Cutting Unwanted Habits

[david ford]

Smith, Rolf. 2002. _The Seven Levels of Change:
Diff_f_erent Thinking for Diff_f_erent Results_, 2nd edition
(Texas: Tapestry Press), 320pp. This book rates a "Wow.
Double wow." On 123:
ME, INC.(r) CHANGE AT LEVEL 4
Your Me, Inc.(r) task for Level 4 is to take seven
minutes and make a list of all of your bad habits-- things
you want to stop doing. Add them to your 101-goals
list. Then, pick the one you feel may be the easiest to
change, and make a list of when it is you fall into that
habit. Begin to focus on the event that most often is
connected with that habit (for instance, if you want to
give up smoking, and you always [habit] light up a
cigarette with your first cup of coffee in the morning,
focus on stopping that one event only-- begin to notice
every time you don't do it). At the end of each day, pat
yourself on the back for not doing it on that day. At the
twenty-first-day, check to see how you're doing. When
you've truly broken that particular connection, go on to
the next strongest connection or event. Cut out habits in
small steps, with Level 2 thinking [doing the right things
right]. Use Level 2 changes to more efficiently make
Level 4 work [doing away with things]!

TIPS FOR ME, INC.(r) CHANGES AT LEVEL 4
"Faced with the choice between changing one's mind
and proving there is no need to do so, almost everyone
gets busy on the proof"-- John Kenneth Galbraith

It's easier to stop an old habit by replacing it with a new,
better habit. The new habit then begins to steal time
away from the old habit gradually and the old habit
atrophies. As mentioned already, it takes about
twenty-one days-- three weeks-- of doing the new habit
to replace the old habit.
One final tip from Tom Peters: "Create a 'To-Don't' list
that contains tasks, rituals, and meetings that you should
never waste your time on again. Then stick to it."