{"id":83,"date":"2012-09-10T10:12:00","date_gmt":"2012-09-10T16:12:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/marlatomazin.com\/blog\/?p=83"},"modified":"2013-02-08T13:34:30","modified_gmt":"2013-02-08T19:34:30","slug":"want-to-break-a-habit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/marlatomazin.com\/?p=83","title":{"rendered":"Want to break a habit?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Whether it\u2019s mindless snacking, sitting on the couch instead of exercising, sleeping with our makeup on, or biting our nails, we all have bad habits. I think that most people know when a particular habit isn\u2019t good for them. But they continue to stick to their less-than-ideal routines because forming new habits is just too time-consuming or frustrating, or because other tasks take priority. (I know I\u2019ve been guilty of this!)<\/p>\n<p>Over the years, though, I\u2019ve learned that the seemingly little things have a <em>big<\/em> impact on your overall quality of life. Say, for example, that you habitually run late in the mornings. On the surface, it might not seem like that big of a deal. After all, you may be rushed during your commute, but you usually make it to the office (more or less) on time. But what if you allowed yourself an extra ten minutes to get ready? You would be so much less stressed while getting dressed. You might have time to eat a quick breakfast. Your blood pressure wouldn\u2019t shoot through the roof every time you hit a red light. And you\u2019d feel calm when you sat down to begin your work day.<\/p>\n<p>Trust me, it\u2019s almost always worth the time and effort it takes to break habits that aren\u2019t enhancing your life. The key to making it work is to figure out what the payoff is. In the example above, the payoff would be smoother, less stressful mornings (very important since mornings can set the tone for your whole day!). I\u2019ve found that if you can explain to yourself <em>why<\/em> a new habit would make your life easier or better, you\u2019ll have the motivation you need to follow through with real change. Here are some examples of changed habits that have happened in my family recently:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Whenever a restaurant brings out a starter, like bread and butter or chips and salsa, it\u2019s so easy to eat it mindlessly while waiting on your meal. But really, wouldn\u2019t you rather save your appetite and calorie intake for the entr\u00e9e? My husband, Barry, and I have recently started sending the bread away so that we can savor what we order. The payoff is that we can eat our meal without feeling overly full, and without feeling guilty about all of that mindless eating. We have also started ordering peppermint tea instead of dessert.<\/li>\n<li>Barry\u2019s blood sugar tends to get low in the afternoon. In the past, though, he was often so absorbed in his work that he ignored the way he was feeling. Recently, he has set up an alarm on his computer that goes off mid-afternoon and asks, \u201cDo you want an apple?\u201d That\u2019s Barry\u2019s cue to eat an apple and take a short walk around the office to talk to employees. He feels so much better, and he\u2019s more productive afterward.<\/li>\n<li>I really love my job! And sometimes, I\u2019ll stay on my computer late into the night. (I suspect I\u2019m not the only one.) Now that I am married to Barry, though, it\u2019s important to me to spend quality time with him. If I get caught up in work after hours, he\u2019ll remind me to come watch a show or drink a glass of wine with him. I\u2019ve found that my career hasn\u2019t suffered\u2026but my personal life has really improved.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Make a short list of habits that you would like to break, and then figure out what the payoff for doing so will be. I look forward to hearing how your life has changed for the better!<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Whether it\u2019s mindless snacking, sitting on the couch instead of exercising, sleeping with our makeup on, or biting our nails, we all have bad habits. I think that most people know when a particular habit isn\u2019t good for them. But they continue to stick to their less-than-ideal routines because forming new habits is just too [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,28,30],"tags":[75,96,98],"class_list":["post-83","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-health","category-quick-tips","category-rejuvenate","tag-health","tag-quick-tips","tag-rejuvenate","wpbf-post"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/marlatomazin.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/marlatomazin.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/marlatomazin.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marlatomazin.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marlatomazin.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=83"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/marlatomazin.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":86,"href":"https:\/\/marlatomazin.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83\/revisions\/86"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/marlatomazin.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=83"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marlatomazin.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=83"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marlatomazin.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=83"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}