“Bad habits progress well and are reluctant to leave their masters. Healthy habits are harder to develop, but much easier and more enjoyable to live with,” says Dr. Whitfield, nicknamed the “Hip-Hop Doctor” for his work with teenagers.
You can use Whitfield’s simple tips for transforming habits, no matter your age!
Keep in mind that developing a new habit or behavior takes 60 to 90 days. Remember this.
It is important to remember that a bad habit is addicted to instant gratification – an immediate feeling of comfort. But retribution lies ahead, and that’s the catch. Good habits, on the contrary, will not give quick satisfaction, but will bear fruit over time.
Think of the task as replacing (a bad habit with a good one) rather than a deprivation. Whitfield says it’s important to find what really motivates you. It is perfectly acceptable to have some other motivation, and not just the desire to become healthier. “A lot of people do it for the kids,” he says. “They want to be an example.”
Whitfield’s top tips for developing healthy habits:
1. Break a big goal down into smaller ones. For example, you eat five chocolate bars a day, but you want to reduce your consumption to six per month. Cut down to two tiles a day. You will begin to see results and be more motivated to achieve your goal.
2. Tell someone you trust about this experiment. Just not to someone who will provoke you. It is extremely difficult to form a new healthy habit without support. For example, a husband is trying to quit smoking, while his wife smokes in front of him every now and then. It is necessary to find internal self-motivation and stick to it.
3. Allow yourself weakness from time to time. You refrained from sweets throughout the week, doing workouts. Allow yourself a small piece of apple pie at your parents’ house!
4. Change the habit of watching TV to exercise.
“Many people try to fill an inner void through bad habits, or suppress depression caused by certain life difficulties,” Whitfield says. “They don’t understand that by doing so they only exacerbate their problems.”