Breaking bad habits isn't easy, but sometimes the best answer is replacing them with empowering new habits that bring positive changes to one's daily life. "We often have habits that hold us back, like smoking or eating food lacking in nutrition," says Dr. Rob Carter III, co-author with his wife, Dr. Kirti Salwe Carter, of The Morning Mind: Use Your Brain to Master Your Day and Supercharge Your Life
Carter suggests six ways you can create new, empowering #habits and make them stick:
Prioritize Habits: "For each area in which you want to grow", Carter says, "take some time to think about what kind of empowering habits you'd like to establish around that topic". Areas to consider are health, #wealth, #social, relationships, job, #hobbies, self-esteem, interpersonal skills, positive thinking, time management, and life purpose.
Focus on One at a Time: "Because we have a limited amount of willpower in the morning, it's very important how we use that #energy," Carter says. "By focusing on just one habit you would like to change - for example, eating a healthy #breakfast - you can concentrate that willpower on the task at hand until it becomes a habit "
Be Reasonable with Yourself: The time it will take to establish the new habit depends upon how much resistance a person has. And sometimes developing a new habit represents a long leap from where one currently stands. "That's too daunting", Carter says, "so break it down into more achievable steps. Incremental improvements add up to a big transformation."
Commit Specific Time toward the Goal: Carter suggests nailing down a detailed timeline and committing a full effort toward the formation of the new habit within that time span."Write down what you hope to achieve, how many times a week you will practice the new habit, and when and where you'll do it," Carter says.
Reward Success: Have a reward in place to celebrate performing your new habit. "It has to be something that will #motivate you to complete your habit," Carter says.
Stack Habits: "The #neural pathways of your pre-existing habits are well-traveled routes in your brain," Carter says. "You can take advantage of this by building a new habit and associating it with an old one that is well-established. This is a quicker way to create new habits than if you were to start from scratch. For example, if you want to create a new habit of exercising in the morning, and you have a habit of reading the #newspaper every #morning, tie these activities together by exercising immediately before you read the paper. Reading the paper becomes your reward."