How To Quit A Habit Using An Index Card
November 5, 2009 by Terry
Filed under Breaking Bad Habits, Goal Setting, Lifestyle, Mind
I quit smoking by writing all the negative things that smoking brought to my life on a 5 x 3 index card. I then carried that card with me for many months. I took it out many times to remind me of all the terrible things that smoking brought to me and the people that I love. It was not a negative card towards me, it just simply stated the facts of how smoking was affecting my life.
I remember being in the washroom at work once and pulling out the card to again remind myself of why I had stopped smoking. Some days I pulled that card out 20 times. The interesting thing about carrying a card is that it made me pay attention to what was important to me. Whenever I felt tempted to smoke I felt the card in my pocket and was reminded of its presence.
A 5 x 3 index card can help us make many important decisions when making life changes. When I found myself having a beer and craving a cigarette, without the card I could have easily succumbed to smoking again. With the card I made a conscious decision to distract myself with a stir stick, chewing gum, or even munching on a toothpick. Again, the card made me pay attention. So whether you want to lose weight, save money, make new friends or even find love, write it down on a card and look at that card frequently throughout the day. It will make you pay attention. Don’t beat yourself up on that card. Focus on one aspect of your life at a time. This technique has helped many people, I hope it is a life changer for you.
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How To Break A Bad Habit
What I have found works best for me is taken from the saying – out of sight, out of mind. I also find it important to remember that a good habit (or ridding an old habit) usually takes about thirty days to take hold. So don’t fret so much about using sheer willpower, concentrate on the thirty day time period and take pride in your accomplishments as each day passes.
It is also important not to try and break too many bad habits at the same time. Pick a couple of habits, set some goals, write them down and track them.
Breaking bad eating habits
The simplest way to avoid eating unhealthy foods is to not keep unhealthy foods in the house. Next time you go grocery shopping don’t buy those cookies, cakes or whatever food which adds unhealthy calories to you. I usually zip down the cookie isle, ignoring them as they call my name.
Breaking bad money habits.
There are plenty of people who have no willpower if money is readily available. These days it’s far too easy to extract money from an ATM machine. So what do you do? Hide it. What I mean is lock it away in a 401K plan or RRSP. That way it is much harder to get at it and you will pay penalties for early withdrawal. Once again like the unhealthy foods - out of sight out of mind. Just make your money extremely difficult to access. You will also find that you end up paying yourself first instead of everyone else.
Breaking the worry habit
Worrying about something usually take us away from the present moment. And the present moment is always the most important moment in our lives. Once we lose the present moment we stop experiencing life at its best. Living in the now means enjoying life to its fullest, letting go of the past, letting go of past conditioning and being our most authentic self. So bring yourself to experience the immediacy of each moment in life and let go of your worries. Come back to the now of yourself as much as possible. You will discover a whole new world around you.
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