Replace Bad Habits with Good Ones: Tracking and Rewarding

If you’re trying to let go of a bad habit, replace it with a good one. There are many different things you can replace. For example, if you like eating in bed you can replace that by reading in bed. You can keep yourself occupied in a different way. Drinking too much soda or sugary drinks can be replaced with flavored water or tea.

Whatever you’re trying to change in your life more than likely will have a counterpart of something that will be beneficial to you and healthy for you.

Identify Why You Have a Bad Habit

So first, you need to identify why you have that bad habit. In my example, I used to eat in bed every night, mostly chips. I had to identify what caused me to reach for those chips. Well, I found that I was often bored and procrastinating on sleep. Over time, by allowing myself to eat chips every night, I developed a craving for the salty snacks.

Tackle the Issue to Change Habits

I wasn’t hungry; I was bored. So, I’m going to tackle the boredom. What could I do to swap out a bad habit for a good one to address the boredom issue?  So, I didn’t have to exchange my chips for any kind of food. I started reading in bed, reading e-books, going on Reddit, and reading an actual physical book.

Number two, why was I procrastinating on sleep? I had to figure out why I was pushing back my sleep. Was I going to bed too early,  not tired enough, or was there something in the morning that I was trying to avoid?

I needed to replace my bad habit with a good one. So, I started going to be earlier to I could listen to music and podcasts in the morning.

Every morning, I would tell my Alexa to play my playlist that I named “Morning Tunes”. It was music I selected to help me motivate myself to make my bed, get dressed, and brush my teeth. I listen to podcasts on my drive to work.

It was something that would take my mind off the traffic in the morning, so I would go to work feeling a little bit lighter and not as frustrated as before.

As a bonus my bed was made. I didn’t have to worry about looking at a messy bedroom and losing momentum and motivation after work.

Identify to Replace

If you can identify why you’re doing the habit that you’re trying to break, then you can replace it with something that’s better. Then, you can reward yourself for changing your habits. For me, the reward was listening to something fun in the morning – my playlist and also listening to a podcast that I look forward to. Everything. Make sure to track. If you love using habit trackers like me, here is download to track your habits and see how you’re doing.

Make sure to download my Google [ebook], this is going to help you set up new goals or habits and keep track of them. Join our Facebook group; you can get weekly cool personal growth challenges, fitness challenges, and nutrition alternatives. I hope this helps. If you need coaching or training, let me know. I can help.”