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In my opinion, the hard part of habit change isn't discovering the specifics of the changes you need to make in order to alter your habits. The hard part is met
by marcusverus 5y ago
In my opinion, the hard part of habit change isn't discovering the specifics of the changes you need to make in order to alter your habits. The hard part is meta aspect of actually doing the things that you know you need to do for long enough to break your old habits and to form new ones, all while your subconscious mind is longing for the sweet comfort of your old habits! We are masters at fooling ourselves, at talking ourselves into momentary pleasure at the cost of our long-term wellbeing, at repeatedly procrastinating 'just this once' until we completely forget that we were trying to make a change!
In my experience, the solution to this problem is good old-fashioned journaling. Sit down for a few minutes every morning and write down a few words about the change that you want to make and why. That way, every morning you have a chance to re-affirm the importance of this change, and hold yourself accountable for failing or procrastinating. If you're anything like me, as you attempt to change your habits you will fail repeatedly. Your journaling session is a dedicated session during which you can be honest about this failure, consider why you've failed, and to change your approach and to press on toward a better future.
To start, get out a journal (like, right now!), put it in a place where you can't miss it, and commit to writing a single sentence every single day. Don't beat yourself up about failing to execute on your target habit change on a given day, but do commit to never missing a single day of journaling.
If you can pick up the pen once per day, you can get it done.
Also, read Atomic Habits, which is an absolute must-read for folks who want to make changes in their lives.