Habits are those things that we do often, mostly without even thinking. They are also those things we are most noted for; someone will be known as a drunk if he or she has the habit of drinking and getting drunk. Therefore, if one aims at something in the future, there are some habits that can help in achieving it because our habits shapes our future for us. Habits, it is said, are easy to cultivate but hard to end, but I believe that what makes a habit easy or difficult to cultivate or end is our state of mind.
The most important part of the mind when creating or ending a habit is the subconscious. In the subconscious part of the mind are those things which we are likely to do without thinking. Some people have the habit of procrastinating, so whenever they have a new dream, they put it in the future and when that future comes, they place it in the future of the future.
The process begins with a thought. To create a new habit, you need to remind yourself of the several reasons why you need to create the habit. In the same vein, if you have a habit you don’t fancy and would like to destroy it, then you need to create a counter-habit. A non-smoker might eventually start smoking if he or she keeps a company of smokers. The reason is because their company will keep reminding him or her, through their words and actions, of smoking. Over time, the thought becomes etched into the subconscious and the person may be tempted to try smoking.
Let me give a personal example of how I once cultivated a habit. At the time, I wanted to start using my non-dominant hand to do some things like brushing my teeth. At first, I had to always remind myself that I had pledged to use my non-dominant hand to do those things after I had done them with my dominant hand. I knew that all I needed to do was to start and as I went along, I provided myself with a motivation to continue and maintain consistency. My motivation for creating this habit at the time was that it helped to improve the brain, so I constantly reminded myself of this reason. As a result, there were times I brushed twice in the morning and twice at night because I remembered I had promised to brush with my non-dominant hand after I had brush with the dominant hand. Soon, I found out, much to my amazement, that while brushing, I was already using my left hand to brush without any conscious effort. Despite being right-handed, I had crystalized a habit of ambidexterity while performing certain tasks.
If you keep reminding yourself frequently on why you need to create this new habit, then whenever the old habit shows up, the reason for creating the new habit begins to show up as well. The habit of sleeping too much can be ended with the habit of getting active with different activities to keep you busy. All you need to do is always listen to your mind and accept the thought process — that is the way to cultivating a new habit.