Keys to Successful Change

It can be difficult to change, whether you want to stop being a people-pleaser or lose weight and exercise more.

As previously discussed, the key to a positive change is The 8 Keys to Breaking Bad Habits. If you want to change your life and become a better version, several factors will help. It’s hard to break bad habits, so you should try to do it in small amounts for the best chances of success.

Why it is difficult to break bad habits.

Take a real-life example: Sally, who is overweight, sits at a desk all day and works through her lunch. She comes home exhausted in the evening and eats a pint of Haagen-Dazs to recover.

Sally wants to lose weight, get fit and healthy, and change her sedentary life.

Sally, like many people, may decide to start too large.

She might think: “I am going to stop eating the ice cream, [there is that word stop], run at night (too ambitious a goal for her to begin with since she has been sedentary], eat only lettuce all day.” [It’s unlikely she will stick to this commitment!]

“Oh, I also have to stop watching TV so much!” I’m eating way too much junk.

What do you think Sally’s chances of success are?

Just thinking about all the changes I need to make at once makes me feel overwhelmed.

The resistance will surely kick in!

We discover that there are other reasons why we have an unwanted habit when we try to change it. There could be emotional reasons that cause someone to hold on to excess weight. If there are other factors at play, it doesn’t really matter how much you exercise or eat healthy.

To achieve positive change, we must increase our self-awareness as well as master ourselves at every step.

You’ll notice a transformation in your life when you align your values and goals!

Find out how to use the power and good habits.

Read this: Are you tired of being overweight? How to lose weight from a new perspective on an old problem

Use the Eight Keys of Life to Change a Bad Habit into a Healthy Habit

We often want to know HOW to break bad habits, but we can also get overwhelmed or discouraged. It’s more important to learn HOW to change. These keys will help you make any change you desire.

It is possible to break bad habits if you are aware of the key factors and know how to use them. Incorporate mini habits into your daily routine to help you achieve your goals.

Bring to light any thoughts that do not support your goals.

These decisions may sound good. We all know our habits tend to be ingrained.

Sally’s thoughts went as follows:

• Maybe I’ve taken on a little too much.
• I’m too tired tonight to walk.
• “I’m a little spoiled; I worked hard all day!”
• “I will start on the weekend when I am not so tired.”
• I can still fit in that teal dress for the party.
• It will be much easier to shed weight when the weather gets nicer.

We must become more aware of our self-talk. We rarely achieve our goals if we believe in our thoughts.

Replace mind chatter.

If you’re a victim of this type of thinking, it is even more crucial to stop.

It’s much more likely for a person to feel satisfied and motivated if they can start.

Unmet needs can be explored.

Her monitoring of her thoughts revealed Sally’s loneliness at night. She needed companionship. She felt much better about herself when she rekindled an old friendship.

Comfort was another unmet need. She used food as a way to soothe uncomfortable feelings and reward herself for her hard work. After she realized this pattern, her behavior changed. She began getting massages instead of masking her feelings with food.

We often want to know the best way to stop bad habits but neglect to meet our own needs to support change.

Start small.

Sally used this strategy to replace her afternoon sweets with trail mix, adding some dried fruits for sweetness. She then tackled eating only salads for lunch and eliminating ice cream at night.

Focusing on one small step at a time makes it easier to progress, reinforce new behavior, and build upon our successes.

Mentally practice.

Sally imagined how great she would feel when the weight began to melt away. She was thrilled to think that her colleagues would compliment her on her new look! She looked into the mirror and felt proud of her new, sexy body. She went one step further, imagining herself dating a handsome guy and running a 2-kilometer race with her friends.

Link your new behavior to an established habit.

It is important to link your new behavior with a habit that you already have. This will help make the further action more “sticky.”

Sally was looking for something to link with and found out that her neighbor walks every morning. Sally had always wanted to learn more about this woman, so she asked if she could walk with her.

Sally’s morning coffee and reading about fitness and health inspired her to continue her program.

She also decided to walk seven blocks to work to start her new sedentary life.

Keep your commitments.

Sally was doing pretty well with her new obligations the first four days. On Friday, she was particularly tired and down due to a reprimand she received at work. Sally gave up on her fitness goals and vegetated in front of a bag full of chips with her favorite TV show.

She was about to settle into her large armchair when she stopped herself, said “NO! “and got up quickly. She was already out of the door and on a walk before she knew what happened.

Sally was feeling great as she slept that night. Sally was now confident in her ability to change the unhealthy patterns.

Sally’s U-turn, when she was likely to go back to her old ways, was thrilling. She felt good on the inside.