How to quit bad habits and build good ones?

To some objects, we are subconsciously attached that we act on them out of sheer impulse. E.g. smartphones, salted peanuts on work desk etc.

At the sight of first cue, we act on them. Proximity is the key here. It is an enabler for you to execute the act.

The slightest sound of a ding; the cue is established. The phone is within an arm’s distance. We pick it and check the next instant.

The cover of the snack packet is so flashy. The snack is so conducive to our taste bud. At the onset of the slightest food craving, we pick the snack packet and keep munching around.

The current pattern is cue –> reflexive response (picking smartphone, snack packet) –> reward.

So where do we put a speed breaker here? Between the cue and the reflexive response. We need a disabler for our impulsive response.

What do we do? BUY SOME TIME.

When you buy more time between the cue and the response, the response becomes more deliberate and conscious than being reflexive.

It helps a huge deal to create a gap of at least 20 seconds between yourself and the object of your craving. Keep the smartphone in the next room. Keep the snack packet in the kitchen.

On the other hand, if you need to do more positive acts, simply inverse the psychology. Remove the speed breaker. Keep a water bottle at hand’s reach. Keep a book by your bedside.

When we set out to do good but hard-to-do things, our mind tries its every possible way to avoid doing them. Drinking 3 liters of water is good to our body. We all know this.

However, the very act of drinking water is not a high-stimulus treat to our senses. Water has no stimulus (no calories too, btw!). Also, drinking more than your current quota of water results in more frequent trips to the loo.

Considering all these, the brain would make you to not move 20 feet from your desk to the water cooler at your kitchen, unless you are about to die out of thirst.

The same logic goes for taking a book and sitting to read. Book is again a low-stimulus object. Comparing to reading a book, watching TV or mindlessly losing yourself in your mobile, is obviously a more glamorous option to act out.

When it comes to enforcing us to do positive acts more often, it is necessary to establish more positive cues around your environment. Also, to establish proximity to execute your response as quickly as possible.

Ideally, it should not take more than 5 seconds execute these good, positive acts.

Like I already mentioned in one of the blog posts, keep your gym accessories by your bedside. When you wake up, you should not have any friction created by your environment i.e. to go in search of clothes, water bottle etc.

Keep the clothes, gym bag, and your bike/car keys ready. Fill the water bottle with protein shake the previous night.

The time gap between the moment your mind suggested that you should go to the gym and the time you actually hopped on to your bike/car should not be more than 1 minute.

The logic is universal. You can nearly practice these two vice versa applications for every good and bad thing around you.

Take a piece of paper and write down the list of things that you want to avoid. E.g. watching too much TV, drinking, smoking, or any bad habit for that matter.

Then write down the list of speed breakers that you can set up between you and the moment of your response for executing the act.

Similarly, write down the things you want to do more often. Then, write down in what possible ways you can expedite the execution of the act.

Installing / uninstalling a habit takes a lot of conscious effort in the beginning. However, you would reap hefty returns in the long run. It could simply compound and you would see a startling difference over a considerable time period.

The theme for this blog post has been largely inspired from two lovely books: 1) Happiness Advantage by Shawn Achor, and 2) Atomic Habits by James Clear.

Comment the things you want to avoid and what are the speed breakers you would establish, and also the things you want to do more often and how are you planning to expedite the action!