In our quest to break habits, it is very important to understand that a habit actually functions to meet one of our needs. That is how it came into being in the first place. No matter how negative or destructive a habit may be, we developed that habit to use it for something.

For example take the bad habit of biting fingernails. Many people bite their fingernails when they feel nervous. To them, biting fingernails is actually an outlet to release their nervousness and anxiousness. So that is the function of the habit of biting fingernails.

When you try to break a habit without getting a replacement to perform its function, you will eventually go back to the old habit. Such as in the biting fingernails example, if you do not have an alternative method to release your emotions of nervousness etc, youll eventually go back to biting fingernails.

Thus it is very important to identify what you gained physically, psychologically and emotionally from performing a habit. What is the habits function? What needs did it meet?

If you do not have an adequate replacement for a habit that youve kicked, sooner or later you will slowly and unconsciously go back to doing the bad habit. When a need is not met, your body will naturally look for ways to meet that need, and the easiest way is to go back to the old habit.

We can discover the function of a habit by recognizing its details and identifying recurring patterns of the habit. These patterns can help identify the possible purpose and function of a particular habit.

In identifying the patterns of a habit, you can ask questions such as when do you usually do the habit; what other thing were you doing at the time; where were you; who were you with; what happened before you did the habit; what time of the day was it etc.

Once you have identified the function of the habit and the need that is being met by it, then find an alternative to replace it. Think of an effective way to meet that need and use it whenever you become aware of the need for it. For example the next time you become nervous, instead of biting fingernails, try doing breathing exercises that will calm the body down.

To effectively kick a bad habit that will last in the long term, we need to we have an adequate and effective replacement that will ensure that we do not go back to doing the old habit.