How do I stop bad habits?

1) Learn about why they're bad for you, that should discourage you to an extent. 2) Usually there's always a "bad habit-stopper" out there for almost any bad habits, for example, nail polishes that make you not want to bite your teeth or chewing gum that reduces your urge to smoke. 3) Find out how others have stopped their similar bad habits and try doing what they did.

You can start by being aware when and why you commit your bad habit. Figuring out when you do it and the circumstances behind it, might help you understand why you're doing it in the first place. The second step can be writing it down: if you take notice of the antecedents (the thoughts that causes you to do that behaviour) and you take note of it, you are making yourself more conscious of your own doing. You can also write down some pros and cons about doing the behaviour. The last step is to replace the behaviour with something else. Example, if you're a nail biter, start chewing gum.

First start with what are your worst bad habits and what triggers them. Then look for a way to avoid them by replacing them with good things.

Do them less and less each day. I personally suffer from trichotillomania (a hair pulling disorder) and to stop myself from that I had something to fiddle with.

You have to really genuinely want to stop bad habits. Mentally prepare yourself, tell yourself that you are going to stop whatever the bad habit is and then make a mental plan of how you're going to do it.

Try to replace the bad with its opposite. For example, if one wanted to stop smoking, don't light the cigarette, cigar, etc., which in most cases will enable the ability to resist the temptation of actually smoking.

Gradually. Set yourself small achievable targets. For example, if it's to quit smoking, allow yourself to smoke but a little bit less than usual then keep decreasing the amount until you no longer feel it necessary to smoke. Because they're habits, our brains are conditioned towards them. We only feel normal if we carry on doing them. The trick is to give yourself the permission to do it but in a way that helps you work towards stopping it. That way, you won't feel bad about doing it because you'll be meeting a target you've set yourself and you'll be motivated to carry on working towards stopping the bad habit completely. It is a gradual process though, so will require a good amount of patience.

if you wanna stop a bad habit i feel that 1st you must want to stop it and truely want to stop it.. then you must find your own way to stop example if you bite your nails... you might try putting that nasty tasting stuff on your nails or have a friend slap your hand every time they see you bite your nails.

Practice. If you are aware of something you are doing, that you want to stop doing, then you have to take it one step at a time. For instance, I had bit my nails for years, like horribly down to the quick, until I decided that I didn't want to anymore. So, each day, I made the conscience effort to stop myself when I started to chew on them. I focused on filing them or painting them instead of biting. It took a while, but eventually they grew longer and stronger, stopped breaking off, and now its a new habit of not biting them, but just keeping them clean and shaped. Anything we want to change about what we do, we can. It just takes will power, want, determination, and consistency.

You have to consciously want to stop and just stick with it. There is really no other way. You have to want to change/stop.