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Whether discussing a bad habit (like procrastination) or an addiction (like alcohol abuse or compulsive gambling), the silver bullet question Rodney Luster, PhD, most often hears is: How do I make this stop?

While full-blown addictions go beyond what we can cover here, there is��research-driven insight��that may help when it comes to��overcoming bad habits, says Luster, a regular contributor to����and the chair for the Center for����at ��ɫ��Ƶ. He offers four tips for kicking bad habits to the curb.

What the research says

Recent research on a����has expanded understanding of how the brain handles the repeated behaviors that form routines and habits. In an����published recently in��Psychology Today, Luster writes that FosB plays a part both in stimulating the brain (through motivation and “rewards” that may trigger repeated activity) as well as helping it adapt in response to repeated behaviors — increasing the likelihood that a routine will be developed.

He likens FosB proteins to��stacks of bricks. The repeated behavior you’re drawn to reinforces the stability of FosB “bricks,” which not only stimulates the brain for more of the behavior but then also makes the wall “thicker” and thus harder to break down.

The good news is, while FosB “bricks” get built up one at a time, they can also be��dismantled one at a time.

But you are not a prisoner of these unwanted behaviors! As we head into the new year, Luster outlines four keys to “breaking bad.”

1.������������You have to want change.

“One of the questions [psychologists] ask when someone comes in to talk about something is: ‘Do you feel like this is a problem for you?’ If they say ‘no,’ then there really is no problem in their mind,” Luster explains. “In order for there to be change, there has to be a conscious recognition that there’s a problem.” To break a bad habit, in other words, you first have to see the habit as a negative thing and want to change it.

2.����������Examine any stinkin’ thinkin’.

What we think impacts how we behave. “If we have unhelpful and faulty ways of thinking — thoughts we’ve adopted over time — then unhelpful behaviors are going to go hand in hand with those things,” Luster says, likening a change in thinking patterns to a change of the “starter engines” in our heads.

Luster cites a personal example of a habit from childhood. “I used to bite my nails all the time. Instead of asking me, ‘Why are you biting your nails?’ my mom would ask me, ‘What are you so nervous about?’”

Just as Luster’s mother was trying to pinpoint the feeling that was driving the behavior, we can do the same with our bad habits. We can ask, “Why am I doing this?” and then look for connections between our thoughts and behaviors.

Emotional precision

Luster calls this emotional precision — and from a brain-science standpoint, it really matters. “Emotions manifest in that limbic area of the brain. If you trace a line from front to back, the limbic area is sort of in the middle. When that lights up from emotion, it takes up a lot of cognitive real estate. In fact, this shuts down our ability to use front-brain decision-making and logic,” Luster says.

The result? We start making��emotionally driven decisions��(like mood eating or smoking) rather than��logic-driven decisions��(such as deciding not to overeat because you know how uncomfortable you’ll feel later).

In the end, Luster says, it’s important to understand that you may have��setbacks��when breaking unwanted habits. “I might have a patient who says, ‘I failed.’ [But] failure implies you didn’t learn anything. If you can identify what led you to crossing over and engaging in the bad habit again, then this is a chance to��educate yourself��on the dynamics of that habit formation” he says. “That’s what we’re trying to dislodge.”

Some habits can lead to physical addiction, especially those pertaining to alcohol, tobacco and drug use. If you need more help quitting these substances, please reach out to such resources as , and .