Here's how to get rid of those awful bad habits:

• One at a time. Beat one bad habit per month and in a year you'll be awesome.
• Don't stop. Just count. Don't eliminate the bad behavior just yet. First, be consistent in your awfulness.
• Don't change you. Change your world. 20 second rule. Make it harder to engage in bad habits.
• Chill, dude. Stress makes the bad stuff tempting. Relax and you'll behave better.
• Don't eliminate. Replace. You can't kill bad habits but you can swap them out for new ones.
• "If" and "then." A simple plan for how you'll beat temptation helps you beat temptation.
• Forgive yourself. Beating yourself up makes you behave worse. Self-compassion keeps you going.

And what's the final tip?

Peer pressure is a good thing — when you use it strategically. Mom wanted you to hang out with the smart kids in school because they provided good examples. Mom was right.

It's simple, really. Hang out with people who you want to be. Procrastinate a lot? Spend more time with uber-productive friends. Want to get in shape? Hang around those healthy-eating gym addicts.

When I spoke to Carlin Flora, author of Friendfluence: The Surprising Ways Friends Make Us Who We Are, she said:

Research shows over time, you develop the eating habits, health habits, and even career aspirations of those around you. If you're in a group of people who have really high goals for themselves you'll take on that same sense of seriousness. And conversely, if you're in a group of friends who are not that ambitious, then you too will lower your standards.

Okay, enough talk. Right now, email or text one of those friends you want to be and set a time to hang out.

Friends don't just make us happy. They can also make us better people.

Research from Duke University shows 40 percent of what you do every day isn't a decision — it's a habit.

From Charles Duhigg's excellent book The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business:

One paper published by a Duke University researcher in 2006 found that more than 40 percent of the actions people performed each day weren't actual decisions, but habits.

Yeah, you spend almost half the day on autopilot. And changing bad habits isn't just "kinda nice." If you want to be a success, studies show habits really do matter.

People who have career momentum are 53 percent more likely to have good habits.