A distinction that is rarely mentioned when talking about habit forming is the one between building a new habit, like exercising every day, and breaking a bad habit, like quitting junk food. The latter is much harder in my experience but the article hardly acknowledges it.
The former implies building up the willpower to exercise and once it's done, you don't have to think about it for the rest of the day. Quitting a bad habit, on the other hand, is a constant struggle to resist the urge a thousand times per day. When grocery shopping, when out for dinner, when bombarded with ads for ultra processed food... The slightest patch of hardship in your day can make you trip up.
I find the identity-focused strategy can help. Other strategies that somewhat work for me:
- I condition myself to associate the bad habit with the worst things I can think of. Anytime the temptation to eat junk food creeps up, I picture the fat building up in my arteries, I convince myself that the processed food industry is evil, etc.
- I remind myself that the road to success will not be straightforward and I should focus on the general trend instead of the day to day success and failures. Having some kind of habit tracker can help with that.
I’ve had some success compromising with myself to trade a related good for a related bad. The bad thing you’re trying to quit needs to have some relation to the good thing, so they both come to mind—even if only tenuously.
The former implies building up the willpower to exercise and once it's done, you don't have to think about it for the rest of the day. Quitting a bad habit, on the other hand, is a constant struggle to resist the urge a thousand times per day. When grocery shopping, when out for dinner, when bombarded with ads for ultra processed food... The slightest patch of hardship in your day can make you trip up.
I find the identity-focused strategy can help. Other strategies that somewhat work for me:
- I condition myself to associate the bad habit with the worst things I can think of. Anytime the temptation to eat junk food creeps up, I picture the fat building up in my arteries, I convince myself that the processed food industry is evil, etc.
- I remind myself that the road to success will not be straightforward and I should focus on the general trend instead of the day to day success and failures. Having some kind of habit tracker can help with that.