Ask HN: How did you break a bad habit? - gymshoes
======
GoToRO
1\. Verbalize what is bad about the bad habit.

2\. Verbalize what would be good about the good habit that should replace the
bad one.

3\. Do the bad habit. Focus on the bad outcome of it.

4\. Once in a while when you actually do the good habit, focus on the positive
outcome.

In other words, train yourself as you would train a dog.

Example:

1\. I like eating which makes me fat, my joints hurt, I'm slow.

2\. If I would be more active, like going to a park, I would feel better just
by being in nature and I would loose weight which means I would look better.

3\. Eat crap. While you eat be very conscious that this is how the joints pain
is made, how body fat is made. Don't stop.

4\. While you eat healthy or go to a park or to gym or you walk also be very
conscious that this is how fit people are made and that after doing it you are
a little bit more fit than just before. If you keep this course for 3 years
you will be very fit.

------
bitVelocity
I looked in the mirror and lifted my t-shirt, noticed my belly was starting to
get fat.

Then I quit sugar and carbs and never went back - but it was hard, after 2-3
months I got crazy cravings for carbs but I pushed through it, I compare the
pain of changing something important to the most "extreme alternative" \-
which in this case and in many cases around bad habits is death.

Break the habit or die early?

~~~
dawidw
You don't eat carbs at all? I think it's not healthy either. How long have you
been on that diet? How do you feel?

~~~
bitVelocity
I do eat some carbs but not much, I'm 100% off bread and sugar and processed
foods and honestly I think that in itself is enough to make a massive
difference, you don't need to cut out carbs entirely.

I feel much better, my energy is even throughout the day / evening, I used to
get tiredness that came on suddenly a lot but that's gone now and I used to
get frequent headaches and they've gone too.

------
chaggy
By objectifying your actions as soon as you realize you're doing your habit
and taking a minute to let those feelings pass.

------
rchaud
You could start simple by putting a rubber band around your wrist and pulling
the the elastic band back and slapping it on your skin each time you're
getting the urge. That'll help you become mindful about how often the urge
happens, what time of day it happens etc.

------
MilnerRoute
There's a good trick I once heard called "Don't break the streak." You know
what you want to stop doing, so focus on getting through just this day without
doing that thing.

Then the next day remind yourself that you've got a _streak_ going -- one
entire whole day, and you could make it _two_ if you make it to the end of
this day. And then keep the streak going the next day and the next...

Basically, it gives a feeling for what you're doing -- an in-built reward for
successfully not-doing it.

------
yesenadam
With _noprocrast_.

EDIT: Maybe about time to use it again. It worked amazingly well the first
time. (6hrs off after 1 hr on) It would be great to have something so
immediately effective with other things-one-might-want-to-give-up.

------
audiometry
Watch one of the 20 minute BJ Fogg videos on habit formation. Then figure out
ways to morph your bad habit into a harmless 'other' habit. Or break the
feedback loops that trigger the habit.

------
aliencat
_stickK_ app is very useful for breaking bad... habit. You put money on the
stake to follow through.

------
thekonqueror
In my experience, nootropics can be very helpful during first few weeks of
trying to break a bad habit. You also need will power / other methods
mentioned on this page, but proper nootropic can prevent giving up and going
back after 3 days.

------
nailer
I follow the Seinfeld "don't break the chain" (duckduckgo it).

I do actually break the chain if:

\- I'm ill

\- I'm overseas

I might change the latter.

~~~
bequanna
I think this is the simplest, most effective advice to break through
procrastination. Start taking action, even if it is small. Then, continue that
action Daily, weekly, whatever and build on it.

Momentum is super powerful. There is much truth to the saying: "If you want
something done, ask a busy person."

------
dnh44
“The only way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it. Resist it, and
your soul grows sick with longing for the things it has forbidden to itself,
with desire for what its monstrous laws have made monstrous and unlawful.“

-Oscar Wilde

------
achairapart
You replace it with a good (or, at least, better) habit.

~~~
bitVelocity
i like this idea, should be an app for this

let's call it HabitApp

------
mapster
put up barriers. but ultimately it has to come from deep inside. i had a bad
habit for 22 yrs - nail biting. i took a job after freelancing for 8 yrs and
stopped cold turkey because I wanted to be presentable. I had tried to stop
countless times before.

------
flarg
What worked for me... Punching myself very hard in the arm.

~~~
ssijak
Why the arm?

------
amirouche
I replaced it with another habit.

