Bad habits, addiction and healthy habits are subconscious behaviors formed through repetitions. People who have harmful habits are aware of the consequences and risks to their well being. They feel the pinch on their wallets. They also know others get irritated and annoyed being around them.

But as long as they are reluctant to give up the bad practice, they'll allow their mental conditioning to have control over their lives. If they do quit, it's temporary. They'll get back to it again.

It takes about 21 days of determination and discipline to change or form a new habit. Some of these that have been ingrained so deep in the brain will take a lot longer. This is why there are support groups and tools to help people with addictive behavior. Some people can't do it alone or have no willpower.

List of bad habits...

1. Nail biting
   
   
   
2. Smoking
   
   
   
3. Borrowing money
   
   
   
4. Procrastination
   
   
   
5. Overeating or food addiction
   
   
   
6. Desiring something for nothing
   
   
   
7. Compulsive shopping
   
   
   
8. Binge drinking or habitual intoxication
   
   
   
9. Nose picking
   
   
   
10. Hair pulling and twirling
    
    
    
11. Gambling
    
    
    
12. Cracking knuckles
    
    
    
13. Drug addiction

How to Break Bad Habits

Identify the stimulus or trigger.
You don't overeat, smoke or do your behavior all the time. Something has to trigger you to automatically get into it. The next time you feel the urge to do it, pause and become aware when and how the stimulus show up. What is it that makes you want to pick the cigarette, or whatever your addiction is?

Communicate with yourself and look for the underlying intention.
Ask yourself what you are trying to gain by generating the behavior. Search for the answers from your unconscious. Listen carefully because your mind will come up with many answers and issues.

Find the inner motivation that is causing you to repeat your undesirable patterns. How do you see yourself if you were to continue doing your habit? Do you perceive a lot of pain disengaging or letting go of your addiction or attachment?


See the benefit of getting rid of the habit.
What kind of image do you see if you no longer have the habit? How would you feel when you have removed your addictive behavior? What kind of improvement in your performance can you see if you make a change?


Repeat seeing your new empowering positive image.
Make a conscious effort to see your new image each time you feel like repeating your habit. You are telling your subconscious mind to cancel the old thought pattern and override it with the person you would like to become.

You are leading and directing the mind to change its thought patterns and developing a different thinking and reacting to the trigger.

Sound Advice on the Advantages of Smoking Tobacco

Sound Advice on the Advantages of Smoking Tobacco

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You will always have something to do with your hands. To avoid headaches later in the day, always have a cigarette first thing in the morning. If you work with explosives, you have a handy method of lighting the fuse. Smoking is a good career move if you want early retirement and would like to use up your sick leave. On New Years Eve you don't have to go out to the fireworks. Just dip your cigarette into a jar of ground up sparklers. Amuse your friends and be the life of the party by blowing smoke rings. Always discard your butts in flower pots and garden beds as it helps fertilise the plants and keeps insects away. Occasional house fires will help keep firemen employed. By buying cigarettes from corner stores, you help support local businesses and help retain the fabric of our society. At the beach, children can use the butts to decorate their sand castles. Annoy neighbours you don't like by staying home and smoking heavily. You will always have a good reason for loitering - "Officer, I'm just having a cigarette". Always smoke when you are pregnant. Your smoking helps the unborn baby prepare for the air pollution in the real world. When your neighbour's kids are too noisy, trigger their asthma by breathing smoke on them. By smoking heavily, you get out of boring work and will have plenty of short breaks during the day. Develop your cool image and fun-loving personality by being a smoker. Non-smoking is for wimps and wusses. You will have a good reason to paint the ceilings every three years. Why celebrate world no-tobacco day once a year, when every day can be celebrated as a pro-tobacco day. You will know when it's time to throw out your old lounge suite by the number of burn marks. Smoking is an adult custom. Add years to how old you look by smoking heavily. If you run out of smokes late at night, help the taxi industry by getting them to deliver your smokes to the door. You can demand more services and benefits from the government because you have paid more in taxes. Help keep the bush fire brigades trained and ready for any emergency by throwing lighted butts from your car window. Keep your weight down by smoking cigarettes instead of eating them.

How to turn your ideas and dreams into reality.

Do any of these scenarios sound familiar? On many a night, you vow to yourself you will exercise in the morning, eat healthier foods the next day, and/or not have that alcoholic beverage when you get home from work. It is now morning, your alarm clock sounds and you decide to hit the snooze button six times making you rush to get to work on time, eat a pop tart for breakfast, and open a bottle of wine right after walking into your home at night.

There is a networking function at 7 p.m. downtown. You have been working diligently since 9 a.m. and now it is 4:30 p.m. You are tired but know that networking is one of your keys to your success. Even though you know this and have personal data to prove networking works, you get in your car at 5 p.m. and drive home.

If the above situations happen on occasion, that is one thing. But if this is a regular pattern, something needs to change. Of course, most people already know this, but the actual steps of how to change are not well known. Individuals are often under the illusion that if one possesses a great desire and intent to change, one will make these wanted changes. As said, this is often just an illusion. Wanting and intending to change are necessary mental states to reach a personal goal but additional thought and active behavioral steps are needed before real change can happen. Here are some suggestions that can help you make the changes in your life that you truly feel you want, are willing to apply some personal effort, and dedicate some real time to reach your goals.
Suggestion #1: Set positive goals. You don’t have to see the world in a positive Pollyannaish light all of the time, but you are advised to structure your goals as to what you are going to do and not what you are not going to do anymore. Human brains are wired to accomplish tasks, thus setting a course of what you are going to do is much easier to achieve than figuring out your next step when you are attempting to not do something. For example, you are far more likely to be successful in reaching the goal of making three new outreach phone calls one day rather than setting a goal of not surfing the Internet on a particular day.
Suggestion #2: Spend five minutes each day visualizing in your mind what your life looks like after you have made your desired changes. Your boss is constantly praising your work in front of your coworkers. You feel stronger, are standing taller, and have more energy each day now that you are exercising regularly, eating better, and drinking less alcohol. You are writing a new contract that accounts for 10% of your job position’s monthly financial goal.
Suggestion #3: Figure out what you can do and start there. Asking yourself to exercise 60 minutes a day, seven days a week when you haven't even broken a sweat in the last month is an unreasonable request of yourself. But if you know you can get to an exercise class 1-2 times this next week, this is where you should start. Or what about staying an extra ½ hour at work this next week and responding via email to everyone in your inbox? You could also ask your friend that you have been meaning to meet up with to meet you at the next networking event, and then together meet three new people at the event who you plan to follow up with the next workday, and then go out to dinner, just you and your friend.
Suggestion #4: The more data you collect, the better. Keep a personal journal or log of the behavior you are trying to change. Research shows that recording your behavior, even if you don’t actively try to modify your behavior, leads to positive behavior change. Individuals who record their sales calls, their eating and exercise behaviors, and their attempts at being more assertive in meetings, are all more likely to yield positive results than those who have not monitored and recorded these behaviors. Furthermore, changing a pattern of behavior requires one to know their behavior patterns. Knowing what environmental, emotional, and/or physical stimulus contributes to continuing patterns of unwanted behavior provides understanding into why you continue to act out problematic behaviors. This knowledge allows you to intervene on many levels such as modifying your environment and/or managing your internal emotions to create behavior changes that positively affect your external world.