Any pattern of behavior repeated long enough becomes completely automatic. You had to learn how to tie your new york yankees hawaiian shirt , and it probably took some serious effort to learn, but now you do it without a second thought. Through repetition, it has become such a deeply ingrained habit that it’s now a part of who you are.
So what happens when we repeat negative behaviors for too long? They become bad habits. And if we allow them to progress they also begin to define who we are. The funny thing is, as easy as picking up a bad habit may be, changing one often requires just as much conscious effort as creating a new good habit.
Since it requires the same amount of effort anyway, you may as well just replace any bad habits you’ve already acquired with a better habit using a method called pattern interruption.
Here’s how it works.
Bad habits are like the force of gravity. Always there and always tugging at us. Good habits, on the other hand, tend to be a more conscious effort to rise above. Just as the sprouting acorn must fight to break through the soil and continue struggling against the pull of gravity as it slowly but surely grows to become a mighty oak tree, so must we keep vigilant watch of our sloth and gluttony in order to grow into the perfect beings we are destined to become.
And when you are vigilant you will notice which people, events and circumstances trigger your negative behaviors. When you know and expect the triggered response you can interrupt the pattern before it can gain any downward momentum, pulling you headlong into its downward spiral of entropy.
Once you’ve identified the trigger for your bad habit, you just need to apply a little conscious effort to come up with a pattern interruption for that situation.
If you’ve struggled with trying to cut back on junk food, plan ahead for situations where you know you’ll want it. Keep a bag of baby carrots or sliced vegetables on hand so that you have a ready alternative when the cravings strike.
Trying to be more productive in your spare time? Write up a list of things that need to be done around the house and keep it in your pocket at all times. Whenever the urge to veg out in front of the TV hits, you’ll remember the list and start working on that instead.
It may take a little creativity and a lot of work, but once you’ve made pattern interruption into a habit it will be the one good habit to end all the bad.
write by Kane
