So how am I doing? (Breaking bad habits cont)

I’m two weeks into breaking my bad habit of spending too much time scrolling on my phone first thing in the morning Taking my own medicine

Part of the habit change was social pressure, and knowing at some point I’d need to report back.

So out of the 2 weeks, I’ve only done it twice, once on my birthday (who doesn’t want to read those birthday messages) and once just yesterday when I was so tired I just weakened.

What was easy?

Surprisingly not reaching for my phone was relatively easy, but interestingly it made me sleep more! Ha! Not having that temptation to just grab my phone.

It has made mornings easier and walking with my phone has meant that I spend less time reading all the notifications.

I have turned off all my notifications on facebook and so have to actually go and look, that has helped enormously!

What is harder?

Well I’ve broken the habit of picking up my phone but I’ve been less successful in going for a walk in the morning. I want to bank that time saved instead of spending it by going for a walk, even though I do enjoy it. So I have probably walked 50% of the time, that is still more that I did before, but room for improvement.

What now?

One step at a time is definitely my message – the first step was deciding where to start. The second was committing to it.

Perhaps now that the habit is broken I’m getting better sleep in that last half an hour before I wake up and I don’t feel like I’ve wasted a morning, I don’t need to link it to the exercise, although the mornings I don’t have to race out of the house the exercise is a good alternative.

Will definitely keep my notifications turned off, that helped not only in the morning but also during the day, the ever blinking light to tell me that someone is having lunch! That has meant much more productivity as I do get into that flow of work without getting distracted.

Now I’m contemplating my next habit change, I’ll keep you posted!

 

Taking my own medicine (Breaking Bad Habits)

In my previous post I discussed how to break bad habits and create new ones – Happy New Year

Bad habits often form because you are trying to avoid something, I’m not a morning person so many of my habits in the morning are terrible! It is taking longer and longer for me to get going in the morning especially now that I am working for myself and don’t have to be at the office by a particular time.

So combining what we know about habits from neuroscience and psychology research (previous post) and that the only person who can fix this is me….

It’s time to break some of those habits!

The habit I’ve chosen to focus on first is this – I wake up, pick up my phone and start scrolling….half an hour (sometimes more) later I’m still there. Was there anything earth shatteringly important that I found out about? Generally not.

I do enjoy it though so this is what I’m doing and this is Day 1. I am only allowed to pick up my phone when I have my sneakers on and ready to go for a walk. Then I can walk and scroll, I’m not a runner so this works.

This picks up tips 1 to 3. Only choosing 1 habit, piggy backing on to an existing routine and introducing a behaviour that is supporting what I want to do. I want to improve my fitness and I know I feel better when I exercise. I want to be more productive in the morning.

Tip 5 was tell people what you want to do – social pressure. Well here I am!

What I noticed Day 1

Any excuse will do – almost didn’t happen because I couldn’t find my sunglasses. So to support this new habit I’m going to have to get the essentials organised the night before.

It wasn’t as easy as reading in bed, surprise surprise, but I did see enough and wasn’t aimlessly scrolling. When I figure out how to get Audible working on my new Galaxy S8 then I might listen to one of the books on my list, which would help with another thing I want to do more.

I feel better making a start and have already achieved more!

Happy New Year – Breaking Bad (Habits)

What New Year resolutions did you make? Have you already fallen off the wagon?
Why is changing a bad habit or creating a new habit so hard?
The brain is a prediction machine, it loves habit! Can you imagine what it would take to consciously think about everything you do? Try brushing your teeth with the opposite hand! Notice all the things that are a bit harder or strange, you’ll probably have to even stand differently!
So what happens at new year’s? We take firmly cemented habits and without preparation we decide we will change ALL of them. If only it was that easy!
There are a few tips though.
1. Only choose 1 or 2 habits to change. Changing habits requires you to be very conscious of what you are doing and is tiring for your brain.
2. Piggy back onto existing routines. Always watch TV in the evening? Well if you want to become more flexible put an exercise mat on the floor of the tv room. Stretch while you are watching Netflix or scrolling on Facebook.
3. Introduce a behaviour that will support what you want to do. Want to eat more healthily? Start by keeping a food journal (an honest one), is there a pattern of when you are likely to eat better/worse? That gives you the areas you need to target rather than your whole menu.
4. Find a buddy. Know someone already in a good routine? Join in. Latest studies are showing that you are likelier to keep to new habits if you are friends with people who also value it.
5. Tell people what you are trying to do and ask them to check in on you. Social pressure is very powerful.
6. Focus on progress, set an achievable goal and work towards it daily, repetition is key.
7. Any other habits you have that will work against you? If you can’t resist the chocolate aisle when you are shopping then get your groceries online.

Know that it gets easier! Willpower is also a habit, the more you exert it the stronger it will get!

What habits are you trying to change?