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Today we’re sharing two small yet powerful changes that can help you break a nasty habit:
1) Make the habit less automatic
Most bad habits aren't useful after a certain point, but it’s difficult to give them up.
A study conducted by the University of Southern California showed something interesting. They picked regular movie-goers and randomly gave them either freshly cooked popcorn or stale popcorn.
People who weren’t in the habit of eating popcorn at the movies ate much less of the stale batch. While people who always ate popcorn at the movies consumed the same amount, it didn’t matter to them whether it was fresh or stale.
But the interesting part was when the same test was conducted in a meeting room instead of cinema, the pattern changed dramatically. Those who regularly ate popcorn ate much less of the stale popcorn.
So the catch is, the food was the same, but when the setting changed, the behavior changed without any effort.
This matters because most generic advice about getting rid of bad habits misses this point: your setting matters.
And by the way, researchers also found a simple way to interrupt this habit. When movie-goers ate with the hand they didn’t use dominantly, even people with strong popcorn habits ate less of the stale batch. The unfamiliar movement made them pay attention to what they were eating.
If you make your habit less convenient, it will make you think before you do it.
2. Replace “I won’t” with “I will”
The rules we set for ourselves are usually phrased as something we won’t do.
Example: “I won’t eat before bed.” or “I won’t scroll before bed”
Many studies suggest this phrasing works against us. At Utrecht University, researchers asked people with snacking habits to make plans for the situations that usually triggered them. Some made plans such as “If I’m bored, then I won’t eat chips.”
All those plans backfired. The phrasing strengthened the mental connection between the situation and the snack, and people ate more unhealthy snacks as a result. The effect was most likely when the habit was already strong.
The likely reason is that a “won’t” plan still contains the habit. To follow “I won’t eat chocolate,” you have to think about eating chocolate. Each time you repeat the plan, you also repeat the link between boredom and the snack.
The researchers suggested a different approach: plan what you will do instead, in the same situation. The trigger stays the same, but your response changes.
Take one “I won’t” rule and rewrite it as a specific action using “will.”
“I won’t scroll in bed” becomes “When I get into bed, I will put my phone on the charger across the room and I will read for ten minutes.”
“I won’t snack after dinner” becomes “When I finish dinner, I will brush my teeth.”
Where a habit started can still matter, and understanding it may help you be kinder to yourself. But your setting, the place where you use your phone and the way you phrase your goals are all things you can change now..
Which habit would you like to change first?
P.S. If you know someone who keeps promising themselves “I won’t,” send this their way.
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