I am sorry…
This post was supposed to start with a typical “XX years as a Coca Cola Drinker, and I am an addict”. But to be honest, I really can’t remember for how long the product known as Coca-Cola Diet/Light/No Sugar had been such a “close friend” of mine. A good guess would be around 35 years.
The thing is, no matter how long you had it, you can get rid of bad habits. And while it’s not always easy, it’s doable.
Let me give you some information to ease the process.
I will stop 35 years of “Diet Cola Drinking Habit” and hopefully it will serve you as an example for your own fight. So, choose a bad habit and work along with me. If possible, choose a habit that is holding you back on our current goal. Maybe you are addicted to certain food at a specific time (like while watching TV) or maybe you fall into your bad habit when you are in a certain mood. It doesn’t matter the habit; these rules apply to all of them.
So, for starters what is a bad habit? To put it simple, a bad habit is a negative behavior pattern. And according to MIT research, a bad habit follows a loop of three main components: CUE, ROUTINE, REWARD. If you are able to disrupt this loop long enough, you will be able to break the habit. There is a saying that a bad habit takes 21 days to be changed. It really will take a little more than that, especially if we are talking about years of doing what we want to stop doing.
The first thing that we want, is to concentrate on the ROUTINE. Try to isolate the bad habit while doing the action. A good way of doing this, is Imaging that you are someone else looking at you while we are doing our sinful act. In my case, I will think about someone following me everywhere and watching when I drink a Diet Coke, that someone will be shocked how often I do it and he (me) will pay close attention to details before and after the negative behavior. In summary, we will understand better the action of the habit that we want to change, and we will give it a correct label (Overeating, smoking, Fast Food eating).
Next let’s work with the REWARD system.
This is the hard part of the deal. You must make sure that you can create rewards that can replace the ones that you receive from the bad behavior. Let say that you want something sweet, but it doesn’t need to be Chocolate Cake, right? Why not trying an Apple and complementing your good deed with some positive thinking. Think that you are closer to your weight goal because of this small step. In my case, I will replace the Cola drink with Green Tea (and the positive thinking is needed too LOL). This is in my opinion, a very easy approach because I am not changing anything about the process, just the element that I will be drinking in excess. It turns out that drinking a lot of green tea is GREAT for your health. However, because this part is not always easy, prepare for lots of trial error until you find the right GOOD reward for changing or killing your bad habit. Always aim for positive or healthy rewards, replacing one bad habit with another bad habit is not good for anyone.
Finally, we deal with the CUE.
You may not realize it yet, but your bad habit is not coming to you out of the blue, there is something that tells you to start rolling. A signal, a trigger, a CUE. And it could be as simple as being in a place or talking to someone or doing something specific that leads to the problematic behavior. Identifying our CUE is a must if you want to stop the habit. For now, instead of trying to fight the bad habit, pay close attention to the moment before you engage in the action:
Where am I when I do it? Is the place important?
How am I feeling? Happy? Sad? Bore?
Who am I with? Alone? Friends? Significant other?
How is my health? Strong? Weak? Those days of the month (in case of girls)?
Write down anything that you think could somehow take you to the bad behavior. And be ready for the next time that the “Cue” repeats.
After knowing my cues, I can take action. Let’s say that most of the time that I drink Diet-Coke, I am either bored or Watching TV. Well, the next time that you are in that state, be aware that it is an opportunity for change. Be alert and ready to identify the moment that you are getting the urge to engage into your bad habit. At that time, interrupt your pattern with something else. If must be something that take you out of cue (pun intended).
Example: you are watching a movie on Netflix and you get a strong desire for Chocolate Cake. You decide to go to the kitchen and… Call your Mom to check how she is doing. Talk to her for a few minutes, tell her that you love her and make her feel special. By the time you hang up the phone, I feel confident that you will be happy and proud (Reward) and you won’t be thinking about chocolate cake. Good! go back and finish your movie. At the end of the movie, pad yourself on the back because you just avoided giving-in into your bad habit. You did GOOD!
A good strategy for CONSISTENCY
Ok, we kind of know what to do. Now how long do we keep doing it? Until it WORKS! We are going to be using the Seinfeld Method (yes, the comedian Jerry Seinfeld). If you don’t know what I am talking about, let me just tell you that there is a good story about Jerry Seinfeld teaching his method to a new comedian during a Q&A session. Work on your skill (jokes) and mark every day that you do it on a big calendar. If you miss one day (break the streak) you must start all over. And believe me, after repeating that “starting over” a few times, you will be caring about your Seinfeld-Method-Streak. I am adding an ending point of 21 days to the cycle (for reward and accountability purposes). So, you will be doing this cycle over and over again (21 days at a time) until you break your bad habit. Ah, and don’t forget to give yourself a big reward after finishing each 21 days cycle.
If you want to know why I am giving away Diet Coke, I promise to tell you, but in another post.
Now go ahead, pick your habit and get ready to break it!!
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