challenge your perceived benefits.
DRUMROLL………The Beautiful Moment Where Your Bad Habit Is Broken
Once you are SURE that the perceived drawbacks of your habit are much greater and more powerful than your perceived benefits….you will have NO interest in continuing that bad habit.
It works like MAGIC! Good luck!
Please write in to share your experiences with others. Any tips or other things that you have experienced would be wonderful to hear.
Be Happy, Healthy and Feel Great!
