How to Change Your Behavior? 11 Magical Tricks to Reform Yourself

As you grow up, you develop your habits. At some point of your life, you may feel awkward because of your own behavior. You sense the urge to replace the bad ones with the good ones. 

But you face challenges doing it as you do not know how to change your behavior properly. Consequently, you leave your initiatives undone. You fail to update yourself.

To save you from this pit of darkness, today I will show you the barriers behind changing your manner. At the same time, you will get 11 magical tricks to change your behavior for good. 

What is Behavior Change Theory?

Behavior change theories refer to the studies that show and interpret the reasons behind human behaviours change. They illustrate interpersonal and environmental characteristics related to human manner and attitude.

Nowadays, these theories are widely practiced in the fields of education, health, international development, criminology, etc. 

Some Behavior Change Examples

Why Behavior Change Seems to Be So Hard?

Change is meant to be difficult. When it comes to your behavior it becomes more complex because you grow your mannerism from the very beginning of your life. Here are some reasons. Take a look!

A) Negativity Motivates Your Action 

You may think that the negative emotions such as shame, regret, guilt, and fear are strong enough for your behavioral change. But the opposite happens in reality.

For example, say you are an overweight person. When someone tells you that you are fat and you look unsmart, you feel motivated to lose weight out of shame or anger. Researchers have proven that it is not an effective change strategy.

These negative emotions create a temporary urge that diminishes within the blink of an eye. Besides, they may make you more depressed. 

What you need to bring about a real change in your behavior is a positive outlook. Therefore, think of those joyous moments when you will no longer be a fat or obse person. 

B) Pursuit of Unrealistic Goals

Unrealistic goals put a bar in the way of change. It leads you to the island of failure. You discover yourself in a wrecked and messed up condition. 

If you set unrealistic goals related to the process of your behavioral transformation, you can not hit the target. Rather you will lose self-confidence. There are high possibilities of abandoning your challenge halfway. 

C) Tendency of Changing Everything Within a Short Time

Here goes the saying,

More haste, less speed.

Changing your habits seems to be so hard because you want to eat the entire elephant. You forget that behavior transformation involves a vast arena. 

Nothing productive comes out when you are in a hurry. According to studies, most people can not succeed in changing their demeanors as they want the change overnight. They wish to build good habits and break bad ones within a few days. That’s why they fail.

Say, your New Year’s Resolutions include changing five of your bad bearings. You start working all of them together to stay ahead of time. But in reality, you are stepping back from the behavior change techniques.

D) Unwillingness to Accept Your Failure

Failure is one of the most significant elements of the behavior change process. If you fail while trying, it is a good sign that you are in the process. But in most cases, people are not ready to embrace the drawbacks.

They clinch on their old habits. And even dare to take any steps thinking of a collapse. As a result, behavior modification becomes a strong challenge. 

E) Lack of Commitment

Just ask yourself, “Am I committed to changing my behavior?” You know your answer. Statistics show that most of the people can not progress in this field because somehow they are reluctant to change.

For instance, you want to quit smoking. You told yourself you won’t smoke from today. But when you experience the craving, you can not resist. You again light up a cigarette, consolidating yourself, this is the last time. And it happens again and again.

Tell me, is this a sign of commitment?. Obviously, not. So, make a strong determination to transform yourself.

How to Change Your Behavior from Negative to Positive

Believe me, my friends, changing your manner is not as difficult as it sounds. You just need the right strategies to go forward. Here, we have enlisted 11 magical tactics to make you a polished one by modifying your behavior. Lets’ sip them out!

1. Identify Your Bad Habits

When you have identified something bad about yourself, you are already halfway done in your way of recorrecting them. It is really tough to find faults in yourself. So, you can ask your near and dear ones for feedback. Tell them to show you at least 1 bad thing they find in your attitude. 

Make a list of your bad doings and prioritize them. Determine which one is the worst. Start picking that one first. Do not take too much in your hands. 

2. Start Small to Stay Focused

Sounds crazy, right? You may think how you can get things done more efficiently if you start small. The trick lies here. Though it does not appear to be momentum, you can maintain your work easily.

The chances of staying in track of your behavior changing process gets a boom if you commence with a comparatively smaller task.

Lets’ see an example. You want to reduce energy consumption in your home. First, stop using unnecessary eclectic lights at day time. Grow the practice of turning off the switches when you wake up. 

3. Maintain Consistency of Your Action Plan

Keeping regularity is the key to changing your behavior. According to experts, if you wish to give up or build new habits, it requires at least 30 days. 

So, to turn a new behavior into a custom, keep track. You can maintain an analog to-do list to arrange your schedule. Besides, you may use a calendar or record keeping app on your smartphone. They will help you maintain consistency. 

4. Define Your Goals, Write Them Down & Act Accordingly

To change a habit, make a conscious decision, then act out the new behavior.

Maxwell Maltz

Visualization of anything is crucial. After identifying the behavior you aspire to change, write them down. When you see your goals in a written form, it becomes more lively and real. Besides, you can observe your progress of behavior transformation.

Now, it is time to work to achieve your goals. Determine the steps you will follow. Plus, never forget to think of the barriers you have to face in this journey.

5. Don’t Make Any Whimsical Decision

The common tendency of people around us is to start a behavior change procedure whimsically. You may also belong to this group. When someone starts without proper planning, everything may be nipped in the bud.

Say, you yearn to maintain a healthy lifestyle at home. Accordingly, you have decided to eat healthy foods. But when lunch time comes, you can not control your temptation. You start eating unhealthy foods.

Clearly speaking, it is the outcome of your fickle decision. Hence, make the right diet plan and set a starting date. It will make you mentally prepared for this hard work. Similarly, the chances of failure will be reduced to a great extent. 

6. Find Out Your Triggers & Remove Them

Most of your habits have triggers. It means, there are some activities which are associated with the other ones. When you do one thing, you subconsciously feel the urge of doing the other one. 

Lets’ cite an example to clarify it. You want to quit drinking. But when you are in the clasp of depression or laziness, you undergo the impulse of drinking. 

So, the best way to check your bad approaches is to figure out the triggers. Then try to avoid them for betterment.

7. Change Your Mindset to Positivity

There can be nothing more powerful than your mindset to stick to changing your habit. On the contrary, a fixed mindset or negative mentality can also demotivate you. Sometimes, you may sense, “I can not do this.”

Therefore, if you want to know how to change your behavior, change your state of mind. Believe in yourself that you can do it. Always think and act positively. Optimistic attitude turns the hardest work into the easiest one. 

8. Be Cautious of Self-talk

If you are looking for ways on how to change unwanted behavior, check your negative self-talk. This aspect plays a pivotal role in changing your habits. 

When something demotivated arises in your mind, tell yourself that you are capable of going through the challenges. Encourage your inner you. 

Reshape the way you talk to yourself. Use positive words. Do not judge yourself all the time because it will stand against you. 

9. Fight with Your Urge as well as the Sabotagers

When you are determined to reform yourself, you may face internal and external barriers. First comes your urges that are tough to resist. After that the sabotagers who may influence you to clinch to the old bad type.

Then how to improve your behavior and personality? No worries, my friends. Everything has a solution. Beat your urges by your willpower. Directly notify the sabotagers of your behavior changing goals. Request them not to entice you to do what you want to quit. 

10. Neuro-Linguistic Programming Can Help

When you think about how to change habits psychology, the Neuro-Linguistic Programming may sooth your toil. It is such an approach that supports you achieving your goals.

“It relates thoughts, language, and patterns of behavior learned through experience to specific outcomes.”

GoodTherapy

Two effective examples of NLP techniques are:

11. Consider Trying Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

This specific type of therapy works effectively in case of behavior reformation. So, you can try this one. You will be under the guidance of an expert therapist who will help you decode your demeanor. 

According to American Psychological Association,

Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is a form of psychological treatment that has been demonstrated to be effective for a range of problems including depression, anxiety disorders, alcohol and drug use problems, marital problems, eating disorders, and severe mental illness.

Steps to Take When You Fail 

It is quite natural to collapse when you try to make the best version of yourself by improving your manner. So, the inevitable part of the whole procedure is failure. 

Now, the question is: What will you do when you fail? Here, we have unraveled some of the efficacious tricks. Let’s dig in! 

I) Practice the Self-Parenting Technique

Failure is hard to accept for everyone. At the same time, it makes us frustrated. That’s why we can not go ahead. We leave what we have started. 

Hence, you should nurture yourself. If you want to know more about self-parenting, read the following article. 

Soothe Your Pain by Practicing Self-parenting Techniques

II) Try to Motivate Yourself as Much as You Can

Do you know why motivation is important? It is crucial because it keeps you on track all the time. After starting a behavior change plan, you can easily get fluctuated within a very short time. But self motivation can save you.

Here are Some Tips For Motivating Yourself

III) Try Professional Counseling

If nothing works after trying all the things, go for professional counseling. You may face challenges identifying the manners you wish to change. Here, a professional counselor will help you to figure them out.

Besides, they will make a plan for yourself and show you the ways to follow the steps. So, you can try it. 

Some Consequences of Unethical Behavior

What are the 6 stages of behavior change?

According to psychology, the 6 main stages of behavioral change are: 

How to motivate yourself to change your behavior.

It depends on you. There are lots of factors that can increase your motivation to modify your manner. Most importantly, do not engage in any sick races.

What are the 4 models of behavior change?

The widely accepted 4 models are: 

How to change your behavior at work?

When you are at your workplace, behave maturely. Here are some tips to behavioral restoration: 

How to change your behavior in a relationship?

Behavior holds a greater significance in any relationship. A good relationship may turn out to be the bitterest one due to your unhealthy behavior. 

So, be careful about your attitude. To improve your manner in a relationship, always try to understand each other. Respect the bond. Think that you own the relationship and sometimes take a break. 

The Final Words: How to Change Your Behavior

If you want to change the way you conduct, evaluate yourself. Figure out what you feel wrong in your attitude. Do not neglect a single one because it may ruin your whole life.

Remember that a behavioral change journey is a continuous process. It demands your utmost dedication.

After all, try to follow our tricks to restructure your personality. Share with your community if you think they are effective. 

If you have any questions related to how to change your behavior, leave us a comment. We appreciate your suggestions.

Change your behavior, change your life. 

Enjoy the new meaning of living!