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October 2, 2009

Changing Bad Habits

Albert Einstein said that insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. Doing something over and over again sounds like a habit, not necessarily insanity. If you want to change things, then you do need to quit the habit, or change the habit into a different habit.

Zen Habits: Simple Productivity has a cheat sheet for changing habits. It basically takes three major steps:

1. Write down your plan.

3. Focus on doing the replacement habits every single time the triggers happen, for about 30 days.

Whether it's kicking a bad habit such as smoking, or acquiring a new habit such as exercising 3 times a week, habits are all changed pretty much the same ways. But it's nice to have a little help and developing a cheering section doesn't hurt either.

I've tried to give up Diet Coke but I'm addicted to the bubbles. I know that artificial sweetener is probably not good for me (though the research studies have yet to emerge that prove that it's really bad). What I've done is to mix seltzer water with grapefruit juice, and that helps offer a caffeine free substitute later in the day. But I still drink one first thing in the morning. It turns out that I replaced coffee (which made me jittery and mean) with caffeinated soda -- effectively swapping one habit for another. I still have a coffee every once in a while; it reminds me how bad it makes me feel.

Obviously, I haven't exactly succeeded at changing this habit, but the article says we learn the most about ourselves by what doesn't work. So, what habit would you like to change? It may take more than one try. You may find it easier to change a difficult habit once you've successfully changed an easy one. Build on your success. But the first step is to try.

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Posted by linda at October 2, 2009 5:55 PM