Five tips for scaring away bad habits
Hello, friends!
The last newsletter really seemed to strike a chord with those of you interested in forming new habits. Hooray! I hope the tips have been working well for you.
This time I want to share some tips from the same book (James Clear's Atomic Habits) about getting rid of BAD habits. Your bad habits could be things like eating the cookies on your counter every time you pass through the kitchen, checking social media every time you have a free moment, staying up late to watch just one more episode on Netflix... you get the point. Here's what the research says about making behavior change away from negative choices:
1. Remove the Cue for the Bad Habit: Many of our habits are driven by visual cues. Consider how you can adjust your home and office to remove the worst offenders: put all "bad" food and drinks out of sight deep inside cabinets or at the back of the fridge; cover the television with a piece of heavy cloth or unplug it and store it in a closet; remove food delivery apps from your phone; turn off social media notifications from your phone; or instead of leaving your phone on the table where it's in plain sight, store it in a box or a drawer when you're not using it.
2. Understand the Ramifications of Indulging in Bad Behavior: Consider the impacts of your bad habit and bring them to mind each time you consider the habit. For example, "Sitting in front of the TV at night may seem like it makes me feel good; but actually it causes me to stay up too late, avoid taking care of responsibilities around the house, reduces time available for productive hobbies like reading, learning, and playing music, and leaves me feeling more tired and 'behind' the next day." If you repeated that to yourself each time you considered your plans for the evening, do you think you'd always choose the couch and TV?
3. Increase the Obstacles to Your Bad Habit: Just as we like to ease the steps towards our good habits (leaving fresh fruit on the counter, pre-packing our workout gear the night before, creating a comfortable place to do our homework), we want to create roadblocks to our bad habits. Like in the story of Frog and Toad (do you all remember Frog and Toad?!), store the cookies in a box that's closed and tied with a string and place the box on the highest possible shelf that you need a ladder to access. You might unplug or take the batteries out of any electronics you're trying not to use. Or you could give your coworker or friend or neighbor your cigarettes or weed or other "bad item" of choice, so that you have to go through the step of asking for it before you use it. You get the idea!
4. Commit Yourself to Avoiding the Habit: In the book, Clear recommends using a "commitment device" which is anything that you can use now that will constrain your actions in the future. He suggests things like leaving your wallet at home when you know you're going somewhere that you might purchase something you shouldn't, or asking the waiter to box half of your dinner before it's served to you so you only eat half the portion for dinner.
5. Make the Habit Unsatisfying. We usually indulge in bad habits because they're quick fixes -- they relieve us of hunger, boredom, anxiety, stress, or other negative states. In order to stop ourselves from behaviors that feel good in the short term but create ill effects in the long term, we need to make the habit unsatisfying. This could be something like committing to post on social media every time you commit the bad habit, or creating an agreement with a friend that each time one of you indulges in a specific bad habit, you'll have to pay the other person $25. We are usually reluctant to show weakness to friends, family, and our social media communities, so making a pledge and even committing to exchange money when failing to meet our goals provides a hefty disincentive.
Please try these out and let me know how they work for you! As for me, I've moved my social media apps and games off the home screen of my phone so I have to worker harder to access them. I've also put all our sweets in a drawer instead of on the counter. So far, these have really helped! I look forward to hearing about how your habits are progressing this year.
With love and health support,
Janet
