Learn How To Change Habits With These Five Behavior Tips

Medically reviewed by Andrea Brant, LMHC
Updated November 4, 2024by BetterHelp Editorial Team
Content warning: Please be advised, the below article might mention substance use-related topics that could be triggering to the reader. If you or someone you love is struggling with substance use, contact SAMHSA’s National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357). Support is available 24/7. Please see our Get Help Now page for more immediate resources.

Habits are repeated activities or behaviors that often become subconscious, such as taking a specific route to your workplace, checking your phone, hitting the snooze button when you wake up, or setting your shoes in a particular spot when you get home. Habits can be positive or negative, depending on how they affect your health and well-being. For example, if you are staying up late every night despite having to wake up early for work in the morning, that habit may be more likely to negatively affect your life, as you might be tired while trying to work or study the next day.

In some cases, unhealthy habits may impede your long-term goals or self-care. If your habits are no longer serving you, there are a few ways you can move forward and make healthier choices.

Wondering how to change your habits?

The science behind changing habits

According to an article published in the British Journal of General Practice, psychologists define habits as “actions that are automatically incited in response to contextual cues that have been associated with their performance.” For example, people may automatically buckle their seat belts (action) when getting in the car (cue). Habits can form from the repetition of an action in a given context over time, often to the point that the action becomes automatic without the need for cognitive involvement. 

Habits are considered an evolutionary strategy to make the brain more efficient and enable individuals to focus on tasks that require attention. Despite the evolutionary advantage that habits may provide for one’s mental capacity to process information, humans can develop habits that are not necessarily beneficial. At a certain point, these habits can be detrimental to a person’s mental and physical health or get in the way of their goals.

Research has shown that people who consistently accomplish their goals tend to practice self-control strategies while developing positive habits. For this reason, understanding habit change can be valuable. By using evidence-based strategies for habit formation, you may find that you progress faster. 

How to change habits: Five helpful tips

It may be easier to change your habits over time if you incorporate some tried-and-true techniques. By changing your habits, you can incorporate new habits into your routine to replace old habits that may no longer be conducive to your healing and growth.

Become mindful of your habit

You may have heard of the concept of mindfulness. Mindfulness involves a purposeful sense of awareness rooted in the current moment. To change a habit, it may help to first notice when you are engaging in it, without casting judgment. You might sit and observe any thoughts or emotions surrounding the habit, without sinking into guilty self-talk.

Take note of the habit's details, such as the specific time you notice it happening (for example, if you are trying to reduce your sugar intake, it may be beneficial to notice that you automatically reach for sugary snacks while you are watching television). Some people may also find it helpful to record these details. This process can assist in identifying potential patterns. Once you are more aware of these patterns, it can be easier to replace your habit with a new action.

Switch out one stimulus for another

Some habits can be more challenging to change if they are associated with a reward response in the brain. For example, if you are trying to reduce your caffeine intake, but you currently drink three cups of coffee daily, you may notice some withdrawal effects, such as a headache or irritability, if you quit drinking coffee cold turkey. To help with the habit change, you might start by replacing your third cup of coffee with a caffeine-free coffee or tea. You can then work your way up to drinking two caffeine-free beverages, and then no caffeinated beverages at all. This strategy may help you gradually reduce caffeine intake while still enjoying the physical stimulus of sipping something hot. 

Chewing gum instead of smoking is another example of stimulus replacement. While you may temporarily miss the nicotine, chewing gum can provide the same kind of oral stimulation that smoking once did.

Be specific about the action you want to take

While it can be helpful to have a general habit change in mind, such as sleeping more or eating more nourishing food, broad goals can be easy to ignore. Instead, it may help to be more specific about the action you want to take. For instance, you may habitually stay up late and use your laptop before bed. Instead of saying, "I want to go to bed earlier," consider setting a specific time you would like to go to bed, such as 10 PM. If you are less specific, you might procrastinate sleeping.

This technique can work not just for changing unhelpful habits, but also for starting new positive habits. If you want to incorporate a new habit into your life, set a specific time to practice it. For example, if you want to start meditating for ten minutes daily, it may help to set an alarm on your phone for the time you want to meditate. A reminder may help you establish a practice that slowly becomes a habit as you automatically associate meditation with temporal and other contextual cues.

Adjust your environment to make habit change easier on your brain

Habits are often paired with certain stimuli or contextual cues that initiate them, so one way to potentially change a habit change is to disrupt your routine or environment. For example, if you are hoping to watch less television, and you notice that you habitually turn on the TV as soon as you come home, you might consider placing the remote control in another room so that you are forced to consciously seek it out. If the remote used to be readily available and within reach as soon as you walked in the door, walking into another room to access it might somewhat disrupt the old routine. To grab the remote and turn the television on, you must make an active choice to go against your new habit of watching less TV.

If your goal is to replace your TV-watching tendency with a new habit like exercise, you might make another environmental change by placing your walking shoes next to the door. This way, you can establish the habit of quickly putting your walking shoes on and getting out the door right when you arrive home from work.

Practice self-compassion

If you are having difficulty changing a habit, you might experience self-shaming or judgmental thoughts. These thoughts can be maladaptive, as shame can make self-control more difficult. Self-compassion and kindness may encourage inner dialogue that leads to sustained behavior change.

Habit change is a process, and despite common claims about habit formation, the time it takes to establish a new habit can vary from person to person. It may help to exercise self-compassion if a new habit does not form immediately.

One tip for self-compassion is to use positive self-talk, similar to how you might talk with a friend. For example, if a friend is working to change a deeply ingrained habit and is experiencing difficulty, you might tell them, "It's okay. There will be a new opportunity to try again tomorrow.” It may help to treat yourself with the same kindness and compassion.

Wondering how to change your habits?

A professional can help you assess your behavior and habits

For some people, therapy can assist in making healthy and significant life changes. Not only can it be advantageous to have support from an unbiased, nonjudgmental party, but a therapist may be able to offer insight into the reasons behind your habits and any specific contextual cues that have contributed to habit formation. A therapist may also be able to help you use this knowledge to strategically modify cues to develop habits that lead to more happiness and fulfillment. 

Consider online therapy when wondering how to change habits or behavior

If you are hesitant to visit a therapist in person due to barriers like finances or distance, you can access online therapy through a platform like BetterHelp. Through online therapy, you can discuss habit formation with a therapist from the comfort of your home via phone, live chat, or videoconferencing. In addition, you can contact your therapist at any time through in-app messaging, and they’ll respond as soon as they can.

Effectiveness of online therapy for changing a habit

Online therapy has been found to be an effective form of care for various mental health challenges. In a review published in Cureus, researchers assessed the effectiveness of internet-based cognitive-behavioral therapy (ICBT) in the treatment of various mental health conditions. The authors of the review concluded that ICBT was effective in treating generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder, addiction, and substance use disorder, among other conditions.

Takeaway

If you’re interested in changing certain habits, you may find it helpful to gain a more profound awareness of your habits, recognize contextual cues that make them easy to repeat, and create environmental changes that disrupt your patterns. Additionally, it may help to speak with a licensed therapist to obtain support and insight into your specific habits. Consider contacting a professional online or in your area to get started.

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