Ever wonder if you can reprogram yourself for a more successful lifestyle? Don’t wonder anymore, you can.

First, ask yourself if  you are someone who starts each day with an early morning workout, followed by a hot shower and then some breakfast. Or, do you opt for cup of cafe mocha and a doughnut to get motivated?

But what about just breathing?

“Most of us are creatures of habit,” says wellness expert Scott Morofsky, author of The Daily Breath: Transform Your Life One Breath at a Time and Wellativity: In-Powering Wellness Through Communication,” but too often, the habits we nurture are laziness, procrastination, self-serving biases, justification and rationalization.”

These behaviors could put some on a path to destruction, all while making them look forward to the trip that takes them to this spot, he says. In the process, they are deprived of essential happiness and joy.

However, the trick to improving isn’t to lose those bad habits, but to replace them with better ones. For instance, he believes people can use practical methods to reprogram themselves for life-enriching habits and overcome any affliction they suffer from.

“After all, we all know the things that hurt us and we know that we shouldn’t be doing those things. So why don’t we stop? Because we don’t know how to go about making these changes happen,” he says.

The key is to become conscious of something you take for granted such as breathing. By conditioning yourself to improve the quality of your breathing, you will take in better oxygen.

“The important thing to remember is you don’t need pills, potions, gadgets or gizmos to make a change for the better happen,” Morofsky says. “Your desire for a better life and a system that helps you achieve it are all you need – if you’re willing. It’s a matter of getting your mind, body and spirit working together in a practical way.”

Morofsky offers these additional tips:

  • Conscious breathing. Morofsky made what he calls “conscious breathing” the centerpiece of Wellativity, his personal method for helping people overcome afflictions such as obesity, smoking, lethargy, eating disorders and any other behavior that inhibits wellness. This is much like the advice people hear their entire lives to “take a deep breath” when they face stressful moments. “The core focus is conditioning ourselves to stay as connected to conscious breathing as possible and to clear away anything negative or detrimental,” Morofsky says. Breathing awareness in itself helps reduce bodily tension, improve rational thinking and increase oxygen to the entire body.
  • Patience. One mistake people make when they want to improve their lives is trying to do too much too quickly. That’s usually true with exercise or physical fitness programs, but it can apply to other areas of life, too. It’s great to be ambitious about exchanging bad habits for good, but don’t set yourself up to fail by creating far-reaching and unrealistic goals.
  • Better boundaries. When you are creating a healthier lifestyle, it’s good to have healthy boundaries. For example, an alcoholic in recovery should probably stay clear of a sports bar. As much as possible, when you are trying to trade bad habits for good, put yourself in the best position to be successful, he says.