Get Rid of Bad Habits by Changing the Environment
We know that different types of triggers can make us return to certain habits, but in reality, doing something about it is more difficult than it seems. At NPR, a handful of psychologists explain how changing your physical condition can help you break bad habits.
Over time, we integrate our habits into our environment, and the environment itself becomes the trigger. The trigger itself is also not always obvious, sometimes it is nothing more than a door:
“For a smoker, the view of the entrance to the office building – the place where they go to smoke all the time – becomes a powerful psychological signal to do so,” says Neal.
Over time, these signals have become so deeply ingrained that they are very difficult to resist. And that’s why we smoke at the entrance to work when we don’t want to. We sit on the couch and eat ice cream when we don’t need it, despite our best intentions, despite our decisions …
Then one way to deal with bad behavior is to somehow disrupt the environment. Even small changes can help – for example, eating ice cream with your non-dominant hand. This disrupts the learned bodily sequence that drives behavior, allowing your mind to go online and regain control.
Of course, adapting to your triggers will be different, but if you’re struggling to develop a good habit (or kick out a bad one), look around and see if you can do things a little differently.
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