Note: This article is based on a piece by journalist Scott H. Young, in which he tells us about the best ways to break bad habits, and the role of moderation in achieving a healthy life.
However, breaking bad habits is like trying to nail jelly on a tree. Almost all of us have bad habits we can't control. Maybe it's not an addiction, but something as simple as watching TV or using a mobile phone a lot.
Is it better to break bad habits all in one total break?
It's always been better to do so than to break them gradually. I've been on a purely vegetarian diet for almost eight years before becoming a fish vegan, which means eating fish and seafood in addition to vegetarianism and staying away from meat and chicken meals.
Despite most people insisting on how hard and impossible it is to go vegan, I've had fewer struggles doing it than I would with waking up early, going to the gym, or flossing my teeth.
Plus, my decision not to speak my mother tongue - English - to learn other languages, although speaking English wasn't a bad habit in itself, worked better when it was a clear and specific rule. For example, when I was learning French while in France, I wanted to go with less English, but not to the point of not speaking it at all, but I ended up speaking it 90% of the time, and struggling a lot learning French, unfortunately.
It might be easier to completely step out of a bad habit in some cases when that habit is a rule defined in a very clear way, says author James Clear, a speaker who focuses on habits, decision-making, and self-development. The clear rule is defined as an unambiguous criterion, such as never eating meat again or speaking English.
Clear-cut rules maintain willpower, and because you always know whether an action violates or breaks your rule, you don't have to dwell on difficult, confusing situations. Therefore, it takes much less mental effort to maintain the habit.
Reasons why suddenly breaking bad habits come to nothing at all
If clear-cut rules make asserting willpower easy, and stopping bad habits suddenly and completely is an excellent example of such rules, then I think the reason why diets that ban you from bread or decisions to abstain from bad practices are so hard and rare is that you make several concessions when you follow these rules. Deep down, you don't want to completely step out of many bad habits; perhaps moderation is better for your lifestyle.
Take fast food, for example. I don't want to eat chips and soda daily, but I'd get angry and rebel if someone told me I couldn't have them for the rest of my life. I'd like to cut it down to a third or a half of what I have right now.
Let's take aimless web browsing as another example. I've previously completely cut off from the Internet and eliminated my non-work browsing habits, but this wouldn't have lasted for so long because even if you surf too much sometimes, it could be better to eliminate everything related to online entertainment.
Placing obstacles in the way of bad habits
There are several ways to turn moderation into a habit when deciding to moderate away from complete interruption or exceeding the limits. One of my favorite tactics is placing obstacles for you practicing a bad habit, and then those obstacles will push you towards completely different behaviors.
I've recently found an excellent blocker to control my bad surfing habits, Leechblock - A simple add-on to the browser that can block websites as desired. This add-on stops browsing for a certain period or can be limited to 10 minutes every two hours, for example. You can also block certain websites on the Internet, so the program doesn't have to disrupt your other tasks.
Moreover, another obstacle I used to cut down on watching too much TV is the timer switch. We usually buy it to control the lights in the house, but the same principle applies to any electrical device. You can control the TV and turn it on and off, then set it to turn off automatically at specific hours during the day.
All these obstacles can sometimes be nothing to worry about. If I want to surf the Internet, I can use a different browser on my mobile phone or another computer, and if I want to watch TV, I can unplug the timer and plug the TV directly into a wall socket. Hence, the purpose of these obstacles is to make it hard for a person to practice a bad habit.
But because I used to practice these habits mostly out of laziness, it'll be easier to motivate myself to read a book or do something useful than to try to overcome the obstacles and return to the bad habit again. The good thing about the previous two examples is that you need to muster up the willpower within you and do your best only once to set the obstacles for yourself. I'll download "leechblock" or set a timer on my TV once to stop my bad habits for as long as I want.
Other obstacles can also be used, but they'll require sustained willpower, like trying to refrain from eating bad foods. It's possible to simply stop buying fast food and bringing it into the house. You'll need great willpower to keep you from buying them every time you go shopping, and this can serve as an improvement to stay away from bad foods, but it's not ideal.
Still, I can imagine having a grocery delivery service that would offer you the chance to pre-select the items you'll order every week. So your vegetables arrive automatically, and the obstacle to eating junk food is greater.
The role of technology in multiplying and increasing habits
Consumer technology is notorious for reinforcing our bad habits. We're slaves for electronic devices and social media. But I think technology can oppositely be of great benefit, as in the case of apps like Leachblock.
It gives us new ways to change our behavior and actions deliberately and carefully. As a result, technology will act as a multiplier that enhances both the good and bad habits of people in the future, and it's up to us to decide where we want to invest this technology.
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