Even if only because of the number of decisions we have to make every day – from choosing which clothes to wear on a rainy December day, to the complex decision of accepting, or not, a job offer in an unknown city.

1. After all what is a habit?

Habits are part of about 40% of our day. In other words, we spend almost half our time on “autopilot”, making decisions based on ideas already established in our unconscious. Thus, a habit is something we do “without thinking”, almost automatically and frequently.

Being aware of the development of less positive habits does not facilitate the need to change just because they harm us. We can recognize it, but we are so used to it that it becomes difficult to change, especially when it involves our daily routine. Change is costly, because what we have done all our lives or what we have been doing is ingrained and has become our comfort zone – which is not always the one that brings us what we really want, nor does it show us what we could have if get out of it.

2. Time to change

We can often feel motivated to change because we hear or read a story of transformation that seems to have happened overnight. However, we do not know the path that the person took to achieve change. We can say one thing: the person realized how to change habits that did not contribute to their personal and professional growth.

There are two important questions to consider when deciding to leave a harmful habit behind, whether it’s losing weight or stopping drinking: how and why.

How – this is where we bring together the willpower and other sources of support (friends, colleagues and anyone else who may have gone through the same problem we struggled with) as well as all the other tools and resources we can find (books, plans for exercises, therapy). All of this goes for helping to build a structure that will help the willpower have the best chance of success.

Why – the question we should ask is: why do we need to break the habit and why do we start it? We need, first of all, to develop a sense of curiosity about him. Society quickly tells us that our habits will kill us and what a failure we are for not being able to change them, but it doesn’t address why we do what we do. We need to accept that we can get something good out of our bad habits, even those that kill us. There is always learning.

We ask ourselves: is this habit helping me to lead a life I cherish and aspire to? Does this routine meet my values, ideals and goals? Am I achieving my main goal – happiness?

But you can’t expect to have a radical change in habits overnight: you can only change 1 small habit at a time.

SUMMARY

Habits are part of human nature. The simple act of brushing teeth, drinking coffee in the morning, making the bed, are almost automatic habits that, however, if we don’t perform them, we feel strange, as if something was missing.

However, there are habits that are not good for us. Come to understand yours better and find out how you can solve them with us.