A BriefGuide to Quitting a BadHabit
戒掉坏习惯的简要方法
Leo Babauta
8/07/15 2:00pm
Filed to: HABITS(This post originally appeared onZen Habits.这篇文章最初转自Zen Habits。)
There aren’t many of us who don’t have some bad habit we’d like to quit:smoking, sweets, shopping, nail-biting, porn, excessive checking of phones orsocial media, other distractions. The problem is that we think we don’t havethe willpower, faced with past evidence of failure after failure when we’vetried to quit before.
我们大家都有一些想要戒掉的坏习惯:抽烟、爱吃甜食、疯狂购物、咬指甲、看色情片、手机依赖症、其他娱乐等等。但问题是,当我们面对曾经尝试努力戒掉这些习惯,却一次次失败的现实时,我们便认为自己没有意志力。
We don’t think we can quit, so we don’t even try. Or if we do try, we giveourselves an “out,” and don’t fully commit ourselves. Let me tell you this:quitting a bad habit takes everything you’ve got.
It’s hard, but doable—if you put your entire being into it. If you’re not good at changing habits, I actually suggest you start here, and just focus on creating a new, good habit. But if you’re ready to finally quit something,here’s a short guide to doing just that.
我们认为自己戒不掉,所以干脆不去尝试。或者当我们努力尝试时,我们给自己一个局外者的角色,并不能全身心的投入。现在我要告诉你的是:戒掉一个坏习惯,必须要投入一切。
戒掉坏习惯很难,但是可行的——如果你全身心投入的话。如果你不擅长改变习惯,我建议你重新建立一个新习惯,一个好的习惯。但是如果你准备好彻底戒掉某个习惯的话,可以按照下面这个简短的指南做。
10 Steps to HelpYou Quit Your Bad Habit
You don’t actually need to follow every single one of these steps to quita habit, but the more of them you do, the higher your chances. I recommend allof them if you want to be all in.
10步帮你戒掉坏习惯
你不需要完全按照每一步来做,但是你做得越多,成功的几率越高。如果你想完全掌握的话,我建议你全部都试试。
1.Have a big motivation. Lots of timespeople quit things because it sounds nice: “It would be nice to quit caffeine.” But that’s a weak motivation. What you really want is strong motivation: I quit smoking because I knew it was killing me, and I knew my kids would smoke as adults if I didn’t quit. Know your Why,and connect with it throughout your quit. Write it down at the top of a document called your “Quit Plan.”
1、找到一个强大的动机。很多时候,人们戒掉一些坏习惯只是因为听上去不错,比如戒烟是觉得戒掉咖啡因好像不错。但这是个很不给力的动机。什么是强大的动机呢,比如:我戒烟是因为我知道它在慢慢杀死我,而且我知道如果我不戒烟的话,我的孩子们长大了也会抽烟。清楚你的动机,并且在你戒烟的整个过程中都记住它。建一个叫“戒烟计划”的文档,将这个动机写在文档的最上面。
2.Make a big commitment. Now that youknow your motivation, be fully committed. A common mistake is say, “I’ll dothis today,”but then letting yourself off the hook when the urges get strong. Instead, tell everyone about it. Ask for theirhelp. Give them regular updates and beaccountable.Have a support partner you can call on when you need help. Ask people notto let you off the hook. Be all in.
2、做出一个大的承诺。现在你已经清楚了你的动机,然后就需要绝对的坚定。常见的错误是说:“我今天会去做,”但当意愿变得更强烈时,却让自己逃避这种紧促感。相对的,要告诉所有人这件事情,让大家帮助你。给大家定期的更新和汇报说明。找一个支持你的伙伴,当你需要帮助的时候,可以找他。让大家帮助你直面需要改变的这个时刻,全身心的投入。
3. Be aware of your triggers. What events trigger your bad habit?The habit doesn’t just happen, but is triggered by something else: you smokewhen other people smoke, or you shop when you’re stressed out, or you eat junkfood when you’re bored, or you watch porn when you’re lonely, or you check yoursocial media when you feel the need to fill space in your day. Watch yourselffor a few days and notice what triggers your habit, make a list of triggers onyour Quit Plan, and then develop an awareness of when those triggers happen.
3、注意你的诱因。是什么触发你的坏习惯呢?坏习惯不会无端出现,一定是被什么其他的事情所触发,比如:你抽烟可能是因为其他人抽烟引起,你购物可能是因为压力太大,或者你吃垃圾食品是因为你太无聊了,你看色情片是因为你太孤独,你不断的看社交媒体可能是因为你需要借此来打发时间等。仔细观察自己一段时间,注意那些引起你坏习惯的原因,将这些诱因写到你的计划文档里,并在这些诱因发生时提高警惕。
4. Know what need the habit is meeting. We have badhabits for a reason — they meet some kind of need. For every trigger you wrotedown, look at what need the habit might be meeting in that case. The habitmight be helping you cope with stress. For some of the other triggers, it mighthelp you to socialize, or cope with sadness,boredom,loneliness, feeling bad about yourself, being sick, dealing with a crisis, needing a break or treat or comfort. Write these needs down on your Quit Plan, and think of other ways you might cope with them.
4、清楚坏习惯所满足的需求。我们养成的坏习惯都是有原因的——他们是为了满足某种需求。分析你写下的那些诱因,看看你的坏习惯在那种诱因下是满足了哪种需求。可能是为了帮助你应对压力,或者是可以在社交中帮到你,有的是为了应对悲伤、无聊、孤独、自卑、疾病、处理某种危机、需要休息、乐趣、安慰等。将这些需求写在计划文档里,并想想其他可以满足这些需求的方法。
5. Have a replacement habit for each trigger. So what will youdo when you face the trigger of stress? You can’t justnot doyourold bad habit—it will leave an unfilled need, a hole that you will fill withyour old bad habit if you don’t meet the need somehow. So have a good habit todo when you get stressed, or when someone gets angry at you, etc. Make a listof all your triggers on your Quit Plan, with a new habit for each one (one new,good habit can serve multiple triggers if you like).
5、为每个诱因找一个替代习惯。当你面对压力时,你会怎么做?你如果不执行你的坏习惯的话,就会留下一个未能满足的需求的无底洞,如果你满足不了这个需求,你又会继续用你的坏习惯。因此当你感受到压力或者有人对你生气发火时,找一个好习惯来排解。在你的计划文档里,给每个诱因配备一个新习惯(一个新的好习惯可以满足多个诱因)。
6. Watch the urges, and delay. You will get urges to do your badhabit, when the triggers happen. These urges are dangerous if you just act onthem without thinking. Learn to recognize them as they happen, and just sitthere watch the urge rise and get stronger, and then and fall. Delay yourself,if you really want to act on the urge. Breathe. Drink some water. Call someonefor help. Go for a walk. Get out of the situation. The urge will go away, ifyou just delay.
6、注意刺激冲动,并拖延。当诱因发生时,你将会有执行坏习惯的冲动。如果你在没有思考的情况下执行的话,这些冲动是非常危险的。学着在他们发生时有意识的注意他们,静坐着观察这种冲动变得越来越强烈,最后慢慢减弱。当你特别想采取行动时,尽量让自己拖延。深呼吸,喝水,寻求其他人的帮助,出去散步等,跳出这种环境。当你尽量拖延的时候,这种冲动就慢慢消失了。
7. Do the new habit each time the trigger happens. This will takea lot ofconsciouseffort—be very aware of when the triggerhappens, and very aware of doing the new habit instead of the old automaticone. If you mess up, forgive yourself, but you need to be very conscious ofbeing consistent here, so the new habit will start to become automatic. This isone reason it’s difficult to start with bad habits—if there are multipletriggers that happen randomly throughout the day, it means you need to beconscious of your habit change all day, every day, for weeks or more.
7、每当诱因出现时,执行新习惯。这需要在意识上付出相当大的努力——要意识到诱因的出现,还要有意识的让新习惯替代会下意识去做的旧习惯。如果你失败了,原谅自己,但是你需要有意识的去坚持这样做,直到新习惯也会无意识的自动执行。还有一个难点——如果多种诱因在一天里随机出现,就意味着你需要对你习惯的改变保持意识一整天,每天,每周甚至更久。
8. Be aware of your thinking. We justify bad habits with thinking.You have to watch your thoughts and realize when you’re making excuses fordoing your old bad habit, or when you start feeling like giving up instead ofsticking to your change. Don’t believe yourrationalizations.
8、有意识的去思考。我们主要是通过思考来判定坏习惯。你要留意自己的思想,并要在你为执行坏习惯找借口,或者快要放弃坚持改变时,保持清醒的意识。不要相信你的看似合理的借口。
9. Quit gradually. Until recently, I was a fan of theQuit
Cold Turkeyphilosophy, but I now believe you can quit gradually.That means cut back from 20 cigarettes to 15, then 10, then five, then zero. Ifyou do this a week at a time, it won’t seem so difficult, and you might have abetter chance of succeeding.
9、慢慢戒掉。之前,我成了Quit Cold Turkey哲学家的粉丝,但是想着我相信你可以慢慢戒掉。也就是说将20根烟减少到15根,然后减到10根、5根,最后减到0。如果你这样做一次做一个星期,看上去并不难,而且会更有可能成功。
10. Learn from
mistakes. We all mess up sometimes—if you do, be forgiving, and don’t let onemistake derail you. See what happened, accept it, figure out a better plan fornext time. Write this on your Quit Plan. Your plan will get better and betteras you continually improve it. In this way, mistakes are helping you improvethe method.
10、从错误中学校。我们都会有失败——如果你失败了,原谅自己,不要让一次错误毁了自己。弄明白发生的原因,接收失败,为下次努力制定更好的计划。将这个写在计划文档里。你的计划会在你不断改进后越来越好。这样的话,错误和失败也会帮助你改进方法。
I’m not saying this is an easy method, but many people have failed becausethey ignored the ideas here. Don’t be one of them. Put yourself all into thiseffort, find your motivation, and replace your habit with a better habit foreach trigger. You got this.
我并不是说这是个简单的方法,但是许多人失败是因为他们忽略了这些方法中的要点。不要跟他们一样。全身心的去努力,找到你的动机,然后为坏习惯的每个诱因替换一个好的习惯。你会成功的。
大家好!我是冰清言心,我言我心。80后职场宝妈,想通过文字不断探寻自己,完善自己。很高兴遇见你,相遇是缘,祝愿遇见的朋友都能健康快乐~
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