Focus on Limiting Your Bad Habits Before Quitting.
Quitting a bad habit comes naturally. Our brains are not designed to suddenly break out of a routine. Instead, when trying to quit smoking, focus on constantly and limitedly engaging in your addiction.
As Barking Up the Wrong Tree explains, by focusing on how often you do something, you can naturally induce yourself to quit smoking over time. You may be used to smoking a bunch of cigarettes a day or drinking soda whenever you feel thirsty. If you change this habit to five cigarettes a day or one bottle of soda every day, you can gradually build up your self-control over time:
Whatever you do, you don’t have to stop. (Doesn’t that sound good?) Don’t try to reduce this habit, reduce the variability in the habit. In other words, don’t even try to quit smoking; try to smoke the same number of cigarettes every day. Or check Facebook only usually 90 times an hour. This tiny effort of self-control can unconsciously lead to a reduction in bad habits over time.
At this point, you don’t even need to cut back on your habits. Just count it and be consistent . Train your self-control muscle by first setting an acceptable limit for your habit, and then you can decrease it over time. Eventually, you can reduce this number to zero, but start by quantifying your current habit.
The Lazy Way to Break Bad Habits: 8 Research Secrets | Bark on the wrong tree