Breaking Bad Habits and Improving Your Life

By Michal Stawicki

Habits are at the very core of our lives. The habits we make — and don’t make — for ourselves can dramatically affect the trajectory of our lives. You might have an idea of which habits are “good” and which habits are “bad.” But identifying the quality of habits is light work compared to making new habits, and breaking the bad ones can be even tougher.

Author Michał Stawicki is here to help. In Breaking Bad Habits and Improving Your Life, Stawicki gives a valuable lesson in one of the toughest activities there is: breaking bad habits that are holding you back from your ideal life. In Breaking Bad Habits, Stawicki breaks down the science of habits, provides tangible steps for ridding yourself of bad habits, and explains how you can replace those no-good habits with healthier ones. He also shares exercises along the way to help you put what you’ve learned into practice immediately.

Are you ready to enhance your life? The first step could lie in changing your habits. Breaking Bad Habits and Improving Your Life is essential reading for fans of personal development.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Scribd Coach
• Release date: Aug 17, 2021
• ISBN: 9781094425535

Michal Stawicki

Proven techniques from a practitioner. True stories.Does the concept of 'visualization' sound ridiculous to you?Do you consider mental exercises, the "law of attraction", "manifesting" and self development to be a waste of time or hokey-pokey?Has it been years since you thought seriously about your life?Welcome to the club! That describes me just a year ago. I was overweight, stressed, constantly worried about my finances and quietly desperate about my relationship with God. I was aimless. I had no plans for where my life would be in 2, 5 or 10 years.I'm a reader. I've read several thousands books in my life; there wasn't much else to do in Poland before the fall of communism. We had a black and white TV with only 2 channels; I didn't see my first computer until age 11. So, reading became my biggest habit.In August 2012 I read a book called "The Slight Edge" by Jeff Olson. It took me a whole month to start implementing ideas from this book. That led to me reading numerous other personal development books, some effective, some less so. I looked at myself and decided this was one person who could surely use some development. In November of 2012, I created my personal mission statement; I consider it the real starting point of my progress. Over several months I applied several self-help concepts and started building inspiring results: I some weight, greatly increased my savings, built new skills, got rid of bad habits and developed better ones.I'm very pragmatic, a "down to earth" person. I favor utilitarian, bottom-line results over pure artistry.Despite the ridiculous language, I found there is value in the "hokey-pokey visualization" stuff. I now see it as my mission to share what I have learned.My books are not abstract. I avoid going mystical as much as possible. I don't believe that pure theory is what we need in order to change our lives; the Internet age has proven this quite clearly. What you will find in my books are:- detailed techniques and methods describing how you can improve your skills and drive results in specific areas of your life- real life examples- personal storiesSo, whether you are completely new to personal development or have been crazy about the Law of Attraction for years, if you are looking for concrete strategies, you will find them in my books. My writing shows that I am a relatable, ordinary guy, not some ivory tower guru.I've been married over 12 years. I'm a father of two boys and one girl. I work full time in the IT industry, and recently, I've become an author. My passions are transparency, integrity and progress.

Book preview

1

Introduction

Hello everyone, and welcome to Breaking Bad Habits to Improve Your Life, a course from Scribd. Thank you for joining me. I’ll be your leader through the landscape of our habits.

Which is easier — possible or impossible? Making habits is what we do. Practically any species from the vertebrate family, perhaps with the exception of fish, create new habits all the time. Habits are stored in the part of the brain we share not only with mammals, but also birds and reptiles: the basal ganglia. This is why a habit cannot be broken: It’s saved in your brain. Forever.

Initially, this may sound scary — like you’re doomed to fall into bad habits time and time again. But rest assured, this is not the case. Although a habit cannot technically be broken, we can develop an understanding of our habits in order to help us manage our behaviors — regulating the effect these habits have in our everyday lives. What we recognize as breaking old habits is usually one of these two things: eliminating the trigger for the habit and reprogramming the habit.

That is, in the simplest terms, what this course is all about. Sorry if I gave you a fright, but we all understand what a habit is in general terms, and yet we still struggle to manage them; in order to truly get a handle on our habits — good and bad alike — it’s important that we really understand them on a fundamental level, which may require us to reconceptualize what a habit actually is.

Between this introduction and our conclusion, this course will consist of four units designed to help you understand how and why you create habits; which habits to break, which habits to keep; and how to know when a habit has gone too far. We’ll discuss strategies, tips and tricks to help you develop the habits you want, and break the ones you don’t. I’ll also walk you through the science of habits, and how we can use it to our advantage.

As you’ll learn, understanding your habits is just the beginning. Really changing your habits — and therefore changing your life — requires daily action. Daily, sustained action brings results. And what is a daily, sustained action? A habit. So to get you started in your journey, the end of each unit will also include an exercise for you to complete so that you can put into practice what you’ll have just learned. I highly recommend getting a notebook or journal specifically for this purpose, and for continued use afterward in your journey towards creating healthier habits.

There are a number of possible reasons that may have brought you here. Maybe you want to quit smoking or shake some other bad habit. Maybe you’re looking to build new, healthier habits for your own well-being or peace of mind. Or maybe this is a means to the end of taking a step towards your dream life. Either way, habits are the best life-change generator at your disposal. Jim Rohn, the successful entrepreneur and motivational speaker,