Habitual behavior is created by thought patterns, which create neural pathways and memories, which eventually become the default basis for your behavior when you’re faced with choices. Our brains seek pleasure and the effort to abstain from bad habits compels you to do them more because abstention feels bad.Changing requires new ways of thinking, to trigger new neural pathways, which will in time reward you the same way you were neurologically rewarded by the bad habit.

Don’t Fight Your Biology

Self Improvement

Developing new ways of thinking initially creates significant psychological discomfort. But to persevere you have to recognize that you will naturally want to hold onto your own personal status quo.To avoid the natural resistance, re-frame the challenge into something you gain and learn.

Fighting Your Resistance To Change

To better your odds of changing: <ul><li>Create an action plan</li><li>Break your new habits into small, attainable goals. Tap into your physiological and psychological tendencies to make the change stick.</li><li>Set cues to help you meet your goal. Cues are often centered around location, time, emotional states, other people, or something that precedes an action; cues help solidify habits.</li></ul>

Think In Steps

Our habits form based on the stories we tell ourselves about who we are. But this stories are not immutable facts, recognizing that is key to change.Cultivate the belief that you and your life can change and that you are a work in progress. This will lay the foundation for creating the change you want to see in your life.

Be The Hero Of Your Own Story

Research indicates that keeping your eye on the prize makes the prize in question appear closer than if you let yourself get distracted.&nbsp;Visualize the finish line as closer than it is to make the process feel easier and keep distractions away.&nbsp;

See The Finish Line

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We all know the feeling of setting goals for ourselves only to watch our commitment fade as time passes.
Why is this? For one, <a href="https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.forbes.com%2Fsites%2Fnicolelipkin%2F2018%2F09%2F19%2Fthis-is-the-way-to-change-your-bad-habits%2F&amp;text=Change%20scares%20people%20more%20than%20death%3A%2090%25%20of%20people%20who%20undergo%20coronary%20bypass%20surgery%20do%20not%20change%20their%20lifestyle.">change scares people more than death. To drive that point home, 90% of people who undergo coronary bypass surgery do not change their lifestyle</a> , despite having just received the scare of their lives.
If people who face a life and death situation are resistant to change, it's no wonder that we struggle with even minor habit changes.
Don't fight your biology. Habitual behavior is created by thought patterns, which create neural pathways and memories, which eventually become the default basis for your behavior when you're faced with a choice or a decision.
Our brains desperately seek pleasure over pain. The effort to abstain from bad habits compels you to do them more because abstention feels bad. Ergo, you will fight to feel good.
To effect change requires new ways of thinking, to trigger new neural pathways, which will in time reward you the same way you were neurologically rewarded by the bad habit.
Easier said than done.
This process initially creates significant psychological discomfort, whether we're aware of it or not.
The bottom line and what to do about it: Recognize that you will naturally want to hold onto your own personal status quo. This self-awareness is key to the change process.
Choose gain over loss. <a href="https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.forbes.com%2Fsites%2Fnicolelipkin%2F2018%2F09%2F19%2Fthis-is-the-way-to-change-your-bad-habits%2F&amp;text=As%20humans%2C%20we%20are%20loss-averse%3A%20it%E2%80%99s%20more%20painful%20to%20lose%20fifty%20dollars%20than%20it%20is%20to%20gain%20fifty%20dollars%29.">As humans, we are loss-averse: it hurts us more to lose something than to gain something (e.g., it's more painful to lose fifty dollars than it is to gain fifty dollars).</a> 
When you focus on stopping a habit, you fight your natural, human urge to gain over lose.
We will therefore white-knuckle our terrible habits when they are framed as things we need to lose or stop.
The bottom line and what to do about it: To avoid the white-knuckling, re-frame the challenge into something you gain and learn, versus stop.
We are well-practiced in the art of learning from the minute we are born. We learn, we don't stop.
Rather than say, "I need to stop spending money," frame the change as "I want to learn how to have financial flexibility and gain financial freedom."
It might seem small, but the reframe packs a punch.
Think in steps. Large, daunting steps will be harder to accomplish and have the potential to thwart your ultimate goal of creating a new desirable habit. Similarly, so will small, too easily accomplishable steps.
According to social psychologist, Emily Balcetis, our body gets excited - showing a rise in systolic blood pressure - when anticipating an achievable goal, even more so with a slightly harder but still achievable goal.
If, however, the goal is too large and daunting, it throws it into the "impossible" drawer.
The bottom line and what to do about it: First, create an action plan. Break your new habits into small, attainable goals. Tap into your physiological and psychological tendencies to make the change stick.
Second, establish different cues that will help you meet your goal. Cues are often centered around location, time, emotional states, other people, or something that precedes an action; cues help solidify habits.
For example, if you typically find yourself noshing on junk at your desk every afternoon at 3PM, identify a different 3PM cue to help you learn the new habit (e.g., at 3PM go for a 10-minute walk or hold your daily team meeting).
See the finish line. Balcetis discovered something else in her research about attaining goals: keeping your eye on the prize makes the prize in question appear closer than if you let yourself get distracted.
In the , one group was told to focus on the finish line in the distance, and the other was told to take in the surroundings as they walked toward the finish line.
The researchers found, "People who kept their eyes on the prize saw the finish line as 30% closer than people who looked around as they naturally would."
The bottom line and what to do about it:Perception is everything. Visualize the finish line as closer than it is to make the process feel easier. The more distraction you allow, the further your goal will appear.
Be the hero. <a href="https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.forbes.com%2Fsites%2Fnicolelipkin%2F2018%2F09%2F19%2Fthis-is-the-way-to-change-your-bad-habits%2F&amp;text=Our%20old%20habits%20formed%20based%20on%20our%20self-schemas%3A%20the%20stories%20we%20tell%20ourselves%20about%20who%20we%20are.">Our old habits formed based on our self-schemas: the stories we tell ourselves about who we are.</a> 
Take a look at your own story and whether you've written yourself as the hero in your journey, the antagonist, or a sideline supporting character.
In the story you've told yourself are you capable of anything or do you always get the short end of the stick?
In order to create new, healthier habits for yourself, you must first believe you are capable of change.
Researcher Carol Dweck coined the phrase "growth mindset," the belief that you can develop and grow through effort and hard work, that your lot in life is not fixed and immutable.
The bottom line and what to do about it: Cultivate a growth mindset, that you are a work in progress. This will lay the foundation for creating the change you want to see in your life.
When it comes to good habit formation and positive change, write yourself as the hero who stays on track, visualizes the finish line as shorter than it is, and believes they are capable of becoming whoever they want.
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We all know the feeling of setting goals for ourselves only to watch our commitment fade as time passes. Why is this? When we try to change by focusing on stopping a habit we often fail because the key is to work with your biology, not against it.

Don’t Fight Your Biology

This Is The Way To Change Your Bad Habits

Fighting Your Resistance To Change

Think In Steps

Be The Hero Of Your Own Story

See The Finish Line

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