Everything You Need to Start a New Habit or Break a Bad One

23 Dec 2021, by Lydia Kah-Pavlou, min. read

If you’re making your New Year’s resolutions, here’s everything you need to know about good and bad habits.

The start of a new year is a good way to have a fresh start and work towards breaking bad habits, and creating new ones. However, I think we’re all probably guilty of writing a big list of things we want to achieve but when it gets to the end of the year, not achieving very many of them.

If you’re thinking of breaking bad habits or starting a new one in 2022, here’s everything you need to know.

How to start a new habit

Commit to 30 days- if you’re struggling to pick up a new habit try and push yourself to do it for at least the month of January so it seems more manageable. You’ll find as time goes on, it becomes easier and doing it for the rest of the year might seem much easier.
Do it every day- whether you’re trying to cut out meat or drink more water, if your new habit is something simple try and make sure you’re doing it daily to get used to it.
Start simple- it can be easy to be over ambitious at the start of January, only for this motivation to wear off as the weeks go on. Start simple and work your way up to help you adjust to the change.
Stay consistent- let’s say your new habit is to journal or to do yoga every day. Try and do it in the same place and at the same time each day, to train yourself to get used to doing it so as the days go on you’ll find it easier and easier.

How to break a bad habit

Arguably, breaking a bad habit might be slightly harder to do than picking up a new one as if it’s something you’re used to or have been doing for years, breaking out of that cycle can be tricky. Whether you’re trying to give up smoking, drinking, meat or something else it can take a lot of determination. Here are some tips to help you break down your bad habits.

Identify your stress and boredom levels- a lot of bad habits come from being stressed and bored. If you’re stressed you’re much more likely to turn to having a drink or a cigarette (if that’s the habit you’re trying to break), so, by trying to eliminate stressful factors you can be more in control of your bad habit. Equally, bad habits often occur out of boredom so trying to keep yourself busy can distract you.
Replace the habit with something else- leading on from being bored, the best way to break a bad habit is to replace it with something else. So, if you’re trying to cut back on drinking alcohol or coffee replace it with another drink instead so your routine feels familiar.
Ask a friend for help- if you’re struggling, the help of a friend can always be the support system you need to help you stick to your goal. If you and your friend have the same goal, trying to work towards breaking it together is 10x easier than trying to do it alone.
Don’t be too hard on yourself- if you’ve had a bad habit for years, it’s going to take time and commitment to break it. Sometimes you might accidentally slip up, but as long as you’re making active changes to your lifestyle then you’ll get there eventually.

Remember that whether you’re trying to start a new habit or break a bad one, you’ll need time and patience. However, if you’re doing it for yourself and for the right reasons there’s no reason why you can’t make or break your habit in 2022. If you’re looking for resolutions to try next year why not check out our list of ideas, or if you’re trying to set realistic goals we’ve got that covered too!