Habit Formation: How to Replace Bad Habits with Good Ones

What defines our success? Do we often not wonder about that? 

Habits define who we are. Yet, no matter how hard we try to develop good habits, bad habits always come in the way. For example, we love to eat at odd times. We like to watch shows during the late hours of the day. We want to listen to our favorite soundtracks while working. Or we love to have a chat with our colleagues throughout the day. Such are the habits that we need to break to be productive. 

Habit formation is complete psychology. When it comes to habit, we can choose to develop bad habits or choose to create good habits and be more progressive in our lives. 

Those who understand this psychology can have a better grasp on their lives. 

Do you not want to educate yourself on how to formulate the right habit & achieve better productivity? Let’s learn how you can implement this knowledge and gain a better understanding of life. 

What is Habit Formation? 

What is the first thing you do when you arrive at your office? Most of us fix ourselves a hot cup of coffee so we can get our body engines up and running. When the caffeine kicks in, we feel like we are in the zone. Do you listen to songs while working? We believe that music can ignite the different parts of our brain that have something to do with creativity and make ourselves believe in that dogma. 

Habits form without our thought-process becoming accustomed to a specific way of living. When we do things subconsciously daily and follow that routine religiously, it becomes a habit. 

Unfortunately, we often tend to believe that we are in control of our habits. It’s up to us when we choose to make or break them. Yet, it is the other way around, and we don’t mostly realize this hardline fact. 

The Two Types of Habits

Conscious Habits

Conscious habits are a specific type of habit which are easily recognizable. Such habits commonly require personal input, and when you stop giving that input, the conscious habit ultimately breaks. As a result, you will see that change occurring, and the habit will eventually go away. Such habits are easily identifiable, and it’s easier for you to review them quickly. By knowing what changes to make, you can improve & fix those habits. For example, one such conscious habit that we can identify is sleeping early every night, waking up early in the morning, going for a run every morning, or waking up to an alarm clock tone. Or maybe a bad habit such as smoking after every meal we intake. 

Subconscious Habits

Habits that we are not quite aware of are called bad habits. These are the kinds of habits that develop when our brain goes into auto-pilot mode. We formulate such habits, but we seldom realize we have it. 

They are only identified when some external source reveals them. 

For instance, nail-biting is a very bad habit which often we don’t realize, and we bite our nails during the meetings while working on our desks or even during conversations with friends, clients & colleagues.

Nail-biting shows that you’re insecure or you’re feeling worried about accomplishing a particular task. 

How to Identify What Are Your Subconscious Habits? 

The best way to identify what are your bad subconscious habits is to perform a thorough self-analysis. Take some time off from your busy schedule of the day, let’s say 15 minutes or half an hour. You can choose any time of the day, and the best ones are when you’re about to go to bed or when you’re waking up in the morning. Now zoom out and go through the day identifying which habits are hurting your productivity. 

There are several subconscious habits that we rarely realize. 

Physical Habits

• How is it that you walk? 
• What is your position when you sit? 
• Do you slouch often? 
• Do you subconsciously fidget a lot? 
• How much water/tea/coffee/smokes are you consuming per day? 

Social Habits

• Do you make eye contact with people? 
• Is there some gesture that you subconsciously keep doing when talking to someone? 
• Is there a particular phrase or sentence that you use in your conversations? 
• Do you keep using social media platforms? Do you keep checking Facebook or Instagram? 

Mental Habits

• Do you get angry when you get criticized? 
• What methods do you imply when it comes to prioritizing essential tasks? 
• Do you keep checking your phone for messages? 

All of these habits, if not treated, are great productivity killers. So when you zoom out, you take the chance to identify all of these bad habits. Once you know which are damaging your personality, rectify them. 

Replace your bad habits with the good ones. 

How to Create New Good Habits To Rectify the Bad Old Ones? 

Now that you’ve identified your good habits, it’s time to get creative and develop the good ones. 

Let me explain how you can develop good habits by using an example. 

Let’s assume that you want to get acquainted with a particular designing software, which is essential for your job. How would you begin your journey? You will first create a few artistic drafts on the software, keeping precision in mind. You will carefully pay attention to every bit of detail, and you focus on all the minute accuracies. And when you’re done creating your draft, it won’t be the perfect one. 

But here’s what you did. You LEARNED. Now the next time you create the same draft, it will be relatively easier for you. You can go through the drill constantly, creating newer drafts. Eventually, you may find yourself getting the hang of it. From simple pathways of relationship, they transform into highways of significant successes. You will ultimately see that you are becoming an expert, and it will become a habit for you. 

The same goes for everything in life, ranging from changing the way you eat to achieving great success. Are you struggling with developing the right habits? Habit formation can be a tricky task but when accomplished keeping a sheer focus, it can have remarkable results. Have you recently changed a habit? Share with us.