Replace a Bad Habit With a Good One
At Lifehacker, we talk a lot about how to form good habits and how to get rid of bad ones. But this advice is about how to replace the latter with the former and simplify the whole process.
This story was discovered by Khe Hee of Rad Reads and published in his newsletter ; Redditor u / DFjorde posted on r / LifeProTips a very interesting struggle – they ate junk food impulsively. Their side hustle and bustle of selling chips and sweets stopped, but the excess stock poured out of the closet. Anyone with impulse control problems can imagine what a temptation this presents.
They started using the urge to eat a candy bar as motivation – every time that thought crossed their minds, they did 10 push-ups, then 15, and so on:
Use push-ups to break unwanted habits. Every time you get the urge to do something unhealthy, quit and give yourself 10. If you can’t do 10, do 5 or 3, or whatever you can. You not only get rid of the old habit, but also start a new, healthy one. It only takes a few seconds to get started!
…
Just think how many times this thing comes to your mind during the day. 5, 10, 15 times? Now think how good it would be to know that today you did 50, 100, 150 push-ups! I know it sounds complicated, but it’s much easier than you think! If you can’t do 10 (or can do more than 10), just do what you can and you’ll be surprised at how quickly you can start doing more. This is because while breaking this old habit, you are also using one of the best performance-enhancing methods known as groove lubrication.
They are right that not everyone can do push-ups, both physically and financially. Most offices are not very supportive of those who jump and fall to the ground.
There are other short, light physical exercises that you can do in a similar way – distract yourself by doing squats, going up and down the stairs of a building, drinking a cup of water (since many people have trouble hydrating), or doing a few jumpers. You must judge for yourself how much discretion is required in the workplace or at home; there might be a neighbor downstairs who doesn’t want to hear you hit the floor.
Even if this method doesn’t make you super-aroused, pairing a physical action with a bad impulse will let you know how often you indulge in a habit you hate. You may also start thinking about what makes you want to eat an extra chocolate bar, watch Instagram for the millionth time, or become obsessed with something you have no control over. Over time, you may not need to do push-ups every ten minutes to break the habit — you just won’t do it anymore.