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Rules work better for me than habits. They might for you too.
I have always been a rule follower.
I don’t unquestionably follow dumb rules. The rule has to make sense to me. That said, once I know a rule and I can find sense in it, I will follow it almost without exception.
This type of identity driven understanding of oneself is an excellent way to get yourself to upgrade your life. And, they may work better than habits. For years, I tried to kick my diet coke addiction. While I got a nudge from a Mythbusters episode that showed diet coke taking rust off of a car bumper, I quickly realized that making a rule for myself — I don’t drink diet coke — worked much better for me. My rule now — after nearly a decade of working at this — is that I can have a diet soda if I want (typically diet orange sunkist) but no more than one a day.
When I left full-time employment for consulting last year, I decided that my rule for eating out was — never eat takeout alone. Have I stuck to it 100%? No, but at least 97% and considering that I ate takeout something like 80% of the time prior to leaving full-time employment I’ll take that change.
This could easily be applied to other areas of your life where you struggle to perform in the way you want to. Here are a few ideas:
- I got to bed at 10 p.m.
