Habits usually take three weeks to develop and three weeks to eliminate. Learn how to get started quitting bad habits from a licensed professional psychotherapist in this video.
Recognize habit
Write it down
Examine thoughts
Seek counseling
Dr. Coral Arvon is a licensed clinical psychotherapist with Arvon & Associates Counseling in Aventura, Florida.
DR. CORAL ARVON: Hi, my name is Dr. Coral Arvon. I'm a licensed clinical psychotherapist with Arvon and Associates in Counseling in Aventura, Florida. This is the beginner's guide to quitting bad habits. First of all, you need to know that a habit usually takes three weeks to develop and also three weeks to eliminate. What is this bad habit that you want to change? Write it down and really get a look at what is it, when does it occur, what situations and how often. Keep a journal so that you know you can chart your progress. What we want to do is we want to find something to replace the bad habit. So find something that you can do, maybe something physically or something mentally. Try to put yourself in different situations where the habit doesn't occur. Habits are hard to break. They're like little rituals that you've developed and we need rituals and we need consistency, but you can change. What can you do instead? Well, first try to catch yourself in your thoughts. Your thoughts are going to cause you to go into your behavior, your habit. We think. We feel. We act. The action is the habit. So maybe if I change the way I see things and the way I think about them, I won't need to do that. Five important things to remember about quitting bad habits are: one, recognize what the habit is; two, write it down; three, write down when and where it occurs; four, see what your thoughts are that cause that behavior and emotion; and five, seek counseling if you need it and work on new habits and new directions.
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