Already I've skipped a day in posting something, but you see, yesterday I was a wee bit hungover. I don't go out much anymore, so sometimes when I do, I succumb to the bad habit of thinking that next drink is a great idea. It wasn't.
Anyway, this is another "house-keeping" post. The reason I've called this "Habit Forming" rather than "Habit Breaking" is that someone suggested to me that forming a habit is easier than breaking one. I've very suggestible, so I took this to the (logical (to me)) conclusion that I should not think of myself as breaking any habit, but rather as replacing them with newly formed habits.
This also appeals to me in a reward-vs-punishment way. When I fall down on breaking a bad habit, I can feel pretty guilty and discouraged. Plus, the result of breaking a habit is the absence of something; that doesn't score well in the "tangible rewards" department.
But forming a new habit is easier on the optimism: the results of my hard work in building a new habit are generally visible. Flossing, for example: My teeth look and feel great. It's good encouragement to continue. Or this blog: Sure I missed a day, but now I can make up for it and feel good about my ability to fulfill this commitment, plus I can see my posts. Neat.
It's certainly hard either way, and I don't know how much I truly believe one method is harder than the other in reality, but given a choice between pessimism and optimism - even false optimism - I'll take gamble on the positive any day.
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