Breaking bad habits

If you want to break a bad habit, make a conscious decision to do so and follow it up with an action plan that you will execute to get rid of it.

As simple as this sounds, it may prove challenging especially with bad habits that have been repeatedly practiced over a long period of time.

Habits are so-called since they determine how a person behaves in certain situations. They are actions that have been consistently repeated to the point where they control a person’s behavior.

These habits are acquired from what people see and hear from others. Therefore, any habit you have was probably picked up from somebody else. There are habits also that were not learnt, but began from childhood and are called “fixations”. A bad habit is one that produces negative results while a good habit produces profitable results.

Anything negative in life is worth getting rid of, bad habits included. Keep in mind, though, that since some bad habits were not developed overnight, so also they will not leave overnight. Some conscious steps have to be taken to intentionally break the bad habits and replace them with good ones.

How to break bad habits:

a) Analyze the habit. Do some background checks on the bad habit.

If it is smoking for example, determine when the habit began. Write down all the positive and negative effects that the habit has caused in your life. Determine how serious the problem is by stating the number of cigarettes you smoke a day and the amount of money and time you spend on the bad habit. Think of the influence the habit has had on your family, health, career, and social status.

Through this analysis, you will get a clearer picture of the seriousness of the problem and the detrimental effects it has had on you. This will give you the motivation you need to begin the quitting process. Document this analysis and frequently refer to it each time you feel like quitting the process of breaking the bad habit.

b) Refuse to let the habit have control over you. Continuously tell yourself that you have power over the bad habit. This positive self-talk will get rid of any helpless feeling towards the bad habit. This will empower you to take control of the habit and get rid of it.

c) Adopt the stepping stone approach. This approach involves making daily goals that gradually decrease the practice of the habit. In the case of smoking, you can apply this technique by daily reducing the number of cigarettes you smoke. A habit tracker is needed in this case to ensure that the quantity being consumed is daily decreasing. If you want to break the habit of watching too much TV, you can also apply this technique by daily reducing the number of hours you spend watching television.

d) Find appropriate replacements for the habit. Replace a bad habit with a good one. Find multiple good habits that you can learn in the place of the bad habits. Practice the good habits during the normal time when you would engage in the bad habits. In the case of smoking, every time you feel the urge to smoke, pick an activity in your list of good habits that you can indulge in to get your mind off the urge.

 

December 9, 2011 | | No Comments »

Steven Pinker’s review of the book “Willpower”

Steven Pinker is an American scientist who was gained renown by explaining how to the mind works to lay people in an accessible and insight full way. He has done this through his books and presentations

In his recent review of the book “Willpower” he summarizes some of the state-of-the-art thinking about willpower.

  • Since the 1960s the recorded use of the phrase “Willpower” has fallen dramatically. Willpower as a concept is out of favor. Willpower is a concept that would be presented to someone living in the 1930s far more than it’s presented to someone living today.
  • Willpower has been shown to be very important. The classic and often cited work done by Walter Mischel demonstrated that on average people who could delay gratification at age 4 went on to have much more satisfied and successful lives than those who could not delay gratification. (In on particular experiment a 4 year olds were given the choice of one marshmallow now or a wait of 15 minutes for two marshmallows.)
  • The idea of “fighting” to stay on the right path, the idea that willpower is a “force”, seems to have some validity.
  • Studies have shown that willpower can be fatigued just like a physical muscle. After your willpower has been under heavy strain it weakens.

Sugar was seen to provide a short term boost to willpower, just as it provides a short term energy boost to the physical body.

Willpower can be stregnthened by exercise. Studies were performed in which people on a regimen on recording their habits or regular exercise were found to have increased their willpower endurance, their willpower fatigued less easily that before their regimen.

The book suggest building up willpower with small regular exercises.

You can check out the review here.

September 3, 2011 | | No Comments »

“I’m too tired to go to the gym!”

I know I should go, I want to go, I will feel better if I go, but I’m not feeling it.

I’m tired, I wouldn’t get into it, I lack the energy.

Is it reasonable to skip exercise because of lack of sleep ?

I don’t think it is reasonable. I think it’s an easy out.

Why ?

Because exercise will generate energy. Because exercise will help me get a good night’s sleep tonight, so I will have energy tomorrow.
Because habits need repetition to grow strong.

I will write more when I get back from the gym :)

August 27, 2011 | | No Comments »

Dear procrastinator… An Insight from Edo van Royen

Dear procrastinator,

Procrastination has nothing to do with disciplining yourself or ‘just doing it’
This is the most common misconception about procrastination and will instead achieve exactly the opposite of what you want.
Let me explain:

The reason why human-beings procrastinate is to feel in control of their life.
The act of rebelling against an oppressor, an authorative figure telling you what to do, is your way of regaining mastery over your own fate.
Very much the same way kids throw a tantrum when their parents order them to do something,
the procrastinator puts off tasks because he has come to harbor resentment against the thing to be done.

Why, you ask? Because in your admirable will and ambition to achieve your goals, rather ironically, you have created the only
thing that can stop you from reaching your goals: a separate mental authority figure causing unneccessary internal strife.
You have created a bully out of yourself.

Start listening to the way you talk to yourself; Instead of punishing yourself for not following up on things, you need to learn to let loose.

Adopt the belief that you have the natural tendency to work productively and act creatively.

Nobody needs to man up, shape up, or be disciplined. Stop framing the world as if it is a constant struggle to get things done, instead start viewing life
as a sequence of awesomely fun and exciting things to work on.

Good luck,
Edo van Royen

August 16, 2011 | | No Comments »

Amazing Transformation Interview, JMills – You get what you put in

JMills, body transformation

JMills, body transformation

This interview with JMills is really useful. He breaks down in a methodical manner what it took for him to step up his training and accelerate his progress.

Can you tell us how long you have been working on transforming your body ?

I’ve been working on transforming my body for a long time, almost 5 years!

I can say that despite me wanting to change my body over these 5 years, I was only 100% committed in my diet and training for the last 5 months.

In these past 5 months however, I have seen enormous changes in my body, due to adherence to only a few key principles. Commitment and devotion to training and diet are the key to the results that we all want!

For the first 4 or so years, I knew very little about proper nutrition for building muscle and burning fat, but after the years of stagnant progress and minimal changes in my body and appearance, I decided to dedicate myself fully to learning everything I could about nutrition and exercise.

What are the key behaviors or tactics that you think have enabled you to succeed ?

I believe very much in the old cliche “you only get what you put in”. This saying undoubtedly rings true in many different areas in life, but I feel that it really applies to bodybuilding / exercise / improving one’s health and quality of life.

Some of the keys to my success have been:

Consistency (In training and in diet). I train 4 days a week, and never miss a session. As for my diet, I personally stick to a “targeted low carb diet”, taking in a relatively low number of carbs (around 70 grams per day on training days, less than 50 grams on off days) 6 days per week, with the majority of my carbs being ingested directly pre- and post- workout.

As I began to maintain consistency, I saw the gradual changes in my body, and became almost addicted to the feeling of bettering myself in the gym and seeing the results in the mirror.

Motivation It’s completely natural to sometimes lack the drive and desire to get into the gym and maintain a healthy diet day after day, week after week.

I keep myself on track and motivated in a variety of ways; I keep a mental image of what I want my body to look like in my head, and think about how great I’m going to feel once I achieve this long term goal, and having my “dream body”. This type of mental imaging and goal setting is powerful and motivating.

I look to others as motivation as well! I have an enormous folder of inspirational images and quotes on my computer, that I often find myself looking at before I head to the gym. One of my favorite motivational quotes comes from a 1995 Barry Sanders Nike ad.

It might be a Nike advertisement, but the message behind it is very inspiring to me. I also make sure to keep my I-Pod loaded with music that gets my blood flowing and gets me pumped up to have a great session in the gym.

Knowledge (Learning about different exercises, techniques, dieting principles, and nutritional information has been incredibly helpful to me in my pursuit of a body that I am happy with.

For years I didn’t know about what to eat, when to eat, how much rest / recovery time my body needed, and what types of exercises would suit my goals best. I learn new things about nutrition and exercise every day, and with this new found knowledge, I’m able to maximize the time I put into the gym, and thus see results faster!

Patience It took me over 5 years to achieve what I thought would be a short term goal. The reason it took me so long, is because I lacked the four very basic principles I have outlined here! [ consistency / motivation / knowledge / patience ] I lacked consistency, in that I would commit myself to exercise for a few weeks, and then neglect my training for weeks or sometimes even months on end!

In addition, I knew little about nutrition, so much of the time I was putting in at the gym wasn’t being used to its full potential anyway due to my lack of knowledge! I lacked the motivation to change my habits, my body, and my life, because I wasn’t seeing immediate results!

Results in the gym don’t happen overnight, they happen over weeks and months of consistent work and proper nutrition. That doesn’t mean that it’s going to take someone 5 years (like it took me) to achieve their goals, because in fact, I feel like if I could do it all over again, putting in 100% effort in consistency, keeping myself motivated, attaining relevant knowledge, and maintaining a little bit of patience, I’m extremely confident I could have made the same transformation in well under one year!

Use the small improvements you see and feel in your body and mind as motivation, and always remember your long term goals.

Has your change in lifestyle affected your life in any ways you didn’t expect ?

My change in lifestyle has affected my life in a variety of positive ways, many of which I didn’t expect.

Throughout high-school and most of college, I found it difficult to stay on track and get my work done.

I was disorganized and unmotivated. As I began to take control of my diet and training, I began to feel more confident, and this translated directly to other areas of my life, like my academics.

At one point in my college career, I felt as though graduating and getting my degree was unlikely. I had trouble focusing on school, because I was unhappy with my body, and lacked self-confidence.

With my improved body and new found self-confidence, I raised my GPA from a 2.3 to a 3.5, and was able graduate from the University of Connecticut earlier this week, with a BA in English.

I attribute the change in my academic habits to the change in my approach to nutrition, training, and my overall lifestyle.

If someone reading this has repeatedly tried and failed to change their life for the better and they are considering giving up do you have any words of encouragement for them ?

I know how you feel, because I’ve been there so many times before. I’ve felt unmotivated, discouraged, and defeated. You owe it to yourself to do the things that motivate you and make yourself feel great, and if one of those things is improve your body, then you need to know that you can absolutely, 100% do it, as long as you really want it.

Nobody is going to change your body or your life, except you, and the determination you have. There are no miracle diets, pills or supplements that are going to do it for you.

It has to come from within, and when you do make the changes in lifestyle and training that lead to the body you want, you will have a great sense of accomplishment and achievement, knowing that you did so with nothing but your own determination and will.

I know you can do it!

Lessons Learned

  • Good behavior can be as compulsive as bad behavior : “became almost addicted to the feeling of bettering myself.”
  • Learning about the area you wish to improve will allow you to work smart not just hard : “after the years of stagnant progress and minimal changes in my body and appearance, I decided to dedicate myself fully to learning everything I could about nutrition and exercise.”
  • Consistency, Knowledge, Motivation and Patience. In which areas are you strongest and in which are you weakest ?
  • Don’t be a one trick pony, have multiple strategies : “I keep myself on track and motivated in a variety of ways”.
May 22, 2011 | | No Comments »
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