Everybody knows and recognizes habits. You are used to do certain actions. For example, always showering in the morning instead of in the evening, biting  nails or eating a not so healthy snack in the evening.

Bad habits

You want to quit doing certain actions but you do not know how you are supposed to do that. Do you have any bad habits? Bad habits are for example: biting nails, eating unhealthy in the evening or spending too much money on stuff you do not really need. These are just examples, of course there is a scala of bad habits you can have.

Good habits

Not all habits are bad. There are also good habits like eating two pieces of fruit a day. Do you find it hard to create healthy habits? Think why you would like this habit in your life? Motivation can help you integrate habits in your life. Furthermore, it is important to set achievable goals. For example, drinking water can be huge if you are used to drinking sodas. Do it in steps: just reduce drinking sodas before completely quitting it. If you do this step by step you will get used to it more easily.

How do you break bad habits?

Breaking bad habits can be a challenge. You are doing these actions unconsciously, think of biting your nails. Consider, when are you doing this and why? It’s not unlikely that you do it on stressful moments.

It is important to figure out what the trigger is. Is it because of stress or is it just because you are bored? If you know what is causing the habit, you can tackle the habit. Also it can help to replace a bad habit with another, healthier habit. If you know what the trigger is you can say to yourself ‘stop’ and replace your habit with something else. For example, you can grab a glass of water instead. This does not only make you bite nails less often, but also helps to associate that trigger, for example stress, with a glass of water. Plus: drinking water is good for you, a win-win situation!

NiceDay app

Which habits would you like to break? Write in your NiceDay-diary when a bad habit appears. What is the situation and how do you feel? How can you respond on it the next time?