Breaking Bad HabitsImagine you are studying English. But then you want to check your phone. You go back to your studies, but soon you look at your phone again. Doing this many times can make learning harder. This is a bad habit: something you do again and again that is bad for you or for your goals. James Clear wrote a book called Atomic Habits. He says that a habit has four steps. First, something tells your brain to start. Then you want something. Then you do the habit, and you get a reward. With a phone, you see it, want to check it, and check it. Your reward is something interesting on social media. To break a bad habit, Clear says, make it hard to see, less interesting, difficult and not much fun. For example, you can hide your phone or put it far away. You can also ask someone in your family to watch you, and pay them every time you look at your phone while studying! Wendy Wood is an expert on habits. She says: wear a watch, so you do not need your phone to check the time. Turn your phone off, or put it in your backpack. She also asks: what if every time you check your phone, you call someone in your family just to say hello? And when you do not look at your phone, give yourself a reward, like a good book. People can change their habits. It takes time, but with patience, planning and practice, you can do it.
