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C’mon. Don’t get all huffy. We all have bad habits. They’re called “bad” for a reason. What does it take to break bad habits?

This is a sequel of sorts to my blog earlier this week – the behavior chain. In order to break bad habits, you may need a little refresher on the behavior chain. If you need to, go back and review that last blog. I’ll be here when you return.

Welcome back.

I want this to be practical. Understand, however, that this isn’t an end-all. There’s no magic bullet(s) here. What I can offer are some points to ponder.

A simple Google search will give you reams of information on how to break bad habits. There is good stuff out there. Perhaps we can come at it from a little different angle.

Here, then, are my thoughts about bad habits. This isn’t a step-by-step formula to rid yourself of bad habits. These are just catalysts for your own thinking and strategic planning.

1.  Accept the fact that you can be in control of your life. That’s what separates us from the other animals. That’s not discounting that there are things that happen to you that are beyond your control. You can’t stop the rain, for instance. (Who’ll stop the rain? I couldn’t resist the song cue.) Again, though – you are in control of your life, or at least in control of your responses to, well, everything. This is heavy ju-ju. You can control yourself, including thoughts, actions, attitudes, and, yep, your habits. What this means is that to the degree to which you feel you’re in control of your life, your habits can be mastered.
2. Your habits are in your life for a reason. You put them there. You planted them, watered them, and watched them grow. And you harvest them and the consequences of them. This is a cause-and-effect scenario. Sowing and reaping, as it were. So if breaking a bad habit is what is needed, think of it like pulling up weeds. And something else will need to be planted in its place. We’ll get to that one in a minute.
3. You must believe. That sounds shallow. Still, it’s no less true. You have to embrace the absolute fact that to break bad habits, it can be done. Others have walked the same road as you. They have prevailed. They didn’t have resources available to them that you don’t have. Believe that you can break your bad habits … because it’s true. Whatever you believe with feeling or emotion becomes your reality. Really.
4. Expect to break your bad habits. Whatever you expect with total sincerity and confidence you’ll get. It’s a self-fulfilling prophecy. Think of it as visualizing your life without that bad habit. See what your mind and heart are like when you’ve been delivered from it. Now, expect it to be so.
5. Exchange those bad habits for good habits. I learned this from Tom Ziglar, son of Zig Ziglar, and a very smart guy. He was asked “what was the fastest road to success?” His answer – “replace your bad habits with good habits.” That is so simple it’s profound. This isn’t a bad pen-and-paper exercise: (1) Write down a bad habit. (2) Identify the good habit you need. (3) Put together a goal plan as to how you will replace the bad with the good. Again, y’all – that’s simple. If I want to stop biting my fingernails, then I need to instead suck on a piece of peppermint when the urge to stuff my fingers in my mouth overcome me. Make sense?
6. You will attract victory to yourself. Here’s how this works. You’ll note that you tend to attract people and situations in harmony with what you think about. It’s like expecting the worst … and receiving the worst. Everything in your life that’s come your way is because of the person you are. Let that sink in. So if you live expecting your bad habits to be banished, if you believe it will happen and you can do it, guess what? You’ll attract victory and success over that habit. And you’ll do it by replacing bad for good (see #5).
7. Your outer world is a reflection of your inner world. This is fire. So often we blame our bad habits on stuff “out there” – our environment, our upbringing, our genes, our misplaced passions, and so forth. Guess what, sojourner – your outer world is a mirror image of your inner world, and yes, I’m repeating myself. In other words, as within, so without. When it comes to breaking bad habits, there is no external cause for those habits. It’s inside of you. Which means you have absolute control over them.
8. Your thoughts become your reality. This isn’t some metaphysical hoodoo. This isn’t an original thought – maybe it was Earl Nightingale – but here it is: You are what you think about. You can check out Proverbs 23:7 – in the King James Version, it reads “For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he.” To banish a bad habit, you have to begin with your thoughts. This has been a principle throughout the ages, but for some reason we don’t grasp it. Seldom do we act on it. This is called moral equivalency. Your thoughts, vividly imagined and repeated, charged with emotion, become your reality.

I’d encourage you to consider what I’ve shared. If you were looking for a step one-two-three formula to put away bad habits, I’m sure you’re disappointed.

This is deep dive thinking. I’ll leave it up to you to flesh it out in your life context and make it your own.

Finally, if you’re a believer, you have resources to depend on to help you replace bad habits with good habits. You can break bad habits. Fortunately, you don’t have to do it alone.

Be blessed.