A habit is a routine of behavior that is repeated regularly and tends to occur subconsciously. The American Journal of Psychology defined a "habit, from the standpoint of psychology, [as] a more or less fixed way of thinking, willing, or feeling acquired through previous repetition of a mental experience." According to the author Charles Duhigg, habits are an important force that our brains actually cling to because they create neurological cravings where a certain behavior  is  rewarded by the release of “pleasure” chemicals in the brain.

A bad habit is an undesirable behavior pattern. Common examples  include:  procrastination, fidgeting, overspending, nail-biting, thumb sucking, smoking, alcohol drinking etc.

It is known to us that old habits are hard to break and new habits are hard to form. It is due to the behavioural patterns in which humans repeat become imprinted in neural pathways but it is possible to form new habits through repetition.

There are eight ways to Break a Bad Habit

Will Power: A key factor in distinguishing a bad habit from an addiction or mental disease is willpower. If a person is having strong will power then he / she can easily control the behavior. 

Choose a substitute for your bad habit: You need to have a plan ahead of time for how you will respond when you face the stress or boredom  that prompts your bad habit. For example, Nicotex help smokers to quit cigarette.

Cut the triggers if possible: When you learn your triggers and develop tools to handle them, you are less likely to engrain bad habits. Your environment makes your bad habit easier and good habits harder. Change your environment and you can change the outcome. For example, Take the sweets out of the house. Leave cookies off  the grocery list.  Other possible triggers include: lack of sleep, arguing, toxic relationships, emotional pain, fear of failure, etc. Identification can help you set up tools.

Obtain an accountability partner: Joining forces with someone is a powerful tool to success. Knowing someone expects you to be better improves performance and helps both parties.

Surround yourself with people who empower your new way of life: To get rid of bad habits avoid bad companions.

Visualize success:  There must be a permanent vision in your head of who you want to become. Visualization or holding the image of how you see yourself in your mind improves long term outcome.  If you want to be fit, of course you have to put the work in behind it but a visual aid, such as an old picture of yourself before you gained weight posted on the drawing room, gives a constant reminder to stay with the healthy habits.

Overcome negative self–talk: Person must avoid from negative self-talk. Replace the voices in your head with a prayer or chanting your God or Goddess.  It’s easy to judge yourself for your bad habits or poor behavior. Every time you slip up or make a mistake, it’s easy to tell yourself you are a failure but that does not help things.  Instead, say something like, “I’m not where I need to be, but I am also not where I used to be.  I’m on my way to success!”

Plan for failure: We all slip up every now and then. So rather than beating yourself up over a mistake, plan for it. There is a Persian proverb “Thinking is wise, Planning is better and Implementation is wisest”.

Breaking bad habits takes time and effort, but mostly it takes perseverance.

To break the habit means following a new plan for life, not a day, a week, a month and not even a year. It is for the rest of your life.

Most people who end up breaking their bad habits try and fail multiple times before they make it work. You might not have success right away, but keep fine tuning your new behavior and lengthening the time you stay on track and the new behavior will be yours to keep.

One popular method to build habits is called the 21/90 rule. In this rule, commit to a personal or professional goal for 21 straight days. After three weeks, the pursuit of that goal should have become a habit. Once you've established that habit, you continue to do it for another ninety days. Breaking bad habits takes time and effort . To break the habit means following a new plan for the rest of your life.