
Extreme Methods for Breaking Bad Habits - shaunroncken
https://medium.com/swlh/an-extreme-method-for-breaking-your-bad-habits-8d269b5302da#.5yyk1c5f1
======
Jonovono
The greatest advice I have gotten regarding breaking bad habits comes from
"The Easy Way to Quite Smoking" book. I think it applies to much more than
smoking.

Basically what it argues is you can't quite smoking (or change a bad
habit/addiction) using will power. Trying to use will power is just admitting
that that habit gave you something and you have to 'give it up'. Instead it's
realizing that you are actually gaining something by not having that habit in
your life anymore. You are not 'giving' anything up. You are gaining.

~~~
nibs
I think that you are adding cognitive dissonance, not removing will power,
from the equation. Will power means following through on an intention. Unless
you accidentally stop smoking because you all of sudden realize that it does
not in fact makes you feel good and makes you feel worse, you are ultimately
following through on an intention that is hard and many smart people fail at
or relapse.

~~~
Jonovono
I found it didn't require will power to quit at all after I changed how I
viewed it. I just didn't want to anymore. I didn't have to try to not anymore.

I think what he discusses resonated with me because the times I tried to quit
using will power there was cognitive dissonance. I was trying so hard to give
something up which created this idea in my mind that I was giving something up
that provided me something positive otherwise why did I have to try so hard to
give it up. If it actually was so bad and had no benefit it should be easy to
just stop, right? So it must be giving me something good! So it was easy to
fall back into it and justify it etc.

I don't know if that makes sense, but I feel like it summarizes what I went
through - although it was a while back now :p

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ferbivore
> This ‘Extreme Prescription’ approach might work as a way to improve. And I
> hope it does.

Okay, so I just wasted 10 minutes reading a half-hearted list of milquetoast
"extreme" improvement methods (like not keeping a to-do list) that the author
has not bothered to test on himself yet.

This is a rather poor marketing pitch for whatever this "Crew" thing is.

~~~
_fs
Not to mention 3/4 of the article is just rephrasing Derek Sivers' post [1] on
the same issue. This author even stole all the artwork.

[1] [https://sivers.org/compensate](https://sivers.org/compensate)

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neutronicus
This is certainly how dieting works for me.

I do much better when on an "extreme" diet. I feel like I don't have to
exercise any willpower, I just eat what I planned to eat and in six months I
have a six-pack.

It's so much more draining for me to exercise restraint at restaurants and
with snacks than it is to just never darken their doors and banish them from
my cupboard.

~~~
wlesieutre
Same experience here (less the having a six-pack). The best way I've found to
keep my eating consistently healthy is to take as much temptation or thought
out of it as reasonably possible. My weekday lunches are pre-portioned and
basically identical every day because it's one less chance to screw up.

~~~
seanp2k2
Yep, Soylent has helped me get better about this, and having the will /
foresight to not bring unhealthy things into my house makes unhealthy late-
night snacking more involved than going to the kitchen, so I'm less likely to
do it.

------
dj-wonk
I tend to not be convinced by self-improvement recommendations that aren't
explicitly tailored to specific people and their personalities. There are so
many variables in play!

Here's how I would theorize about the problem of self-change. Change is hard,
it would seem, because our habits are a large complex system that often
reinforce our current ways of operating. Perhaps an "extreme" change in one
dimension is a sufficient and even the most effective way to trigger systemic
change. But in other cases, one might need "medium-level" change in two or
more dimensions. It depends on how "the system" (i.e. the person and their
environment) are interconnected.

In any case, I'd be interested to hear what people think. For people that try
this, please report back.

~~~
zeroami
> I tend to not be convinced by self-improvement recommendations that aren't
> explicitly tailored to specific people and their personalities. There are so
> many variables in play!

I tend to agree with this sentiment especially considering I have read and
tried to apply quite a few in my own life.

However, I am currently working my way through Thinking, Fast and Slow[0] and
I can't recommend it enough. It's not so much a self-improvement/help book as
it is a way to define the language we use in speaking about the different
systems of the brain (think intuitive vs effortful). Worth the read.

[0][https://www.amazon.com/Thinking-Fast-Slow-Daniel-
Kahneman/dp...](https://www.amazon.com/Thinking-Fast-Slow-Daniel-
Kahneman/dp/0374533555)

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e40
I just started reading this and I think it's pretty good:

[https://www.amazon.com/Willpower-Instinct-Self-Control-
Works...](https://www.amazon.com/Willpower-Instinct-Self-Control-Works-
Matters/dp/1583335080/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1467298909&sr=1-1&keywords=willpower+instinct)

~~~
peteretep
This is great, too, and I think there's a PDF floating around:

[https://www.amazon.com/Self-Discipline-10-days-Thinking-
Doin...](https://www.amazon.com/Self-Discipline-10-days-Thinking-
Doing/dp/1880115107)

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clentaminator
> I suck at a lot of things:

> Trying to get too much done in a day.

> Working out regularly.

> Keeping my closet clean.

I like how the post is really just a cleverly disguised humblebrag.

~~~
Kiro
I didn't understand that list. It seems like a mix between "things I do bad"
(1) and "things I wish I did" (2, 3).

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fasteo
Or you can punish yourself [1], ala Pavlok dog [2]

[1] [http://pavlok.com/](http://pavlok.com/)

[2]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classical_conditioning](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classical_conditioning)

~~~
curiousgal
Mark Cuban disapproves of this comment.

[http://www.businessinsider.com/shark-tank-fight-over-
pavlok-...](http://www.businessinsider.com/shark-tank-fight-over-
pavlok-2016-5)

~~~
pizza
Maybe that's a feature, not a bug? Now there's a precedent for not doing the
whole jig and dance routine for the financiers that be!

------
douche
I've not seen better advice than in Scott Adams' How to Fail at Almost
Everything and Still Win Big[1]

[1][http://amzn.to/2952RAD](http://amzn.to/2952RAD)

