Avoid the “what the Heck” Effect so You Don’t Ruin Your Habits Too Much
When in doubt about whether to read a letter your time travel friend wrote to you: “What the hell? “Is a good excuse. However, if you are about to completely ruin your diet by eating a tiny piece of cake already, then perhaps you don’t give up so easily.
As the Choose Better Life advice site explains, the “what the heck” effect occurs when we break our habits a little, so we decide, “what the hell?” and completely break these habits. This happens when you once skipped a workout at the gym, so you decided to skip it for a week, or when you swore that you were going to be productive, but ended up on Facebook, so you decide to stay there for three hours. … We believe that if we have already screwed up, then we can continue on. However, this kind of thinking is a trap:
The “what the hell” effect is the feeling you get when you’ve already exceeded a set limit and feel that since you’ve already failed, you might as well fail …
… When you miss a target or exceed the limit, be careful with yourself. Don’t make a disaster. Armed with this knowledge and awareness, you can make better and more informed choices as you move forward.
The power of the “what the heck” effect actually stems from our belief that short-term failure symbolizes our total failure. Of course, you ate a piece of cake as part of your diet. In any case, your diet is a complete fiction, right? So what the hell? Why not go crazy?
However, your habits are not tainted just because you once fell short of your ridiculously high expectations. If you haven’t reached your goal today, try again tomorrow. If you postpone for a while, get back on track as soon as possible. If you think of minor blunders as the tiny problems they present, you’ll be better prepared to stay on top of your habits. Just don’t create temporary paradoxes.
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