"The entrance of thy words giveth light (Psalm 119:130)."
How to Develop Habits—Part 2
This is Part 2 of a series on developing habits. Here, we will talk about a way to change bad habits.
The technique is simple: Every time you engage in the bad habit, do something that will make engaging in the habit, in the future, less likely.
Two examples follow:
First example: habitual lying: A pastor told the story about his struggle with this issue earlier in his life. He said this ingrained habit was like 'a gift'; the words would automatically and smoothly roll off his tongue. Obviously this 'gift' was not of the Holy Spirit.
He corrected the issue very simply. He would go back to people and say: "I'd like to apologize for lying to you."
"That did it!" the pastor said.
Second example: a bad temper. I had a bad temper as a teenager; I would yell at my younger brother when I was angry. Today, I never yell at anyone.
I got rid of this bad habit in the same way: Every time I yelled at my brother, I forced myself to go back and apologize.
I remember feeling somewhat humiliated when I did this, but I persisted—and it worked.
That's all there is to it.
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