I've been working on some habit changes recently and so I programmed a motion sensor to trigger me in different places and direct me to a behavior. Its been really effective and less annoying than I expected.

I would love to see if this style would be effective for others. Have you tried this before and/or would you be interested in chatting and I can get you a motion sensor to see if it isn't just me?

We're writing our Master's Thesis on accountability partners and would love to hear from you. Whether you have experience with accountability partners or not, your insights could prove valuable to our research. Our survey takes 5-10 minutes and the results will shape the direction of our Thesis: https://forms.gle/oKhTqLyxkum88VT18

I wish you all a wonderful day and best of luck with your personal development journey!

ive done it since i can remember, but back in i think late 2020(?) thats when it got REALLY bad. rn its to the point where i only have little - half a nail on all my fingers (except my thumbs for whatever reason lol)

Hi everyone,

Not sure if this belongs here, so be free to redirect me to another sub.

I’ve realised with time that i do a lot of small things that i almost can’t stop doing, these things become automatic. I do them without realising and it’s difficult to stop when i’ve started.

Things like grinding my teeth, tapping/shaking my (mostly right) leg up and down, peeling dead skin of my lips (this one is really bad, i can’t stop doing it, its horrible when i don’t have chapstick and i can feel the dead skin on my lips, i know it will hurt and leave a bruise but i can’t stop the urge), the weirdest one being squeezing a small stuffed toy (like a teddy bear), because the material gets cold kind of like the other site of a pillow. There may be more small things but this is just the most prominent ones.

My question is if you guys and in general people tend to have multiple of these bad/annoying habits. Tbh i don’t even know if it qualifies as bad habits. Some i’ve had forever and others have come over the years. They are not super bad, but grinding teeth is obvious, peeling dead skin of lips have caused me always having chapped lips and i think a scar or something like that on my top lip, which isn’t too pretty and the tapping of my leg annoys people around me. I hope someone could enlighten me or just redirect to a sub that could.

Thanks in advance!

Hello everybody, I'm trying to establish some good habits for studying and healthy eating, through the Atoms habit tracking app, which has an accountability partner function. If anyone wants to partner up and become accountability partners, just comment or send me a dm.

How can I stop my nail biting habit it’s getting out of hand where I bite my nails really short and my skins starts to peel off. Please offer advice

Hi there fellow habit trackers! 👋

I work as a product manager and I've been a habit tracker for several years. None of the current apps work the way that I approach habit tracking, and I've been thinking about building a product that works the way I think for years. I'm ready to take steps, but I first need your help to make sure it's truly useful to someone other than myself.

If you track your habits or are curious about habit tracking, please take a few minutes to fill out my survey. Your feedback will be super helpful in creating a tool that really works and supports a mindful approach.

👉 https://forms.gle/5ctwU2j8F47yiVhP8

Thank you for your time and thoughts! If you've got any questions or extra feedback, drop them in the comments. I'm excited to hear from you!

Has anyone ever experienced a change in behaviour of a larger group? As if a habit of several people around you changed in a short-ish period of time. What was it and why did it happen?

You know how you get in a rut, wanting to get in shape, wanting to get better at something, just want to develop a new habit, and you tell yourself, "I'm going to workout everyday for the next month" "I'm going to do leetcode everyday" etc.? You get all hyped up, and you're super motivated, and you start crushing your goals the next day. Then a week goes by, 2 weeks, and that motivation starts to waver off, and you start skipping a day or two, and eventually it just fizzles out...

Motivation is so fickle, so emotional. It can feel so strong that you feel like it will last forever, but sooner or later, it's gone.

But your motivation can be hacked. A few months ago, I did this fitness challenge with a few friends where we all set goals for a set amount of time (30 min at the gym, 5 times a week, for a month). And we all put down $100 and put it in a pool. Everyone kept track of their workouts, and at the end, only those who succeeded in all their checkins split the pot. While the ones who failed in the middle lost their money. So the winners actually ended up making money.

It was incredibly motivating, the desire to not wanting to lose my $100. The original motivation for starting this challenge (wanting to get in shape) was replaced by the much more real motivation of not wanting to lose money. Money is funny that way, it's so much more real and tangible, it actually keeps you going way better than anything else.

Not to mention how fun the challenge was. We were kind of in competition with each other, trash talking and teasing to try and get the others to not work out. But at the same time it was teamwork. We genuinely wanted everyone to succeed.

Anyways, it was so effective and so fun that I ended up making an app for this. The cool thing about making this into an app is that you don't need to have an immediate group of friends with the same goal. We could create a community of people with goals, and strangers could come together online on the app and do challenges together.

The structure of the app is as follows:

• anyone can create a challenge for anything
• you set how much the buy-in ($) is, how long the challenge should last, and the check-in rules
• up to 5 people can join (small groups means better dynamics)
• everyone pays to join
• you check in daily with a photo upload according to the check-in rules set out by the leader
• chat in the private chatroom, encouraging each other
• in the end, the "survivors" split the pot - they can withdraw the money back out

Hope you find this helpful! The app is called Goalie, you can search it on the app stores.

App store: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/goalie-group-challenges/id6480429909

Play store: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.goaliemvmt.twa

I wanted to share some tips that have helped me build habits that actually stick. It's not always easy, but with a little effort and the right approach like Justly.life, you can totally make it happen.
Here's what's worked for me:

1. Start small and be super specific about what you want to do.
2. Make your new habit part of your daily routine, like doing it right after something you already do every day.
3. Keep track of your progress in a journal or with a Justly app - it helps you stay motivated.
4. Celebrate when you reach milestones, even small ones.
5. Think ahead about what might get in your way and come up with a plan to deal with it.
6. Tell a friend about your goal so they can cheer you on and keep you accountable.
7. Be patient and focus on being consistent, not perfect.
8. Pick habits you actually enjoy and find ways to make them fun.
9. Check in with yourself now and then to see how it's going and make changes if you need to.
10. Building habits takes time, so don't beat yourself up if you slip up now and then.

Just to get it out of the way: I'm new to Reddit so I hope I'm not breaking any rules with this post or anything, but I'm really just looking for help.

I do sometimes pull my own hair out, or rip off my dead ends now that I have pretty long hair, or twist my leg hair into thick strands for some reason (I know, this one's odd too but under control), but I have a really annoying issue that I'd say affects me more. I can't seem to stop pulling my socks apart, thread by thread until they're either full of massive holes all across them or, if they're long socks, until they've effectively become short socks (with holes). It usually starts with pulling off little..."pills" I guess of material, but this usually opens up a hole, which then allows me to start pulling on the actual structural threads of the sock. I do like to pick lint out of pockets and pull pills off other types of clothing too but it's not a massive issue like my socks.

I know the detail probably wasn't necessary, but does anyone have any ideas of how I can stop?? I've spent so much money on socks, and destroyed some of my absolute favorite fun pairs, and gotten so many blisters from holes. It's likely some sort of anxiety response if that matters, although I'm not diagnosed nor do I tend to consider myself someone with problematic anxiety. Something that enables the sock picking is that, when I'm at my desk at home or in my dorm, I tend to put one of my legs up under my other leg if that makes sense at all. I'm not sure why I prefer this rather than just sitting with two feet on the floor. Should I maybe try and stop doing that in order to stop picking my socks? Or would that just be suppressing the problem or something?

Massive thanks in advance.

Hello! I've usually every once in a while, develop a habit of popping different bones. Fingers, jaw, and now neck. I drop them after a few months, but I can't drop this one. I just find myself doing it sometimes and can't seem to stop. I'm also worried I might accidentally snap my neck. Any suggestions on how to stop or replace it would help. Thanks!

Hello HabitHelp members! 👋

Are you someone who has taken on the challenge of forming healthy habits, either with or without the support of habit apps? Your insights are incredibly valuable!

I'm conducting a survey for my master's thesis to investigate users’ preferences for habit app features. Whether you're a seasoned habit former or just starting, your experiences can contribute to the development of future habit apps.

⏱️ Duration: Approx. 10-15 minutes
🎯 Requirements: Being fluent in English, 18 years or older & experienced in habit formation

To participate, please click on the link below:
https://bildungsportal.sachsen.de/umfragen/limesurvey/index.php/147638?lang=en

Thank you for being a part of this exciting research journey! 🚀 Your insights make a difference!

Best,
Michaela

I’ve gone through Atomic Habits 11 times, but I’m still struggling to quit smoking and keep up with my workouts. It feels like I’m missing something that could really make these habits stick.

I’m reaching out to you all because I know some of you have figured out ways to overcome similar challenges. What worked for you? Any simple tricks or changes that made a big difference?

I’m also putting together a 4 min survey to collect what works best for you. If you’re interested in sharing your experience, please fill it.

Thanks for any advice you can share. It means a lot!

I'll comment here to track times I clear out my thoughts by 11:45 pm and stop using electronic devices, including phones, laptops, and TVs by 11:00 pm.

I realized I tend to think many different things when I'm in bed and don't sleep immediately so I'll guide my focus back to sleep when the clock strikes 11:45.

And so far I've been able to stop using electronic devices by 11:15 pm or so. Now I want to take it up a notch.

I'm thinking of building an app (in the style of Atoms of James Clear) based on creating and improving our habits on social networks. A user can initially describe his daily use of social networks and which channels he usually uses and based on this data the app shows you a configurable template in which you can insert a habit (example: remember to post fewer photos, remember to write to a friend on the other side of the world, etc.). You can set a notification that at a specific time and on some or all days of the week can remind you of your habit in "gaming" mode. The idea is to help users achieve well-being in their online life on social media in a fun way and in the form of a daily game.

What do you think? Do you have any ideas on how to gather feedback on this?

I'll update my consistency in getting out of bed within 10 mins after waking up in this thread.

Usually after waking up in the morning, I'll scroll through my phones or keep daydreaming and not getting out of bed until 1 hour or so has passed. This has started since the beginning of winter.

Hopefully by making myself accountable here, I'll be able to develop a habit of getting out of bed within 10 mins after waking up and starting my morning routine.

Hello, I apologize for this being so long and all over the place but I feel like there are a many different aspects of my life that I need advice on. How do I become more productive in these areas and break bad habits.

School: I (21F) am a 3rd year college athlete who is graduating next fall. I have an almost perfect GPA, yet I feel like I’m just bullshitting my way through this. I get majority of my assignments in just in time, typically at the last minute. I attend a very small university where most of the professors don’t really seem to care much. As long as you get assignments in on time and follow the minimum requirements you’re set to get an A (although I have had 2 really tough professors but I still was able to get B’s in both of those classes). I am projected to finish my undergraduate with a 3.94 gpa. I have just applied for a graduate certificate program and plan to get my masters immediately after. I know graduate school will be a lot more work and I am not sure how to better motivate myself to get work done earlier than the deadline.

My Sport: I play a sport which causes me a lot of stress, however this stress is really self created. I over think everything that has to do with my sport but this only began during my senior year of high school. For a little context I have been playing this sport for 11 years now. Before the start of my senior year of high school a close family friend passed away and my grandmother, both whom I was really close with. I missed the first game of my senior year because I was at my grandmothers funeral and my coach wasn’t too happy about it. I did not play much after this. Her reasoning for not playing me was that I missed our first game and after everything I had been through I didn’t seem as “enthusiastic” as I used to. I suffered watching my team win the State Championship, while I sat from the sidelines and watched. I really tried to be happy for them but it hurt my heart to not be apart of it. We were up in score pretty much the whole game and all I wanted was to be put in for a few points. It also really bothered me that I was the only member of my graduating class in this sport to commit to play in college. Out of the other 5 seniors on my team none of them wished to continue on but me. After this my sport began to stress me out. Before this happened I was so easy going when it came to playing and I typically performed very well in high stress situations. My parents used to be hard on me in high school, but since I have gotten to college they aren’t like that anymore. Now I feel like I have to be hard on myself, because I know that no one else will be. I have played in every single game since I have been in college, but the second I begin to make mistakes I lose all faith in myself and I have no idea how to overcome this. I’m currently in my last season of playing this sport competitively and I just want to enjoy it but I’m struggling to.

Life Style: Aside from school and my sport I live in an apartment with a roommate. First semester was great, especially compared to my nightmare of a roommate my first year and being completely alone my second year. Don’t get me wrong, this semester with her is great to but after winter break we have both been in a funk/depression. I have been spending a lot of time in my room and not as much time as her. I don’t like to go out and party much here at my school, because I don’t find it all that fun. I go home any weekend I can (which this semester is not that often) to spend time with my boyfriend of 4 years, my family, and my hometown friends. When I am here at school I spend hours of my free time watching tv or mindlessly scrolling through socials. I get around to cleaning my room and the rest of the apartment about every 10 days, but I feel like this is not as often as I should. I don’t have the best diet yet am still at a really healthy weight and have good muscle mass. I spend lots of money on fast food and junk food, but there are times when I eat healthy. I would say I eat healthier foods 1/4 of the time. My sleep schedule is horrible, I get an average of about 4-5 hours of sleep each night. I physically cannot fall asleep before midnight no matter how hard I try. I just toss and turn as I stress about all the cleaning that I am not doing, the assignments I am waiting last minute to do, my sport and if i will perform well each day, my unhealthy eating habits, and the fact that I spend majority of my day staring at a screen.

My parents, boyfriend, friends, coaches, and roommate all think that I have everything together even though I do share most of my problems and concerns with them. It’s a lot to maintain school, sports, relationships, and healthy habits. On paper it does look like I have everything together. My grades are nearly perfect, I actually get to play in every game for my sport now, I maintain healthy relationships, and my body is physically healthy. After I get my bachelor’s I will begin completing graduate school and be entering the workforce. I know that I can’t go on with many of my bad physical and mental habits, but I don’t know how to fix them. I don’t know where to start and I don’t know how to motivate myself to overcome these habits. I want to be productive and successful, but I don’t think it’s possible if I keep going on like this.

i have a lot of bad habits, they have slowly turned into coping mechanisms which i couldnt seem to stop. but as cheesy as it may sound i had a lot of life changing stuff happen recently and im finnaly realising ill have a much better life once i focus on myself and i just need to let go of my trauma. im currently sitting exams so bad habits are harder to avoid but not impossible so if you could reccomend your favourite habit trackers especially apps that would be much appreciated:)

Hi Everyone,

Sorry for double posting, but here is the updated link for my study.

I'm conducting a study on Emotional Experiences and their Association with Habitual Behaviors. If you are 18 or above and interested in participating, please click the link below:

https://forms.office.com/r/QzRcFqiMDb

Hi Everyone,

I'm conducting a study on Emotional Experiences and their Association with Habitual Behaviors. If you are above 18 and interested in participating, please click the link below:

https://forms.office.com/r/SFfvqXteU2

I have this habit of searching hundreds of random things on google/youtube/reddit etc, which results in my browser having more than 1000 tabs open at the same time.

I have this bad habit for 2 years now and despite all my efforts to improve myself and not do this anymore, I keep failing.

I do not have the willpower to overcome these urges to search things on the internet, so I need to prevent that I get these urges in my mind in the first place but how?

For 2 years ive been trying to get rid of this habit/addiction and I just can't. What am I doing wrong?

The habit which has only been getting worse the last 2 years, is that I open too many things in my browser. Its mostly reddit and youtube, but some google seraches and other websites as well.

I know that triggers play a big role in behavior. For me, my laptop, my browser, are triggers. But they are triggers I can't really avoid. For writing a long email I need my computer. For watching an instruction video I need youtube. There is no practical way for me to live without those. I also do not want to ban them out of my life. But.. having these triggers present every single day makes it so hard for me to get rid of my bad habit... Any time i'm on my pc, it just triggers me to open my browser and google search random things that arent useful, open alot of reddit tabs that arent useful, watch alot of youtube that isnt useful. People tell me to use blockers but.. I will either just turn the blocker off whenever I want to, or if the blocker is hard to disable then I will run into the problem that sometimes I truly need google or youtube, so having them blocked is not a good option. I need them available for the times I need to use them for something that is necessary.

So... it seems like I need to break a bad habit, without getting rid of the triggers. I need to live with the triggers always present and somehow still break the bad habit. Whats the best way to approach that?

For info, these are the habits I wanna change:

• Eating more healthy things
• Eating less unhealthy things
• Spending more time of my day doing productive things
• Spending less time of my day on the internet
• Going to bed at normal times instead of late at night

I have depression, ADHD, autism and am in a burnout. For the last 2 years my life has been going very downhill.

Now, I can change a habit, easy... day 1 goes very well, day 2 the same, day 3..... Then I get super proud of myself, things are going so well. And some weeks later, I suddenly notice that i haven't been doing my good habits anymore lately. The good habit disappeared, or the bad habit returned. Without me even realizing, until it is too late.

Getting started on a good habit the second time is also harder than the first time.

Why do my habits always end up changing back to bad?

I have had therapy for 2 years and it has been completely useless.

All my attempts in the last 2 years to change my habits, each of them, has never been succesful long-term.

What do I do

A year ago i started having impulses. Over the years they got painful and when i get stressed i do them and it makes me more stressed. Like popping my arm, scratching my eyes, popping my knuckles till it hurts or they pop, or my neck etc. It's gotten so annoying and i cant stand it anymore. I've tried breaking the bad habit but it's unbearable, kind an itch that NEEDS to be scratched. Please please please help it all hurts.

I'm a 29 year old woman from Scandinavia. I suffer from anxiety, OCD and panic attacks occasionally and have medication and go to therapy regularly. I'm a little overweight and have started to have issues with my body. I love to be lazy and just lay on the couch and knit but also I'm very hard on myself and a perfectionist. It has always been difficult for me to find a middle ground in doing things. Usually it's either I do nothing or go all the way and exhaust myself on the way there. I have two degrees and variety of different and useful working experience. My part-time job's contract just ended so now I'm unemployed and looking for a longterm job. So for now, I have all the time in the world to focus on myself but still feel confused and lost about it.

For many years, I've felt like I want to change my lifestyle for the better but always failed in the long term. I know this is a really common issue and read multiple different stories on Reddit and elsewhere about other people's struggles with the same thing. I've gone to a licensed dietician for help, go regularly to therapy (for over 10 years to deal with the underlying issues with my mental health), tried to journal, keep track of my healthy and bad habits regarding eating and exercising...etc. So basically, I'm very aware of the steps to take in this journey. The problem is that I have no clue how to incorporate these habits in to my life in a healthy and not in an overly strict way.

I know that this time I want the better habits to stick and because of that I need to take things slow. The problem is that I don't feel inspired to do things if I don't go hard. So I've tried to incorporate little things at a time to my daily life but frequently notice that a certain "rule" isn't going to work in real life. For example: I tried to make this rule for myself that I won't eat any sweet or salty treats during the weekdays but on weekends I can be a little more relaxed. The next day I had planned to go for a coffee with my new friend and since I'm quite new in this town and don't have a lot of friends yet, I want to be present in the moment and not worry too much for example about what I'm eating. So we had some drinks and little treats. Immediately after I felt like I once again failed at my new habits. But I also want to live a life that can be spontanious and not worry too much while being healthy. I know thats possible for many but feel like for me it's either or - almost feel like an alcoholic with food (if I have a little, I have to have it all).

I could write pages and pages about this but I hope you get the picture. I really need some advice and support since I don't have enough money right now to go a professional. Do you have any advice for me?

Thank you for reading and I hope my English is ok <3 :D

Recently got over biting my nails and kinda don't know what I should do.

I've been biting my nails for eighteen years and now that I'm on the other side of the hump I'm trying to figure out where to go from here.