Welcome to this blog about how to break up with your bad habits as a teenager!
Whether or not we want to admit it, we all have bad habits. For some of us, it may be staying up until after midnight, and for others, it may be spending too much time on your phone. For some, it may be sitting all day and not getting some exercise or outdoor activity in, and for others, it may be wasting time online and productivity. And, if you’re like me, it’s definitely not just one habit that is keeping us from achieving our highest potential – it’s more than one!
Raise your hand if you ever opened Instagram instead of working on a project that was a week past due. Raise your hand if you’ve made a goal to work out 4 times a week but ended up watching TV each one of those days. If you’re like most teenagers, both your hands are up right now.
So, what is it that makes breaking habits so hard?
My answer to this question, and let me know in the comments if you agree, is that there is nothing! There is nothing about breaking habits that makes it hard. It’s all in our heads. And by this, I mean that because we think it is hard, we don’t do it.
We think that we have to unlock our phones to see any updates. We think that it’s fine to stay up until midnight and wake up late. And, we think that it doesn’t matter if we work out or don’t.
But, we DON’T have to check our phones every 5 minutes. It is NOT okay to make it a routine to sleep late and wake up late. It DOES matter if we work out or if we don’t.
If you’re here now and have read everything before, hopefully, you’re here to take action and transform yourself instead of just reading this article and not doing anything after. Before we start with the tips, let me just remind you – you can do anything you put your mind to. You CAN break up with your bad habits, you CAN change yourself, and you CAN work towards your better self. All it takes is effort, dedication, and passion.
I’m glad you’re here reading this article on how to break bad habits. It can be very frustrating when we want to start doing something but don’t know when to start. Hopefully, this blog removes any of that frustration and gives you clear guidance on what to do. So, without further ado, here are 10 steps to break up with your bad habits and connect with your best self:
1. Identify your triggers
Bad habits do not just occur out of nowhere. They are a result of something in our lives. And, when we specifically find out what the root of our bad habits is, that is a major game-changer.
Let’s say you open your phone often because it is right on your desk within reach. the root of this issue is having your phone nearby. Next time, keep your phone somewhere you can’t see it and are not tempted to look at it. Track how many times you open it during a day by having your phone with you and by not. Most likely, the numbers will have a huge difference.
Other root causes of bad habits are stress, bad influences, and more. Whatever it is, track it down and try to reduce/remove the cause so that you can also break up the bad habit!
2. Review the consequences
Another trick to breaking up with your bad habits are to review the consequences. When you review the consequences of a bad habit, you will see that the habit is negatively affecting your life and you need to change.
For example, if your screen time is way too high, notice how that affects your lifestyle. For me, it makes me less productive, less focused, and having to complete tasks later because I didn’t do it before.
Once you realize the negative consequences that are a result of the bad habits, that may be the sign you need to take action and take back control over your life.
3. Have an accountability partner
Whenever you are in the process of breaking up with your bad habits, you don’t have to do it alone. Do it with a family member, a friend, or anyone else you can think of.
You and your partner can hold each other accountable and celebrate victories together. It is also much more fun to go through with the process with another individual, and this will inspire you to persevere and continue!
As said perfectly from jamesclear.com,“Knowing that someone else expects you to be better is a powerful motivator.”
4. Surround yourself with inspiring people
Like how bad influences lead to bad habits, good influences will lead to good habits! Remember, you don’t need to ditch your old friends (unless, of course, they are making you a worse person), but you should also spend time with new people who inspire you to be the best version of yourself and bring out the best qualities in you.
For me, I know that someone is a good influence when they support me through my challenges, make me laugh, give me honest guidance, and if they are fun people who I enjoy spending time with! I’ve been able to surround myself with inspiring people with my team at Teen Financial Freedom and my family, as they have both helped me grow and become a more productive and disciplined individual.
I hope that you, too, are able to find such a group that will lead you towards success!
5. Visualize yourself succeeding
Visualization is a powerful technique that can bring your dreams to life. With this, visualization will also help you break up with your bad habits and adopt new ones.
For example, one good habit that I’m adopting is waking up earlier. So, I could visualize it being 6:30 a.m. and I am out of bed and ready to start work. This gives me inspiration to actually wake up and conquer my day.
This also works for trashing bad habits. For example, I tend to procrastinate a lot, and in order to prevent this, I could visualize myself focused and working without any distractions.
Whatever it is you want to accomplish, visualize yourself doing it with a smile on your face! 🙂
6. Return to the old you
So often we think that to break bad habits, we need to become an entirely new person. The truth is that you already have it in you to be someone without your bad habits. In fact, it’s very unlikely that you had these bad habits all of your life. You don’t need to quit smoking, you just need to return to being a non–smoker. You don’t need to transform into a healthy person, you just need to return to being healthy. Even if it was years ago, you have already lived without this bad habit, which means you can most definitely do it again.
https://jamesclear.com/how-to-break-a-bad-habit
7. Overcome negative self-talk
During the process of trying to break a bad habit, you may encounter negative self-talk. Your mind may be saying things like, “There’s no point in trying.” or “Just give up already.”
However, DON’T let those phrase stop you from achieving your goals. Keep telling yourself that you CAN do it!
It helps to you use the word “but” after negative sentences. For example, “I’m out of shape, but I could be in shape a few months from now.”
Don’t let your mind stop you from success, train your mind to be your #1 supporter!
8. Prepare for slip-ups
As teenagers, we all will encounter slip-ups at one point or another. When this happens, don’t get discouraged or demotivated.
Quote from Steve Kamb: “When you screw up, skip a workout, eat bad foods, or sleep in, it doesn’t make you a bad person. It makes you human. Welcome to the club.”
So, don’t beat yourself up when you go off-track for one day. What separates successful people from others is how they react after failure. Keep going and bounce back after a mistake!
9. Replace the old habit with a better one
As I mentioned many times before in this article, replace a bad habit with a better one. I like to think of it as a 2-for-1, as you are not only getting rid of a bad habit, but also adopting a good one.
This will help you have an easier time breaking your bad habits, as your focus is on doing something else instead of stopping yourself from doing something. That might sound confusing, so here’s an example: If you are trying to stop eating junk food, instead of stopping yourself from eating chips when you are hungry, go get an apple or a fruit salad!
Whatever the habit is you want to replace, be sure to try your hardest and keep going after what you want.
10. Be patient
Last but not least, just be patient. It took a while for the bad habit to develop, and it will take a while for it go as well.
Realistically, experts believe it takes about 10 weeks (2 to 3 months) or more to break an unwanted happen. Of course, some habits may take more or less time to break.
https://www.healthline.com/health/how-to-break-a-habit#be-patient
The amount of time it takes to break the habit can depend on how long you’ve had the bad habit, the emotional, physical, or social needs the habit fulfills, the support you have, or the reward the habit provides.
Just keep going and hustling, your hard work will pay off!
The Takeaway
Kudos to you for recognizing the bad habits you have and wanting to make a change in yourself. All change starts with the willingness to do so, and so you are already in the works of progressing towards your best self. Now, for the next steps, here are 10 tips on what to do to break up with your bad habits:
- Identify your triggers
- Review the consequences
- Have an accountability partner
- Surround yourself with inspiring people
- Visualize yourself succeeding
- . Return to the old you
- Overcome negative self-talk
- Prepare for slip-ups
- Replace the old habit with a better one
- Be patient
I highly, highly recommend reading the book, “Atomic Habits” if you are really committed to improving your lifestyle by building better habits and breaking bad ones. Along with this, check out this TED video on a simple way to break a bad habit. Last but not least, be sure to read 7 habits of a successful teenager in 2021.
Remember, over time, as your lifestyle transforms and your surroundings change, habits will be adopted – whether they are good or bad. If they are good ones that are helping you succeed, remember to stay disciplined and keep maintaining them, no matter what it takes. On the other hand, if the habits are doing the opposite of helping you succeed, tell yourself that it’s not the end of the world and all it takes is to follow the tips that works for you and put effort into replacing the bad habit with a good one.
Along with this, it’s important to know that people who end up breaking bad habits try and fail multiple times before they make it work. You might not have success right away, but that doesn’t mean you can’t have it at all.
You now have all the resources you need to get started. For a head-start, I have a challenge for you: Tomorrow, track how many times per day your bad habits happens. At the end of the day, count up all of the tally marks and see what your total is. This is the first step, being aware and identifying your triggers.
Good luck breaking up your bad habits and I hope that for every bad habit, you are able to replace it with a habit that will lead you towards success!