Changing Bad Habits - 2018 New Years Goals Revisited

Today is 1 April 2018 and officially the end of March, the third month of the year, or another way of looking at it, the end of this years first quarter and a great time to stock-take. Revisit goals and resolutions made at the beginning of the year and examine your progress.

A great way to stay on track is to visualise long term goals, use a physical vision board if it helps. This is where you cut out pictures and images of and associated with your dream goals or future and pin them to a board and place this board in a place that you will see everyday. This works by keeping you on track, adjusting your mindset, aligning your behaviours with your goal and attracting achievement towards and of said goal (s).

You can even use an online vision board such as Pinterest, which you can log into regularly via your phone or laptop, and pin images connected to your dreams and goals to customised boards, which you can keep private if you wish.

Once you have began to visualise your goals, write them down. Set deadlines and make your goals SMART. ( Specific, Measured, Achievable, Realistic, and Timed to a deadline).

Then break these goals down into monthly goals: What will you need to have achieved at the end of each month to bring you closer towards your goals at the end of the year? Break these monthly goals down even further into weekly, and then daily and even hourly goals. Schedule your day using a diary or day planner. Cross your goals off as you achieve them and note down the sense of achievement and pleasure you feel each time. At the end of the day review your goals and how you felt and reward your good behaviour with non-self destructive rewards, such as a movie or spa day. Whatever works for you.

Are you on track? Or could you be doing better? If the latter is true what has hindered your progress? Be honest with your self. Is it your current relationships (friends, family, partner, acquaintainces and/ or associates), your current situation? (a set of circumstances in which one finds one self) or your environment? ( home, work, leisure activities). Often bad habits in one or several of these areas can steal time and hinder progress. When at home do you watch too much TV or eat too much junk food yet want to lose weight? Are your peers and relationships supportive ones or sabortaging? Do you work long hours and have not scheduled in time to work on your goals? Do you procrastinate?

What or who is getting in your way and how can this be adjusted? Often it is our own bad habits (automatic behaviours which sabotage, or distract us from our goals) which are the problem. We get in our own way. You may have heard this saying before and it's true. Changing bad habits into good ones aligned with your goal, will help you get back on track and maintain your progress. Hard work and consistency is the key. Bad habits keep us inconsistent and stop us from putting in the hard work, which in turn can be a big motivation killer as we become set in our ways, lose track and run over our desired deadline.

The problem is most bad habits make us feel good and are automatic and therefore difficult to change. They are addictive and changing them requires effort. However changing the bad habit will lead to a much higher pay off/ reward than not changing them.

So how do we change? Changing involves overriding the lessons learnt in the old brain with new information learnt in the new brain.

The above 5 min video by Owen Fitzpatrick gives some great tools and advice as summarised below on how to do this and its a great idea to re-watch this video several times and revisit when needed.

Useful Scientific Ways of Changing Bad Habits:

Mindfulness
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)
Hypnosis

Simplified Recommended Method:

1. Value the change - you have to really want to change and visualise what this will look like, and what the new you will look like.

2. Strategise - avoid triggers of old bad habits by changing your relationships, environment and circumstances to eliminate as many triggers as possible. Plan what you will do when faced with temptation/ triggers. Reward new good habit.

3. Identify with the Change - What would the person who engaged in the desired good behaviours you wish to adopt look like? What would their lifestyle, gait (posture) and attire ( clothing) look like? Make the necessary changes to align your identity and behaviours with your goals.

In the above 3 minute video, the team at Epipheo, go on further to explain that bad habits are made of three components:

1. The Trigger

2. The Routine ( Bad habit)

3. The reward - feel good sensations associated with the bad habit.

Old techniques have focused on trying to change the routine, which is difficult as the routine/ habit is automatic and feelings associated with it are addictive. Instead Epipheo argue that you should focus on rewarding yourself for good behaviour and ensure these rewards outweigh the reward/ feel good feeling associated with the bad behaviours.

Below is a very useful video on vision boarding to set you on your way. Remember key tips:

Visualise, Value, Strategise for, Identify and Align with the change and finally and most importantly, Reward the change!