{"id":24670,"date":"2015-10-01T15:37:57","date_gmt":"2015-10-01T14:37:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.clearbooks.co.uk\/?p=24670"},"modified":"2015-10-01T15:38:51","modified_gmt":"2015-10-01T14:38:51","slug":"how-to-break-a-bad-habit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.clearbooks.co.uk\/blog\/how-to-break-a-bad-habit\/","title":{"rendered":"How to break a bad habit"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A couple of weeks ago we were really proud to<a href=\"https:\/\/www.clearbooks.co.uk\/2015\/09\/07\/clear-books-customers-share-their-cycle-to-work-day-photos\/\"> support Cycling to Work day<\/a> \u2014 a lot of people participated, and it was really exciting to see how many people were taking up the good habit of cycling to work! This got us thinking about habits in general, especially bad habits.<\/p>\n<p>If you\u2019re like most people, you have that one thing that seems to make it onto your New Years resolution list over and over again, that bad habit you just can\u2019t seem to break, no matter how hard you try. If that sounds (maybe uncomfortably) familiar, you\u2019re certainly not alone; there\u2019s a whole field of study on the subject of why humans are so bad at breaking bad habits.<\/p>\n<p>We\u2019ve gathered together some of the best tips for breaking a bad habit from behavioural science experts, including:<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Don\u2019t try to break a habit with willpower<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>This is the classic mistake that everyone makes when trying to break a habit \u2014 assuming that they can do it with willpower alone. While it&#8217;s possible to break a habit using just your willpower, it\u2019s really unlikely that you\u2019ll stick with it long enough to do so, simply because of the way that humans are wired.<\/p>\n<p>Studies show that willpower is a finite resource. You\u2019ve only got so much of it, and it gets depleted as you use it. That\u2019s why the day that you go off your diet, pick up the cigarettes, or skip the gym is usually the day when you\u2019ve got to make a lot of choices, things get crazy at work, or you have to deal with something out of the ordinary \u2014 your willpower is so depleted by the other things that you don\u2019t have enough left over to enforce your habit. Having limited willpower can make it seem impossible to break a habit, but once you understand the principle, you can use it to your advantage by\u2026<\/p>\n<p><strong>Clearing the path<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>When you understand how willpower works, you can create the conditions that will allow you to put as much willpower towards breaking the bad habit as possible. So if you want to break the bad habit of not exercising, then lay out your workout clothes in advance and don\u2019t schedule workouts in the morning if you\u2019re a night owl. The less willpower you have to expend on other things, even seemingly trivial decisions like taking your workout clothes out of the wardrobe, the more you\u2019ll have to focus on breaking your habit.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Replace the bad habit with a new one<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Since a bad habit is just that \u2014 a habit \u2014 you can often kick it by replacing it with another habit. The key sequence to remember is trigger-action-result. This is how habits form: you have a trigger, which prompts you to take an action, which leads to an enjoyable result. For instance, your trigger for brushing your teeth might be waking up, the action is brushing your teeth, and the pleasant result is the good taste in your mouth. Try to think of a good habit you can use to replace your bad one so you\u2019ll be less likely to fall back into your old ways.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Don\u2019t beat yourself up when you fall, but don\u2019t throw your work away either<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s essentially impossible to break a habit and never fail somewhere along the way. Beating yourself up about it&#8217;s counterproductive, and actually makes you more likely to indulge in bad habits. But equally, don\u2019t take one failure as a signal to throw all your previous work away. A slip is just that \u2014 a slip. Accept it, and move on from it like it never happened.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<br \/>\nWhat are your best strategies for breaking bad habits? Tell us below in the comments!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A couple of weeks ago we were really proud to support Cycling to Work day \u2014 a lot of people participated, and it was really exciting to see how many people were taking up the good habit of cycling to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":145,"featured_media":24678,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24670","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>How to break a bad habit | Clear Books<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"If you struggle to kick a bad habit, you&#039;re certainly not alone. 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We\u2019ve put together some top tips for breaking a bad habit from behavioural science experts\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.clearbooks.co.uk\/blog\/how-to-break-a-bad-habit\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Clear Books\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/clearbooks\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-10-01T14:37:57+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2015-10-01T14:38:51+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.clearbooks.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/bad-habits.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"David Carr\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@ClearBooks\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@ClearBooks\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"David Carr\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.clearbooks.co.uk\/blog\/how-to-break-a-bad-habit\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.clearbooks.co.uk\/blog\/how-to-break-a-bad-habit\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"David Carr\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.clearbooks.co.uk\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/5fa6f40060d196b7177b75079fb4a3b2\"},\"headline\":\"How to break a bad habit\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-10-01T14:37:57+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-10-01T14:38:51+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.clearbooks.co.uk\/blog\/how-to-break-a-bad-habit\/\"},\"wordCount\":650,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.clearbooks.co.uk\/blog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.clearbooks.co.uk\/blog\/how-to-break-a-bad-habit\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.clearbooks.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/bad-habits.png\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.clearbooks.co.uk\/blog\/how-to-break-a-bad-habit\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.clearbooks.co.uk\/blog\/how-to-break-a-bad-habit\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.clearbooks.co.uk\/blog\/how-to-break-a-bad-habit\/\",\"name\":\"How to break a bad habit | Clear Books\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.clearbooks.co.uk\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.clearbooks.co.uk\/blog\/how-to-break-a-bad-habit\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.clearbooks.co.uk\/blog\/how-to-break-a-bad-habit\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.clearbooks.co.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/bad-habits.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-10-01T14:37:57+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-10-01T14:38:51+00:00\",\"description\":\"If you struggle to kick a bad habit, you're certainly not alone. 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