Stopping a habit is not easy and one encounters various levels of difficulty in trying to do so. These difficulty levels depend on what the habit is, for how long has it been part of the victim’s life and how often the victim exercised the habit.

For instance, smoking can be a very difficult habit to break. It depends for how long a person has been smoking and how many cigarettes a day did he use to smoke. Apart from that it also depends on the type of character one has. There are cases of people who used to smoke daily for years and they stopped immediately (something which is not recommended). Whilst on the other hand, there are smokers who smoke daily in small amounts but find it very hard to say no.

This post lists three tips that you should keep in mind when trying to break any kind of bad habit.

Get to know the reality about your habit

Some people don’t think about how awful their habit is. They don’t realise that their habit is affecting for instance their health and affecting others around them. For instance, alcoholics sometimes don’t know the effect alcohol has on their health. They also don’t realise that their friends make fun of them. Hence, getting to know the reality about your habit will motivate you to break your habit.

Plan on how to nuke your habit

Don’t rush to stop your habit tomorrow since you will not succeed. Plan slowly and in detail how you are going to reduce your dependency on the habit, little by little, until you are at a point where the habit is not affective on you anymore. For different people, it might take different time periods, depending on the severity of the habit and one’s character. Don’t worry. Take your time. The most important thing is that you make a plan and that you actually follow it. You will motivate yourself to work more when you see that you are succeeding in breaking your habit.

Tell everyone about your plan to break the habit

This is a very common and useful technique to get motivated to do something. In this case, you want to break a habit. By telling people that you want to break one of your habits, people will support you and encourage you to do so. People will also serve as a reminder every now and then, since they keep asking about your progress in breaking your habit.