I often fail when trying to change bad habits. Any advice

"Good habits are hard to develop but easy to live with and bad habits are easy to develop but hard to live with," explains Diana Han, MD, who practices internal medicine at Baptist Medical Associates.

To change a bad habit you will have to use self-discipline, but gradually it will get easier. Dr. Han recommends these steps for changing habits:

• Awareness: You must become aware of your habits. How is this bad habit affecting you?
• Wanting to change: You must decide that breaking bad habits through a conscious effort is a worthy goal. You must convince yourself that changing the habit is worth the effort involved.
• Commitment: You must be determined to do whatever it takes for breaking bad habits so that you can better control your life.
• Consistent action: Sometimes changing a habit can be done "cold turkey" and sometimes it works better to make a gradual change. Take consistent actions for breaking the bad habit that has been causing problems and take the actions to develop a new one.
• Perseverance: There will be times when you question whether it is all worth it. Visualize regularly the rewards for following through and the value to your future of building new, better habits.

"Get support from others, especially other people who want to make changes in their lives," Dr. Han adds.