We often want to establish a new habit but the prospect seems so daunting that we fall at the first hurdle and don't start at all. We resist change, especially if we perceive it as being permanent, and dwell extensively on any negative aspects. I am going to try a 30 day trial, based on the concept by Steve Pavlina.
You shift your way of thinking from being overwhelmed at the prospect of giving up a habit to looking at it as a temporary change and that if you don't reap any benefits you are free to go back to your old habit, knowing that you gave it a shot. If you do find that the benefits you expected actually occur, then it will probably be harder to ditch the new habit than to revert back to the old, especially as your brain will have re-wired. As far as I know your brain produces new neuroconnections and neuropathways only if they are bombarded for 21 days in a row. This means that our brain does not accept new data for a change of habit unless it is repeated each day for 21 days. It was also found that the "re-wiring" did not occur if there was even one days break. So, the 30 day trial has to be restarted if any exception is made.
In a nutshell a 30 day trial is a conditioning technique, a rewiring based on the 21 day bombard with a few days extra. Those extra days round it up nicely to a month block and also fit in with our culture for trialling things for 30 days, such as downloads of new software.
After the initial focus the habit runs automatically. Creating a new habit means that you direct your focus to override your default behaviour to establish a new behaviour. I used to think that I couldn't change certain habits because of lack of will power but I always had a niggling feeling that couldn't be true as surely someone who could give up as many addictions as I had must have buckets of willpower. I realised that willpower is really a short lived thrust which you use to get a goal off the ground. As Steve says, "Willpower is a concentration of force. You gather up all your energy and make a massive thrust forward. You attack your problems strategically at their weakest points until they crack, allowing you enough room to manoeuvre deeper into their territory and finish them off.
The application of willpower includes the following steps:
1. Choose your objective
2. Create a plan of attack
3. Execute the plan
With willpower you may take your time implementing steps 1 and 2, but when you get to step 3, you’ve got to hit it hard and fast
Use Willpower to Create Self-Sustaining Momentum" read more on willpower at Steve's site.
I embarked on Your Best Year Yet, by Jinny Ditzler nearly a year ago and one of my goals was to "establish a better sleep pattern". I gave up caffeine and found that helped me actually fall asleep when I get to bed but I need to work on getting enough sleep. Setting weekly goals to go to bed before midnight a few times a week was getting me no-where.When I re-visited Steve's 30 days to success 30 day trial I was inspired to use it to put some serious work into my sleep goal.
Most people find it more successful to only do one 30 day trial at once and this has lead me to realise that I could have tackled most of my BYY goals in turn on a 30 day trial basis if I had broken them down differently but the BYY way is to be working on all ten goals at once. I can still do that but also be experimenting with a thirty day focus on changing my sleeping habits. I must admit though that I am very much drawn to the idea of knocking off a goal at a time with laser like focus.
I have come to the conclusion that habits aren't discarded or broken, they are replaced. On the face of it this might not seem true. For example, I mentioned this to my daughter and she remarked that when she gave up drinking Coca-Cola many years ago she just "gave it up", but look deeper into it and I can see that she replaced the habit of drinking cola with the habit of drinking juice (and very specific juice too, which is only obtainable from one shop in a thirty mile area!).Likewise, when I quit drinking alcohol I initially replaced that habit with drinking assorted malt and chocolate beverages, and then I replaced that habit with drinking fancy coffees. The coffee was keeping me awake and giving me headaches so I replaced it with tea, then when I quit caffeine altogether I replaced that with herbal tea or plain water. So, although I say "I quit drinking" I also did it by replacing a habit and sticking with it while my body withdrew and my brain re-wired, using an initial thrust of willpower.
Regarding sleep, my default habit is to stay up late watching TV. I want to replace it with going to bed before midnight. Initially this might mean lying in bed sleepless or even reading but I will be conditioning myself to actually be in bed before midnight and hopefully, eventually, falling asleep earlier. The point, of course, being the many anticipated benefits of more sleep as opposed to the drain on my energy of only getting a few hours sleep.
As an aid to this endeavour I will be journaling the process in a little book I shall carry around with me and of course crossing the days off on a calendar. If I miss a night I will start again from day one. Stumbling blocks I anticipate include family members trying to persuade me to stay up with them or them disturbing me once I've gone to bed. Things in my favour include the fact that I can Sky+ the TV programmes that supposedly keep me glued to the TV into the early hours, and I am not likely to be attending any functions that will keep me up beyond midnight.
Long term benefits might even include getting up with enough energy to go to the gym, do yoga, walk to work for the exercise and fresh air etc. Hopefully not to use the time to watch the drivel I've Sky Plussed from the night before!
My brain knows that the rigidity is not forever. After a successful trial the occasional late night at weekends should not propel my back to the settee and remote control permanently.
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