Breaking bad Habits & creating new, Good Habits.

Happy 2023! Normally everyone would be asking what’s your New Year’s resolution? 

Basically a new goal or habit you want to create for the new coming year. And although we are not starting this blog off with those questions we will get into them a little later. 

When setting a new goal we often forget about or don’t think about or focus on the bad habits we need to first get rid of or change before trying to add a new repetitive behavior into an already bad schedule. 

When trying to create a new habit let’s first focus on how to rid the bad/old ones. 

For example if your new goals are money management we first have to recognize where we are going wrong with the money we currently Mismanage now. 

If it’s losing weight/toning up/or gaining health weight, we first need to focus on what unhealthy habits we need to break so our new habits will succeed. Do you midnight snack?, do you snack at work or on breaks?, do you do impulsive spending? Do you spend with the mindset that you will just “get it right back”. What have you been doing so long that you now need to stop in order for this new habit to form? 

According to Healthline.com there are many things we need to do or focus on to first break a bad habit before we create a new one. 

1. Know your triggers.
2. Ask why.
3. Enlist a friend.
4. Be mindful.
5. Swap habits.
6. Make reminders.
7. Prepare for slipups.
8. Don't ignore progress.

Let’s use this list to focus on money management. 

First we need to identify what trigger you to over spend or go into the negative each payday or each month. 

How much of your dollars are unaccounted for? Do you ever find yourself asking yourself “where did my money go? I just had $300 and I have no idea why I only have $50 left.”

Start documenting every transaction you make, every cash app you send, every store run you make, just any time you spend money whether it’s $2.30 or $60.60. 

Also understand that daily, weekly or monthly expenses you don’t write down in your budget plan will also throw your budget off. 

When writing out your weekly or even monthly bills if you don’t include things like “gas money”, “coffee and breakfast from wawa weekly”, “mani and pedi “ it creates and illusion payday that you have access to more money than you actually have. 

Let’s say after you take care of your bills for the pay period you are left with $600. So in your mind you have $600 to freely do what you want until next paycheck but you get gas on payday and it takes $80 for fill up your tank. By the next Friday you spent another $80 for gas for the coming week and  $60 on coffee and breakfast for the week, your mani and pedi including tip was $65 so at the end of the pay week you actually only have $315 to play with and not $600. You are more likely to spend  $300 more wisely than $600 because the $315 is what you actually have to play with granted no other expenses pop up. You are less likely to go out and or plan anything extravagant if you only have access to $300 for the next week. Making yourself think you have $600 to play with will have you only focusing on $600 every time you spend money. You will likely make more impulsive decisions when it comes to spending money because you are not thinking about the expenses you didn’t include in your budget just that you have $600 “left” in the moment. 

So make sure you always include weekly expenses in your budget because those things we do without thought are still a bill it’s just that sometimes it’s not a household bill. 

The second point is ask why? Why are you overspending? Do it make you relaxed? Does it help your anxiety? Is it helping with panics? What feelings do you get when you overspend or mismanage! 

Also try to figure out what are some other behaviors you can preform that don’t include impulsive spending to help your cope. 

Enlist a friend. Find someone who can help hold you accountable. Don’t put this on someone you never shop with, or someone who is never around you that can’t help you with your spending. Same with if the goal was losing weight. Don’t partner with  someone that does not have the same motivation or goals, who’s not in your weight bracket, or someone you are never around. It has to be someone that will actually help you in all ways possible be accountable for change. Someone you physically spend a lot of time with. 

I want to skip down to be mindful. If the goal is money management or weight lost or gain always be mindful or conscious of the things you are doing or not doing that includes you getting to your goal. Every time you are about to spend money triple ask yourself “Do I really need this?, can I save this money instead of spending this money?”. Obsessing over your goal is not a bad idea in this instance because you will always be mindful of the decisions you have to make when it comes to achieving that goal. 

Also prepare for slip ups. As one may say allow yourself a cheat day. Please understand it takes more than 2 months before a new behavior becomes automatic. 

And lastly, please don’t ignore progress. What’s the new saying “a win is a win”. A small win, is still a win. Even if you break habit after 3 days, always understand that for 3 days you were on a roll, correct your behavior and pick yourself back up and keep going. 

You still have time to put some goals in place. Understand you must first break the unhealthy habit, take your time questioning what’s contributing to you not being able to be on a healthy track, teaming up with a friend that can hold you accountable, recognizing it takes more than 2 month to automatically create a new habit, creating a new habit and celebrating ALL WINS! 

If you already have new goals for 2023 post them below. In your response include what habit connected to the new goal must you break first before starting on your new Goal.