“Whatever  you believe becomes your thoughts,

What you think becomes your words,

When you speak  about your thoughts, it becomes your action,

What you act on them, it becomes your habits,

Whatever your habits are, that becomes your values,

Whatever your values are, becomes your destiny”.

                                                     -Mahatma Gandhi

That is the power of a habit.

So, what is a habit?

A habit is a fixed way of thinking; wanting or feeling acquired through repetition of a previous mental experience. A behavior that becomes a habit is not noticed by a person because the person does not require to get engaged in it consciously while doing them.

So, then what is a bad habit…

A bad habit has all the features of a Habit with just an addition of negative behavior, which affects our lives in ways that paralyze our life goals.

The habit Loop (Anatomy of a habit)

Trigger (Cues) —-Behavior (routine) —-Reward. Explaining it with an example, suppose your life goal is to become healthy but you are unable to manage your habits. You come home to sit in front of the PS3 and eat chips.

Trigger (Playing games)—-Behavior(Munching on chips)—-Reward(Feeling relaxed and satisfied).

Let’s put it into steps:

1) Identification of a bad habit is the most important step to changing it.

2) After identification, break it down in the similar way that has been shown in the example.

3) Identify the triggers that cause the behavior

4) Find out alternative methods of behavior that give you the same rewards.

This can be applied to form any good or bad habits that you might be dealing with. In spite of understanding the habits in detail, it is sometimes very complex to get over a bad habit alone. Do not shy away from seeking help if it starts to feel hopeless. Visit a therapist nearby.