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3 Ways To Stop The Nail Biting Habit |
By:
Sunny DuLane |
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Most people find stopping their nail biting extremely difficult. Changing a habit successfully means having a good support network. People who will support and assist you when you need encouragement should be included. Friends, family and professional resources all can be part of your support network.
1. Behavior Change Is Best Managed with Positive Reinforcement The support of friends makes the change easier especially when difficult times are experienced.
Tell your friends and the rest of your support network what you intend to do. This can reinforce in a public way your intent and make it easier to quit.
New activities or a change in environment can be most important during the first critical days and weeks of your stop nail biting plan.
Many people use negative deterrents as ways of changing their behavior. We all remember being yelled at as a child. Did the yelling always reinforce the behavior your parents wanted? But think of the times you received praise for what you did. You were ready to repeat that behavior.
It's no different as an adult. Use positive reinforcement and people to reinforce your plan to change your nail biting habit.
Stay away from people who bite their nails. This may be difficult if person is a family member or close friend. Avoid times or situations where you frequently bite your nails.
2. Reward Yourself For Success Behavior changes occur more easily when we reinforce them. This means if you reward yourself for sticking with your plan, your brain records this as positive reinforcement for the new behavior.
Each time you reinforce the new behavior, you over ride or minimize the old habit. By reinforcing the behavior change on a daily basis new behavior reaction patterns start to form in your brain. This makes it easier for you to stay on track with your new behavior of stopping your nail biting habit.
The reward does not have to be huge or elaborate. Some people get one of those appointment calendars and a package of stars and stickers. For each day you make your goal of not biting, give yourself a star or sticker. If a whole day is way too long to start with, then take it hour by hour. Sounds hokey, but seeing all those stars or stickers lined up can be a pretty impressive sight.
If stickers aren't your thing, then make your reward something special for you, a reward you value. The reward doesn't have to be big or even expensive. The idea is to reward yourself for each successful step you take in stopping the nail biting habit.
3. Join either an online or offline support group Talking with other people who are going through the same experience can make it easier to quit especially on those difficult or stressful days. Many forums or other groups such as Yahoo or AOL will have support groups for nail biting. Type "nail biting forum" int the MSN, Google, Yahoo or AOL window. This is one of the easiest ways to connect with other people sharing your concerns.
Like any habit nail biting takes time and effort to stop. It took time to learn the behavior. Give yourself time to stop the behavior.
Ready to quit your nail biting, make sure you visit Richard McKenzie's program NoMoreNailbiting.com to find a simple easy way to grow strong healthy nails unique 'nail biting' articles.
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Article Source: http://www.statssheet.com/articles/article56194.html |
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