‘Habit’ by definition is ‘a settled or regular tendency or practice, especially one that is hard to give up, as per Oxford Languages.

Let’s explore some common habits, both good and bad:

• Eating pop corn when watching a movie
• Chewing with your mouth open
• Brushing your teeth in the morning
• Having a drink with cigarette
• Having a cookie with a cup of coffee
• Writing in your journal before bed
• Sleeping with socks on
• Sleeping on the left-hand side of the bed
• Praying before bed

 

Whatever you repeat day in day out, without thinking about it, becomes a habit. We have good ones and bad ones as we can see from the list above. Obviously, we want to keep the good ones.

What is a ‘good habit’? Anything that serves us well, that has our best interest at heart and does not hinder us in any way. For example, if you had to sleep on the right-hand side of the bed when you usually sleep on the left-hand side, there are no consequences as a result.

A ‘bad habit’ in contrast, is anything that holds us back from our true potential, brings us harm, and/or results in unfavourable consequences. For example, eating pop corn every time you watch a movie can impact your health and weight.

We can often complicate thing, so let’s simplify habits to make life easier.

 

Let’s explore how to decrease the number of ‘bad’ habits you have and increase your ‘good’ habits.

First of all you need to determine what you are trying to achieve, in order to determine whether you have any ‘bad’ habits that are holding you back from achieving that result. In other words, you need to establish your goals.

Next you need to determine which of your current habits may be holding you back.

Then you can start to create new habits that will serve you better, in line with what you are wanting to achieve.

Then gradually you start practicing performing your new ‘good’ habit and slowly giving away your old ‘bad’ habit. Only work on 1-3 habits at a time. More than that can become overwhelming.

 

Creating good habits for ‘better sleep’:

• Stop drinking coffee (bad habit) after 12:00pm. Start having herbal (good habit) tea after 12:00pm instead.
• Cut down and/or eliminate simple sugars (bad habit) which impact sleep quality. Start eating more fresh food, especially fruit and vegetables (good habit).
• Stop using electronics (bad habit) for half an hour to an hour before bed, as this interrupts your sleep quality. Start putting those gadgets away instead and find another pass time such as reading a book (good habit).

 

Creating good habits to improve your mood and reduce stress:

• Cut down and/or eliminate simple sugars (bad habit) which impact your mood. Start eating more fresh food, especially fruit and vegetables (good habit) as this balance your mood more, helping you cope with stress better.
• Stop taking on more work and commitments than you can handle in your schedule (bad habit). Start planning out your week and limit your commitments (good habit) to reduce your stress load, improve your mood and help you feel calmer.
• Stop staying up late, which reduces your sleep time (bad habit). Start going to bed at least 7-8 hours before you are due to wake up (good habit), so you are well rested, uin a better mood and less stressed.

 

Creating good habits to help you lean up:

• Cut down and/or eliminate simple sugars (bad habit) increase fat gain. Start eating more fresh food, especially fruit and vegetables (good habit) to help you lean up.
• Stop eating popcorn (bad habit) when watching a movie and exchange it for a handful of nuts or seeds (good habit) instead. This will help prevent overeating carbohydrates and excessive calories.
• Stop drinking your calories (bad habit) in the form of soft drinks, juices and alcohol and opt for water, coconut water, mineral water, soda water or fruit infused water (good habit) instead. It will reduce the number of calories you take in, so you can lean up.

 

Basically, select the ‘bad’ habit you want to eliminate and find a ‘good’ habit to replace it with. Then just keep practising the good habit until you don’t even have to think about it, it becomes the new norm for you. Every time you master a good habit and eliminate a bad one, decide on your next bad habit to replace with a new good habit. It usually takes about 6 weeks to break a bad habit and adopt a new good habit, though results will vary from person to person.

 

• Coach Terri