Don't Break Bad Habits, Make Good Habits

What Failed

To break bad habits, I have tried promising myself rewards, snapping rubber bands and other common solutions. The rewards failed because I am an adult and I can reward myself any time I want. The snapping rubber bands failed because the action did not deter me or distract me long enough to be effective.

I figured out what worked for me

I obsess about silly things. I do things and sometimes I am unable to stop.  Sometimes, I fail to recognize I should stop. This self knowledge is essential to my ability to change myself.

Discipline is Good

For a long time, I have struggled to train bad habits out of my behavior. Recently, I concluded the key was not to train out the hated habits but to replace them with beneficial behaviors.

I focused on my most hated, self harming and embarrassing habit (I'm too embarrassed to identify it). In a few days, I trained it out of myself. Simple.

I love writing. It's my meditation. I don't love studying. So I got a list of words and memorized them. It's a mild self punishment to correct and change my pattern of behavior.

Years of struggling with this habit and it has been gone for weeks. I know what I have to do if the urge returns. I just need a list of words to combat any bad habit.

The Procedure

I wait for the thought to creep into my mind.

I immediately review a word.

If I slip and give into the habit, I review ten words.

Reviewing the list is still a habit. But it's not one I love. Reviewing the words distract me from the thought and the bad habit. Over the course of a couple weeks, the behavior has faded and I don't need to review the list as often.

Simple because it works for me.