You may be familiar with the idea that you cannot get rid of bad habits – you need to replace them with good habits instead. The reasoning behind this is that your mind thinks that you are taking something important away when you stop a bad habit; but when you simply start a good habit that pushes the bad habit out of the way, then you feel like you are giving yourself something.

So, what is the actual process in which bad habits become good ones? This is an important thing to understand, because it can help you get rid of all of your bad habits eventually. This article will go through the process step-by-step, using example bad and good habits.

Example Bad Habit: Skipping Breakfast

Example Good Habit: Having a Healthy Breakfast

So, you want to replace the habit of skipping breakfast with having a good, healthy breakfast instead. There are numerous reasons to do this, and studies have proven that people who eat breakfast are healthier, get more accomplished and are happier.

Let’s go through the process of replacing the bad with the good one step at a time.

1. Sit down and create a list of breakfast foods that you like. Then go out and buy them and keep them stocked in your kitchen.

2. Stop eating food at 5:00PM each day. That way when morning comes you are hungry enough to eat something.

3. Write down the benefits that come with eating breakfast and then post them somewhere that you will be able to see them when you get up in the morning.

4. Make a habit out of going to the kitchen and looking at the food that is there. You don’t have eat anything at first. Just be aware that some good foods are stocked in your kitchen.

5. Start small. Cut an orange into segments and eat one segment per day.

6. Increase this until your body actually starts looking forward to having that orange every day.

7. Don’t skip any days once you start eating. You may revert back to your old habit of not eating breakfast.

8. Create a breakfast trigger. For example, as soon as you finish your first cup of coffee, then make something for breakfast.

9. Increase the amount of food until you are having a full, healthy breakfast.

10. Write down any benefits you notice from eating breakfast.