Habits are known to be hard to give up. They are implemented into a person’s life as a daily occurrence. A person may feel obligated to perform this task, and it feels nearly impossible to break the habit.

A person can develop a habit at any age or time in their life. When a person is feeling insecure, worried or anxious then they may be more susceptible to developing a habit. For example, biting your fingernails.

Habits are a way for people to cope with change or find comfort in a new situation. People are organisms of habit and schedule. Doing the same thing everyday is easier as opposed to learning how to do something new on the daily. 

Not all habits are considered bad. Some habits can be good and may lead to improvement in other areas of life. For example, developing good study habits will lead to better grades. Making it a habit to shower daily will improve hygiene. According to Mr. Henderson, a psychology teacher at Lindenhurst High School, in order to solidify a good habit you must “commit to something for two to four weeks on a daily basis. It becomes a habit”.

The development of good habits is all due to the behavior of the person. If a person wants to solidify a good habit, they can choose to put themselves in an environment where they can continuously complete that action. On the other hand, if a person would like to quit a habit, Mr. Henderson says, “behavioral modification is the psychological answer.”

Behavioral modification would imply that a person is taking the situation into their own hands. The person is able to identify what is triggering their habit, and remove themselves. If a person identifies the environment they are in is a problem, they must change the environment they are in. This can be very difficult since change is hard, especially in the context of a habit. An example of this would be to chew gum instead of smoking a cigarette. 

Anything done on a daily basis can be considered a habit. The things that may lead to the development of a habit include stress and boredom. When someone is left with nothing to do, they are inclined to developing a habit. 

Getting rid of a habit has proven to be very difficult. In order to successfully and effectively get rid of a detrimental habit, one must replace said habit with a positive one. For example, if someone picks up a negative habit of procrastinating on your homework, a good habit to replace that with would be to always complete your homework.

In conclusion, habits are very difficult to break. 

Primarily, it is up to a person to knock their own habits. They can change their environment to avoid triggers and stay away from things that cause them to perform that habit. In order to solidify a good habit, a perform must perform that habit for about 2 weeks.