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The Habits of The Heart and How to Break Them For Good

Ian Warner

6 min read

How I Broke The Habits of The Heart

The two major culprits for me were my habit of eating sugar daily, and my habit of chasing after too many rabbits. I tried for years to get rid of both of these things. It was evident that they were hurting me. My sugar addiction was rotting my health and mind from the inside out. My craving for shiny new projects was ensuring that nothing I worked on succeeded.

After years of frustration and being able to stay on the right path for a few days at a time. I would always go back to my old ways. What finally changed me for good was realizing that I needed to change my identity. When someone would ask me if I wanted a cupcake, my answer was always “I’m trying not to eat sugar.”

How many times do we hear lines like this?

• I’m trying to lose weight
• I’m trying to stop smoking
• I’m trying to stop watching harmful content
• I’m trying to stop biting my nails
• I’m trying to work out

What is the problem with these lines? There is no spine in them! It doesn’t sound convincing of change. It looks like someone who is on the fence and ready to go back to their old ways at any moment.

Think about this. If someone came up to you and said hey you want to do some crack? Would you say, “I’m trying to stay away from that stuff?” Not a chance! You would not even think twice about saying, “I don’t do drugs!” The person would know that without a doubt, you are not the type of person that wants anything to do with that drug. Your identity will not allow you to associate with such a thing.

Here’s the kicker!  You can apply this same mindset to a habit change.

Ripping Out The Habits of The Heart

The solution is that your identity must reject that old habit. If you love sugar as I do, you no longer are a sugar person. When people ask you if you want some candy, your response is “I don’t do sugar,” and you have to say it as you mean it. If they think they can ask you again or try and persuade you, then you did not say it with enough conviction.

The habits of the heart completely changed on that day. I started writing in my journal about how I don’t eat sugar. I would post on social media about it. Everything I did is gearing toward attaching to this new identity. When people would think of me, they would think of how I don’t eat sugar, and they would be in awe of this. The more people knew this about me, the more it inspired me to keep this habit.

When you commit to changing your habits, it’s crucial to surround yourself with a supportive environment. Consider seeking professional help from a luxury rehab center, where you can receive specialized guidance and therapy tailored to your needs. Embracing this transformative journey with the assistance of experts will reinforce your commitment to a healthier lifestyle and provide you with the necessary tools to maintain long-lasting change.

Just Be

The best I can give you is to be. I would spend so much time trying not understanding how deeply rooted the habits of the heart were. It was not until I decided to be. You don’t have to try to be, you are. Like when you are being yourself. When you are yourself, you don’t have to work or act.

When you be the thing you want to be, it becomes easy to know what to do. You also start thinking about life from their perspective. I stopped saying I’m trying not to eat sugar. I started thinking what would someone who has not eaten sugar in the last 10 years do right now?

The answer is simple, they would not eat the sugar.

They would take this a step further by avoiding the sugar when people ask them if they want it. They would make sure that there is no sugar in the house to avoid temptation. A person who doesn’t eat sugar would also spend time studying the effects of sugar. The research would serve to confirm the decision they have made.

The Habits of Your Life

After all these changes, I realized that I had something better than the habits of the heart. The habits of the heart often grip onto your soul without asking. When you can defeat these habits, you graduate to the habits of life. The habits of life bring purpose that lasts a lifetime.

A lot of bad habits may have your heart, but they never help you in a way that makes you want to love them for life. All bad habits bring negative consequences. All good habits do the opposite. If you’re going to bring out the best in your self, then you need to get on Habit Stacker.

The app will help you kill any bad habit, as well as lock-in some of the good ones. Habit Stacker will make sure that you always know what your next habit is and that it gets taken care of. The app also provides a stream of famous quotes about habits.