We all have negative habits we wish we could break and more empowering ones we would like to incorporate into our daily lives.
As we explore both sides of that coin, let’s first look at what a habit is and how it is formed. From there, how to break the habits that don’t serve us, and ultimately replace them with more empowering behavior.
A habit is a pattern of behavior you have been running for so long that it has become unconscious or automatic.
In his book The Power of Habit Charles Duhig breaks down how a habit is formed. He refers to it as a “habit loop” and it is a 3 step process.
First, there is a cue or trigger. For many of us, we aren’t consciously aware of that trigger until we get curious about this process. I know it was true for me.
Then there is the “routine” or the behavior itself.
Finally, the “reward” or the perceived payoff.
To break a negative habit, we have to identify what sparks the “cue” or the trigger, and what is the perceived “reward”.
Then we can look at what the actual behavior is and what we would like to do instead.
Finally, we establish that the perceived reward is possible without the negative behavior.
It seems like this would be easy enough to do on a conscious level and yet many of us struggle with breaking those pesky habits.
Using NLP (neuro-linguistic programming) techniques we can affect the neurology just through the use of language patterns.
We can identify the perceived trigger, choose what empowering thing to replace the negative behavior with, and ultimately repeat the technique until it is programmed.
When I experienced this in my training, I was blown away. My habit just disappeared and I was able to automatically kick into something way more productive.
Now there are some habits that are really strong and linked to something deeper, and the great news is we can uproot that and release it too.
When you consider that many of the things we have learned to do were challenging at first and now are done almost unconsciously you can embrace that you can learn to make any positive thing a habit!
It takes commitment, congruency, and repetition.
So what habits are you ready break for behaviors that are worthy of you?
I would love to hear from you.
Leave a comment or shoot me a note and we’ll get the conversation started!
Taking care of yourself is the fundamental foundation of bouncing back and practicing Resilience.
And Radical Self Care is about implementing nurturing and empowering behaviors until they are habitual. You deserve that!
I am here to support you in that process.
From my heart to yours,
Pegah
