Best Way to Stop Triggering a Bad Habit

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Last Sunday and Monday I experienced very different days, and it was because of one choice.

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For Sunday lunch I chose to eat my lunch (a “healthy salad”) rushed between church and a friend’s right-after-church wedding.  Out of the plastic container I’d brought it in.  Standing.  Hunched over, shoveling it in.  Distracted.

Sound familiar?

The rest of the afternoon I felt chaotic, tense, had poor posture.  It was just, well, yuck.

For Monday breakfast, lunch, and dinner I got out the nice china, sat “properly” at the table, and ate slowly.  All day I was relaxed, focused, productive, and had good posture.

One choice triggered multiple results.

Remember Newton’s 3rd Law “Every action creates an equal and opposite reaction”? 

In the world of your habits, every action creates multiplied and amplified reactions.

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Pay attention to the “domino effect.”  Think about the last time you ate dinner while watching a movie, got mentally charged up, then slept poorly, so your appetite was increased the next day.

It’s time to try a different approach.

What is the bad habit you want to break?  Don’t focus on that habit.  Find the trigger; find the step that happens BEFORE the habit and focus on it.

I had two triggers before my rushed eating on Sunday. 

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1.  I failed to have a plate for my salad.  So the container encouraged chaotic eating. 

2.  I was telling myself “I’ve only got 10 minutes” instead of reminding myself “I’ll eat what I have time for now; I won’t starve; I can finish it after the wedding” which I had to anyway.)

If you always eat ice cream every night before bed, what comes first?  

If you plan your workout for after work, but then always find yourself on the sofa instead, what comes before sitting on the sofa?

When you make these subtle and powerful shifts, you will find yourself stopping habits that don’t help you, but be prepared.  You’ll also find those around you wondering what’s going on.

After work you used to change into moccasins and that led to sitting on the sofa with your spouse for the rest of the evening.  Now, you put on your walking shoes and leads to a walk.  Plan on letting your spouse know that, well, things are changing.

Stop losing ground and wasting time staying stuck in habits that aren’t serving you.

What’s one habit you want to level-up?  What’s the trigger you’ll change to make it happen?

Next week, I’m going to show you how to use this same habit trick to remember new habits.