Have you ever tried to change your bad habits and finally gave up in despair? Many people think that this is because our willpower is too weak, or this bad habit has been deeply rooted. In fact, the most likely reason is that you surrendered prematurely.
Researchers at University College London found that it takes 66 days to form a new habit. Similarly, if physical addiction is not involved, it takes 66 days to get rid of a bad habit. But before you decide to get rid of this bad habit and stick to it until you succeed, you first need to understand how this bad habit is formed.
The formation and strengthening of bad habits have gone through a habit cycle. First of all, some specific events and reasons urge you to do an act you don't want to do. Maybe because you feel stressed, you decide to brush Facebook for an hour or eat a whole bag of fried potato chips. A trigger event is something that implants this idea into your mind. The second stage is to develop habits slowly. Your brain tells you, "Of course, you should treat yourself with a bag of potato chips." So, you get deeper and deeper.
The third step, reward and stimulation, plays a decisive role in forming bad habits. This bad habit must have rewarded you in some way. This does not mean that this behavior is beneficial or wise in itself, but it will satisfy your brain.
Being addicted to Facebook may help you forget your troubles in a short time, or let you not have to deal with things you don't want to do for a while. Similarly, we all know how wonderful it is to eat a bag of junk food. In any case, this kind of brain satisfaction will increase the possibility that you will do this behavior repeatedly.
Once you repeat this behavior a certain number of times, the habit cycle will make it a natural subconscious behavior, and you won't even question it again. You no longer consciously struggle with your thoughts. When you sit at your desk, you will unconsciously turn to the Facebook page, or you will turn to the potato chips and eat them with relish without feeling mental stress at all.
Once a habit becomes a subconscious action, it becomes more difficult to get rid of it. This is why it is difficult to really change this habit without giving yourself 66 days.
66 days seems like a long time, but the whole process can be divided into several specific stages, and achieving the corresponding goals at each node will make the process much easier. Let's take a look at the specific steps.
Day 1 day to day 10: Ask your heart.
As we all know, bad habits have brought a lot of trouble to our lives. It may continue to affect your work performance or cast a shadow over your relationship with your partner. Once you decide to change a habit, the real challenge is that you must find the reason that urges you to form a bad habit. This may be much harder than it sounds, especially when habits have been implanted in your mind and become subconscious behavior. If you think about it enough, you may find out the ins and outs of things.
Maybe you have been receiving a speeding ticket, and then you find that every time you get off work in a rage, you will drive your car away; Or overeating when you are stressed. Go into your heart and explore the causes of bad habits, and it will be easier to quit this bad habit. Before quitting bad habits 10 days, you need to spend a lot of time and energy to find incentives, and you must examine your heart.
Day 1 1 day to 40th day: solemnly announce to the world.
Supervision is essential to get rid of bad habits. At this stage, you need to tell everyone around you as much as possible that you are trying to change a bad habit, so as to establish a very open supervision network. The more you publicly announce your plan, the more people will help you point it out when you can't help repeating the same mistake. Let them know that you really want them to supervise your behavior. However, remember that you also need to remind them constantly-because it is easy for them to forget and go back to the original point, just as you always do.
Day 465438 +0 to 66: Be careful of the incentives that may stimulate you to regain bad habits.
After you enter the sprint stage, you need to be prepared to make some small mistakes-this may happen to everyone. You just need to be alert to the same clues that lead to these mistakes. If you want to make the same mistake in a certain situation, you must consciously avoid this incentive until you feel that your bad habit has been completely quit. In the last stage, whether to stay away from the inducement is often the key to success or failure.
Day 67: Treat yourself.
Of course, you will say that quitting bad habits is the best reward in itself, but why not take this opportunity to celebrate? As long as it's not through this bad habit that I tried to quit, it's good to celebrate. You can also take this opportunity to reflect and then choose the next bad habit for yourself to quit.
Combine all the above methods.
If you spend a lot of energy to get rid of bad habits but it never works, it is not because you are weak-willed, stupid or lazy. Mental addiction is a big challenge for everyone, but when we understand the scientific principle, you can refer to a scientifically proven method to correct it. As long as you focus on one habit at a time and follow the schedule step by step, your chances of success will be greatly improved.