How Of Forming & Breaking Habits

Your day to day life is a sum of habits. Habits are a result of how happy or unhappy you are in your life. Habits are things that you do repeatedly and it reflects your personality. If you have some habit you would repeat that thing regularly in your life. In this article, you will learn about how habits are formed and how you can break them.
All the habits that are formed proceed through four stages. The order of the stages is cue, craving, response and reward.

• The first stage of forming a habit is the cue. The cue triggers the brain to initiate a behaviour using the information and predicts the reward. Today we spend most of our lives learning the cues and their rewards like food, water, enjoyment, etc. to develop a habit. Our minds continuously analyse the internal and external environment to find the cue and rewards before developing a habit.
• The second step of the habit loop is craving. Craving acts as a motivational force behind every action or habit of yours. We have no reason to act if we do not have any motivation or craving. Your internal state of mind or desire determines your craving or actions.
• The third stage of forming a habit is the response. The response is the action you perform. Your response is dependent on your motivation. Like for example, if your response requires more mental or physical effort than you are willing to put then you would not perform that action or give a response to that action.
• The last stage of the habit loop is the reward. The reward is the ultimate goal of every habit. The cue notices the reward in the first stage and the whole process of developing a habit to achieve the reward. The reward will satisfy your craving and give you mental peace.

The above mentioned is the process of how habits are formed. Now let us learn about the ways through which you can break them.

How To Break Habits

• To break any habit, you must identify the triggers of developing that habit. Spend time to understand why you perform that habit. When you will know the reasons for developing a habit, it would be easier to get away from it.
• There must be a reason for you to break any habit. Focus on why you want to change yourself and find the benefits of giving up that habit.
• List down people who will help and support you in giving up a habit. This will act as encouragement and motivation in overcoming a habit.
• Leave yourself reminders in the form of stickers, sticky notes, etc. to keep reminding the actions you should not take.
• Changing your environment will help you overcome your habits. The surroundings play a big role in determining or changing your habits.

The above mentioned are some of the ways through which you can break your habits. If at any point in life, you feel low or depressed about not being able to give up on your habits, you may get in touch with Living In Wellbeing’s expert counsellors and involve yourself in motivational and inspirational talk with us.