A habit is... Features, definition and types

September 15, 2018
Psychology of Personality
Nastasya Krakhina

In everyday affairs, a person may not notice how he performs certain actions, so to speak, he lives on “automatic.” Often people, leaving the house, suddenly spontaneously remember: “Did I turn off the iron?” It also happens that, upon returning home after a hard day at work, doubts arise: “Did I lock the car?” The person then discovers that the action has been completed. Why is this happening?

Acquired behavior

From performing the same actions over and over again, a certain program is recorded in a person’s mind, which is “launched” when the appropriate situation arises. Simply put, people form habits through repeated repetition of certain techniques. It is this psychological phenomenon that will be discussed later in the article.

Below you can find out what habits are, how they are acquired and whether it is possible to get rid of them. And further it will be described in detail how to begin to change your life for the better by developing positive skills.

Definition of the term in psychology and description of the concept

From a scientific point of view, a habit is a repeatedly repeated action that does not require additional mental effort or reflection. This behavior tactic can affect any area of life. As a rule, all human habits are acquired.

Formation occurs through reinforcement and repetition. The first contributes to the second. Repetition is a behavioral manifestation. Thus, a habit is a response to the occurrence of a certain stimulus. The more often a person performs a particular action, the more strongly certain manners or desires are fixed in his mind. However, some habits can appear after a single occurrence. As a rule, this occurs when a person has experienced strong emotional involvement.

Having understood what a habit is, you should understand what they are. In general, they can be divided into two groups - good and bad. It’s worth taking a closer look at what they are.

Essential skills for life

Useful or correct skills are those that help improve human functioning. For example, leading a healthy lifestyle, rationally using work hours, giving up seats on public transport to older people are all good habits.

It is worth noting that some of them will be useful from the point of view of society, while others will be useful to the individual. However, many individual behaviors are part of social ones.

Good habits make an individual a better person. A striking example is maintaining an active lifestyle. If a person jogs every day, this will have a positive effect on his health. When he is accustomed to doing his job conscientiously, he increases his authority and makes a meaningful contribution to the development of his enterprise. In general, a good habit is something that helps a person develop and improves his life.

Why do you need to form good habits?

We are improving.

Harmful activities steal our time, money, emotions, while useful ones help us achieve our goals and improve our efficiency. To feel good, confident and energetic, you need to get used to useful actions.

We stop forcing ourselves.

Willpower is an effective way to force yourself to do something, but it requires effort. Every time we force ourselves to take some action, we unconsciously become upset and lose enthusiasm. But if the action is turned into a habitual thing, we will soon cross it off the list of “forced actions”.

The good triumphs over the bad.

It’s difficult to just stop eating at night - all your thoughts will be about the food in the refrigerator. And if you make a substitution, for example, drinking a cup of green tea with lemon before bed, then the ritual of filling the stomach will remain, but its meaning will change.

Take the self-esteem test

Bad habits

In contrast to useful skills, dependence is placed on something that carries negativity and largely destroys the individual as a person, resulting in his degradation. This means that bad habits are actions that can harm a person or even the society in which he is located. It is important to note that they prevent people from realizing themselves in life. Thus, bad habits always have a negative impact on a person. If they are widespread, they become dangerous for society as a whole.

List of negative habits

The most harmful habits of people are the following:

Profanity. The habit of uncultured expression has haunted many since childhood. It often leads to the fact that a person cannot correctly express his thoughts without using obscene words, which leads to degradation.
Excessive caffeine consumption. Addiction to such drinks is a habit of most people. However, excessive consumption of a substance such as caffeine disrupts brain function and negatively affects the entire body.
Constant lack of sleep. During sleep, important processes occur that allow the body to replenish the lack of strength. Neglect of this point leads to various physiological and psychological problems.
Diets for weight loss. Often, in pursuit of slimness, many exhaust themselves with various diets (you should not take into account the diets prescribed by the doctor during treatment). Nutritional balance plays an important role in the normal state of the body.
Frequently spending time at the computer and on social networks. Gadget addiction is one of the most common in the whole world and has a detrimental effect on the psychological component of people. Speaking about frequent spending time at the computer due to work, it should be noted that this leads to negative consequences regarding the functioning of the cervical and lumbar spine and many other physiological disorders.
Smoking. Quite a lot is said about the dangers of tobacco, but this does not reduce the number of people who use this drug. This addiction is the cause of many diseases and disorders in the body.
Frequent use of medications. People often mindlessly take various medications. Many people have gotten into the habit of taking medications even when they could do without it.
Alcohol and drugs. Just like smoking, habits are destructive to the body and stupefying the human mind.
Binge eating. The habit of eating problems or snacking even when there is no feeling of hunger has consumed the whole world. However, excessive consumption of any food is a habit that negatively affects both the figure and the human psyche.

Article on the topic: “Psychology of habit”

Psychology of habit.

Human life manifests itself in behavior and activity. The complex interweaving of these forms of activity often makes it difficult to isolate and differentiate them. Over time, many of our actions and behaviors become habits, that is, automatic actions. By automating our actions, habit makes movements more precise and free. It reduces the degree of conscious attention with which actions are performed. S.L. Rubinstein noted that the formation of a habit means the emergence not so much of a new skill as of a new motive or tendency to automatically perform actions. In other words, a habit is an established way of behavior of a person, the implementation of which in a certain situation has acquired the force of a need for him. It is based on a knowledge system implemented in the skills and abilities of performing the corresponding action. However, in contrast to a skill in its pure form, the decisive moment in the formation of a habit is not so much its subsequent formation in a skill, but rather the formation, on the basis of existing knowledge, of a new functional need for its implementation.

A habit in psychology is any regularly repeated type of behavior that does not require thinking and is acquired rather than innate. Habits are formed in all areas of human activity and manifest themselves in all aspects of their life. They may be the product of targeted upbringing, but they often develop completely spontaneously. Habits are usually realized in involuntary actions and are largely a subconscious form of human behavior. Some habits, however, can arise as a result of a single event, especially in the case of emotional involvement.

Habits are useful for freeing higher mental processes for creative activity, but they contribute to inflexibility of behavior, and negative habits can even negatively affect all factors of life. Psychologists say that you cannot get rid of a habit - it can be changed or replaced. This does not apply to habits that are positive, but only to those that really interfere with our lives.

A habit is a well-learned action that a person repeats, guided by instincts and attitudes. This is the definition of habit given by psychologists. Simply put, these are actions that we do without thinking.

The process of acquiring a habit is very simple. One day, a person does something. Initially, he has to consciously perform and control not only the action as a whole, but also the individual movements or operations through which he carries it out. However, repeating it several times, it becomes easier to do it, and later you completely stop noticing how, when you come home, you habitually put on slippers, etc.

As a result of constant repetition, a person begins to perform many actions without thinking. This is called a habit. This is where the complexity of the habit mechanism lies. What makes us do habitual actions lives deep inside. Any human action has three sides, three components: motor, sensory and central, associated respectively with the performance of the functions of execution, control and regulation. Thanks to partial automation in the structure of the action, as the skill is formed, the following techniques change:

- execution of movements, when a series of partial small movements merges into a single act, into one complex movement: unnecessary movements are eliminated and the pace of movements is accelerated;

— sensory control over an action, when visual control over the execution of movements is largely replaced by muscular (kinesthetic) control: the ability to quickly distinguish and highlight landmarks that are important for controlling the results of an action develops;

- central regulation of action: attention is freed from the perception of methods of action and is transferred mainly to the situation and the results of actions. Some calculations, decisions and other intellectual operations begin to be carried out quickly and smoothly. Internal preparation for the next movements occurs already during the previous ones, which sharply reduces the reaction time and the transition from this technique to the next occurs without special planning.

The basis of any skill is the development and strengthening of conditioned reflex connections. The clearing of a neural path and its consolidation as a result of constant repetition of actions lead to the precise localization of excitation processes in certain nervous structures. Differential inhibition concentrates excitation to the limit, suppressing some foci and thereby activating others. Systems of conditioned reflex connections are formed with strengthened transitions from one system of nervous connections to another.

Thus, changes in action techniques are based on repeated repetitions of successful movements. Such repeated performance of certain actions or activities, with the goal of mastering them, based on understanding and accompanied by conscious control and adjustment, is called exercise.

There are positive and negative habits.

Positive habits (for example, habits of rational work at the machine, sanitary and hygienic habits, habits of cultural behavior in everyday life, etc.) are an important condition for labor productivity, compliance of behavior with social norms, and a condition for protecting health. By making it easier to comply with certain rules, habits provide great assistance in organizing a person’s personal and social life.

Negative habits (disorderly and careless performance of work, violation of cultural norms, etc.) have the opposite effect. They ruin our health, push people away from us, put us in hopeless situations, etc. I want to get rid of them, but it is very difficult to do this, but I am glad that, after all, it is possible.

There are large individual differences between people in the formation of habits. The formation of habits begins in early childhood, as the child learns self-care, careful dressing and undressing, careful handling of toys, and storing them in a certain order. A major role in the formation of habits in children is played by imitation of older family members and feasible participation in the working life of the family. In kindergarten, the child gets used to participating in the work of the children's team, taking responsibility for his work, his responsibilities in the game, overcoming the difficulties he encounters in his activities, helping his friends, etc. At school, students get used to working carefully and hard during the lesson. , treat homework responsibly, observe a certain schedule of work, rest, sleep, nutrition, patiently overcome difficulties, plan work, determining its content in advance and correctly distributing it in time. By observing school rules, the student masters the habits of cultural behavior. The main conditions for the formation of habits during school are the leadership and example of the teacher, systematic assessment of the student’s work and behavior by teachers, public opinion of the class team, pioneer and Komsomol organizations. An important condition for the formation of habits is an irreconcilable fight against negative habits (on the part of parents, teachers, class staff, pioneer and Komsomol organizations), categorical condemnation of every manifestation of a bad habit.

It is important to replace a negative action with a positive one, as well as prevent the occurrence and possibility of developing bad habits.

Work on developing habits in the family, kindergarten, and school must be systematic and continuous, since any violation of a habit destroys the children’s need to perform the actions necessary to form or consolidate this habit.

Habits play an important role in the formation of stable forms of behavior that characterize personality traits. The formation of useful habits and the fight against harmful, negative habits is one of the most important tasks of education.

The role of habits in people's lives

Habits are of great importance in people's lives and activities. Habits are actions that become fixed in a person’s behavior and become his needs. (Fig. 1) Satisfaction of a need is associated with a feeling of pleasure, and dissatisfaction entails unpleasant experiences. Therefore, performing habitual actions causes us positive emotions, and the inability to do what we are used to is accompanied by unpleasant feelings.

Fig.1. Human needs

Our whole life consists of habits. The way we master a new direction of activity, a new area of knowledge, the way we talk with other people and how we perceive them, the way we react to life circumstances, solve the difficulties that arise in life, and, in the end, the way we eat is all the result of habits ingrained in us. In his book Seasons of Life, Jim Rohn said: “If we want to change our circumstances, we must change our habits, our attitude, our opinion...”

The only difference between bad habits and good ones is that bad habits arise without any effort on our part, while good habits do not arise on their own, unless they are instilled by wise parents from childhood.

Any habit is, in fact, an unconscious automatic action that is formed from repeated repetition. A habit is a subconscious program following which a person acts. Contrary to popular belief, this program is not at all an enemy of the individual, but on the contrary, it is an excellent assistant. By becoming automated, habitual actions or reactions cease to take up our time and energy to think about them, prepare for them, experience them, and perform them. They happen by themselves, leaving us with energy to solve more complex problems.

We can draw a simple conclusion: in order to change a bad habit, you must first become aware of it, i.e. bring it out of the state of automatism, and transfer it to a state of control over the action being performed.

Then we need to formulate as a goal exactly the positive habit that we want to acquire and try to take an action (or abstain from action) that corresponds to the formulation. Repeating this action many times will form a positive habit. Of course, forming positive habits already requires significant effort from us, because... Our existing habits have created a certain comfort zone, and new things always cause discomfort.

Let us quote here the words of Bill Newman, author of the best-selling book Soar with the Eagles: “Remember: every intelligent person tries to turn his intentions into skills and habits.” Whatever area of life we touch on: sports, science, study, work, business, health, etc., success requires the formation of appropriate positive habits and the abandonment of bad ones.

We are well aware of the presence of bad habits such as alcoholism, drug addiction, and smoking. We can condemn or justify such habits, but every sane person knows that they are destructive to life.

Other habits are less striking, and their consequences are completely different, but just like the above, a person is most often attached to them, and thinking that he himself controls his actions, in fact becomes a slave to his habits, and they lead him through life, often without his knowledge and not always safe for life.

Firstly, as often happens, we go to bed because we are used to lying down after eating, or after work, or in general we are used to lounging in bed longer in the morning. We also eat more often out of habit, not because we want to, but because lunch time has come, and some people are used to doing without breakfast, or lunch, or dinner. After work or on weekends, we also have our own stereotype of behavior: someone goes to the cinema and loves entertainment (he is used to “relaxing” after work), someone continues to work until the night (doing work taken home, doing homework , country house). Such a person is used to working. Some people understand relaxation (used to think) as changing activities, switching from one thing to another, while others prefer to relax in bed with or without a book, with or without a friend, or just take a walk in the fresh air, admire nature, or listen to beautiful music. Habits that determine lifestyle are different for everyone.

Let’s observe who sits or stands, how they sit, and what pose they choose.

This is also a habit. As a rule, we choose the same position, using the same muscles, which leads to their overstrain, and this in turn leads to narrowing of the lumen of blood vessels and compression of the nerves passing through these muscles, which over time can cause the disease organs that receive nutrition and innervation (i.e. control from the nervous system) from compressed vessels and nerves.

It is also very important for life how we move. We don't even suspect that our range of movements that we use every day is very limited. We choose only those movements that we are accustomed to since childhood. In this case, the muscle mass is almost not used, therefore, they atrophy, therefore, again, the vessels and nerves suffer, and the disease develops.

We are accustomed to swallowing food without chewing it, and thus disrupt the digestion process. We got used to breathing without noticing our breathing, using, as a rule, one or two types of breathing: normal everyday breathing (and everyone has their own normal breathing) and deeper (depth and frequency depend on physical activity). But there are many types of breathing: abdominal, chest, mixed, with different lengths of the inhalation and exhalation phases, with pauses after inhalation and exhalation, etc. We are accustomed to not noticing pain if it does not interfere with work, we are accustomed to not noticing our body, not paying attention to it when we run to work in the morning, when we talk and laugh. Each of us has very different habits. Useful, harmful, necessary and not always necessary. Some of them help us in life, others spoil it.

Habits are fixed, as a rule, by life stereotypes and social foundations. Many habits are ingrained in us from childhood and turn into reflexes. Our habits are also influenced by the people around us. Most habits are instilled by our parents. Our habits shape our character and worldview. And if some changes are coming in life, then we have to break our habits and established way of life. If everything is stable, calm and even, then we see no reason to change our habits. So-called bad habits sometimes live in us like parasites. We behave the way we are used to, and sometimes we don’t even realize how much our habits spoil our lives and affect our feelings, thoughts and relationships with loved ones. Our habits tell us how to live, how to behave and how to relate to certain life factors or people. In other words, our actions, deeds and motives are mostly tied to pleasing our habits and not disturbing our usual way of life.

Methods for correcting habits.

Managing habits, forming only habits that are useful for personal development, health and daily activities means consciously and purposefully improving the style of your behavior. Only in this case does the human nervous system become his reliable friend, and not an enemy. It should be borne in mind that eradicating unnecessary habits and replacing them with new, reasonable ones requires not only certain internal efforts, but also certain knowledge. In psychology, the following rules have been established in this regard.

1. A person who wants to free himself from an old habit and develop a new one must formulate for himself a firm and irrevocable decision to act in the intended direction. Until such a decision is made, he will not be able to develop sufficient efforts to work on himself. The decision made will form the necessary energy center in the nervous system, which will ensure subsequent activities to implement the decision.

2. At first, the will should not be subjected to too severe tests, and therefore it is necessary to avoid those conditions in which the old habit will manifest itself with particular persistence. On the contrary, in the beginning it is better to deliberately create an environment that would be conducive to the formation and maintenance of a new habit. Thus, with each new day of compliance with the new regime, the likelihood of violating it will be significantly reduced.

3. It is very important not to deviate from following a new habit until it is established to such an extent that its accidental violation no longer poses a danger. Consistency of training is the most important condition for the infallible and reliable functioning of the nervous system.

During the period when a peculiar struggle of habits still takes place, the most important thing is to provide one of them with a continuous series of victories, until, through their repetition, the new habit is strengthened so much that it can successfully overcome the old one under any conditions. It is important to remember that one victory of a bad habit destroys the results of many victories of a good one.

Thus, when developing a new habit, it is necessary to ensure some success in this matter at the very beginning. The consciousness of success stimulates the development of efforts in the desired direction, while failure can paralyze energy in subsequent attempts. In general, the art of “remaking yourself” is largely determined by the ability to follow a narrow path in the chosen direction, without looking either to the right or to the left, and especially without looking back. This skill is developed in a person when in everyday life he systematically learns to “overcome himself” at least in small things. It is thanks to this that the moral forces necessary to control behavior are gradually trained. Anyone who daily expresses good intentions and does not carry out any of them in practice is like a person who tries to jump over a ditch, but, having accelerated, each time stops at its edge, not daring to make the last push and thereby break out of the circle of fruitless attempts .

4. It is necessary to use every favorable opportunity in everyday life in order to act in the direction suggested by reasonable arguments and moral feelings. Decisions or aspirations leave a noticeable mark on the nervous system not on their own, but only when they result in certain actions, becoming acts of rational behavior. If, for example, a person does not take advantage of each specific occasion to demonstrate his moral activity, then his moral character will not improve, even if he has a large stock of excellent moral and ethical rules. When a highly moral decision does not result in the necessary action, a person not only impoverishes his personality, losing a “good deed,” but at the same time creates “internal barriers” in the nervous system for performing such actions in the future. This is how infertile dreamers and “highly sensitive” natures are formed, who throughout their lives fail to take the slightest step towards their dreams or good intentions. By giving in to some of the effort required to bring something to fruition, they thereby set themselves on the path to creating a habit of inaction. In the same way, by giving his emotions the opportunity to evaporate fruitlessly, a person over time loses the ability to productively use their driving force, becomes lethargic, indecisive and helpless.

As a generalization of the above, we can put forward the following proposition: the effectiveness of behavior management is ensured by a living ability to make internal efforts, albeit small, but exercised daily. A person’s manifestation of a kind of asceticism and “heroism” in the little things of everyday life accustoms his psyche to self-government, to the systematic self-organization of behavior. Such a person can be confident that when the need arises to overcome real life difficulties, he will find enough strength in himself to do so. A person largely determines his own destiny, since he implements his daily behavior through good or bad habits that cause corresponding consequences.

A person who conscientiously performs his work every day can leave the final result of his work to herself. He may be deeply convinced that one fine day he will recognize himself as the most worthy representative of his generation, no matter what type of activity he chooses for himself... This truth should be known to youth in advance. Unfamiliarity with her, perhaps, gave rise to more despondency and cowardice in youth embarking on a difficult path in life than all other reasons taken together.”

Bad habits that seem difficult or even impossible to change include some of our characteristics, such as lack of confidence, straightforwardness and tactlessness. There is even such an expression as “stiffness in habits,” as if we are talking about something that was previously mobile and could still be influenced, but is now frozen and cannot be influenced by any influence.

However, any person can change if he wants to and if he knows how to do it. The main essence of the solution to the problem is that no one has to be a victim of their habits. Any habit is formed in the process of conscious repetition of any action, but the more we repeat an action, the less conscious we are of the process of its reproduction. Thus, a new habit is formed that will either complement or replace the old habit.

The bottom line is that if we want to achieve success in life, we need to analyze our habits more often, and if we discover that there are those that create serious obstacles for us, we should not think that it is impossible to get rid of them. You need to take decisive action to replace old and unhelpful habits with new ones that will lead to success.

Literature

1. Alekseev D.V. Bad habits and their negative effects. – M.: Education, 2008. – 335 p.

2. Asimov D.P. How to get rid of addictions. – M.: Pedagogy, 2009. – 287 p.

3. Babich T.A. Bad habits and rehabilitation work with adolescents. – M.: Education, 2008. – 402 p.

4. Vygotsky L.S. Lectures on psychology: St. Petersburg: Soyuz, 1997 - 144 p.

5. Leontyev A. N. Problems of mental development. 3rd ed. Moscow State University Publishing House, 1992.

6. Lyublinskaya A. A. How to get rid of bad habits. - M., Phoenix, 2007. - 342 p.

7. Petrovsky A.V. Conversations about psychology. - M.: Times, 2008. - 252 p.

8. Stolyarenko L.D. Basics of psychology. 4th ed. — Rostov n/a: Phoenix,

2001 - 672 p.

9. Shevtsov A. M. Psychology of habit. - M.: Knowledge, 2006. - 304 p.

The process of habit formation in children

Many habits are formed in childhood. A child, like a sponge, absorbs what he sees around him and always tries to imitate adults. Therefore, the environment plays an extremely important role at the moment of personality formation.

A fragile psyche is not able to reject bad habits. During this period, children often acquire things that they will not need in later life. It is extremely important for parents to monitor not only their child’s habits, but also pay attention to their own behavior.

External links [edit]

Look up habit
in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Wikiquote has quotations related to: Habit

James Rowland Angell and Addison W. Moore. (1896) "Research of the Psychological Laboratory of the University of Chicago: 1. Reaction Time: A Study of Attention and Habit." Psychological Review
3, 245–258.
“Should habits or goals guide your life? It depends on the circumstances." (Scientific American MIND blog post)
"Habit" . New Student Handbook. 1914

The process of habit formation in adults

Adults are able to consciously adjust their habits, unlike children. They are most easily formed through positive emotions associated with a certain action, or when a person is strongly motivated by something.

However, bad habits, surprisingly, are easier to form than good ones. British scientists have found that it takes 66 days to get used to performing an action that will be beneficial. This can be explained by the fact that, as a rule, bad habits cause more pleasure in a person. Wanting to get a dose of pleasant sensations, the psyche and body are rebuilt, and the formation process occurs faster. Therefore, people often break down when trying to quit smoking, start waking up earlier than usual, or run in the morning.

Formation[edit]

Habit formation is the process by which a behavior, through regular repetition, becomes automatic or habitual. This is modeled as an increase in automaticity with the number of repetitions until an asymptote. [11] [12] [13] This process of habit formation can be slow. Lally et al.

(2010) found that the average time it took participants to reach the automaticity asymptote was 66 days, with a range of 18–254 days. [13] Additionally, it has been found that failure to repeat a behavior even once can be detrimental to short-term habit formation and long-term levels of automaticity. [13]

Habit formation has three main components: contextual cueing, behavioral repetition, and reward. [14] A contextual cue can be a previous action, time of day, place, or anything that triggers habitual behavior. It could be whatever your mind associates with the habit and you automatically allow the habit to come to the surface. A behavior is an actual habit that a person exhibits, and a reward, such as a positive feeling, therefore continues the “habit cycle.” [15] A habit may initially be driven by a goal, but over time that goal becomes less necessary and the habit becomes more automatic. Intermittent or uncertain rewards have been found to be particularly effective in promoting habit learning. [16]

Various digital tools, online or mobile apps, were introduced that are designed to support habit formation. For example, Habitica is a system that uses gamification, implementing strategies found in video games to real-world problems, adding rewards such as experience and gold. [17] However, a review of such tools shows that most are poorly designed from a theoretical perspective and do not support the development of automaticity. [18] [19]

Buying habits are especially vulnerable to change during “big life moments,” such as graduation, marriage, the birth of a first child, moving to a new home, and divorce. Some stores use purchase data to try to detect these events and take advantage of marketing opportunities. [20]

Some habits are known as “core habits” and they influence the formation of other habits. For example, identifying as the type of person who takes care of their body and has a habit of exercising regularly can also influence eating better and using less credit cards. In business, safety can be a cornerstone habit that influences other habits that lead to increased productivity. [20]

A recent study by Adriaanse et al. (2014) found that habits mediated the relationship between self-control and unhealthy snack consumption. [21] Research results empirically demonstrate that high self-control can influence habit formation and, in turn, influence behavior.

How to get rid of the habit?

Having understood how behavioral skills are formed, you should figure out how you can get rid of them. It is worth noting that, as a rule, people want to eliminate something bad from their lives.

Therefore, psychologists recommend following the following algorithm of actions, which will help in getting rid of destructive habits:

Accept the fact of the existence of a bad habit and understand what bad it brings.
Imagine positive results from future achievements. Thus, understand how pleasant it will be to feel the fact of getting rid of an ingrained bad habit.
Start to control your actions. And in case of failure, do not stop and record your failures (you can write them down in a notebook, trying to evaluate yourself and understand why this happened).
Work on yourself in the right direction for at least 3 weeks. Depending on how deep the habit is, the process of breaking it can take up to 10 weeks. Regular self-control is a successful way to improve your life.

In addition, psychologists recommend rewarding yourself for successful progress towards your goal. For example, a person decided to quit smoking. He can promise himself that if he lasts 7 days without cigarettes, he will allow himself to buy what he has long dreamed of, go on vacation, etc.

The benefits and harms of habits

The benefits of habits are obvious. If we constantly had to deal with something new, our consciousness would not be able to withstand such a load. Therefore, it is definitely useful and hardly requires revision to the habit of turning off the light when leaving the room, washing your hands after visiting the toilet, or doing ten squats every day. But you need to take a closer look at some of your habits.

We will talk about seemingly completely harmless customs that do not harm anyone: going to work the same way, visiting the same stores, watching TV series on weekends.

By getting used to it, we become predictable and do not develop. A fear of change appears, and a person refuses it, even to the detriment of his interests. He may remain in an unpromising job with a tyrant boss until the end simply because he is used to it and is afraid to change something. And the helpful brain will come up with a thousand reasons to leave everything as it is.

People are manipulated using their habits. This tactic is especially often used in sales. For example, when a store opens, customers are lured with low prices, a profitable bonus system or gifts. After people get used to visiting a retail outlet, prices gradually increase, and bonuses become not so profitable. Of course, some consumers will see through the trick and leave to look for other places, but some will remain as regular customers.

You can't become a slave to your habits! You should learn to use them for your benefit and make those things automatic that are not worth the extra effort. And you should get rid of useless restrictions that hinder development, replacing them with good ones.

How to change your life for the better thanks to the right habits?

Habits shape a person's personality. Someone gets up early and goes for a run, thereby benefiting themselves and their body, someone neatly folds things, so their house is always in order. But a person of a different mindset is accustomed to throwing garbage on the street, thereby harming the environment. These are all examples of negative traditions. But how can you make sure that your habits improve your life rather than destroy it? Let's look at another list.

The following are some of the habits of successful people: