Constancy or Rationalization?

It seems the concept of “uprooting bad habits” may require some further elucidation. At first glance, the process of conquering a bad habit is intellectually understood without much difficulty. Functionally, however, it largely remains a mystery to many people. (Perhaps this is because most people have acquired the habit of assuming they understand something, when in fact they only understand it in an intellectual sense.)

Everyone at some point has developed bad habits, a relatively simple feat. Getting rid of them, on the other hand, is another story. When a destructive habit has been identified it cannot simply be “willed” to disappear, but rather, must be replaced with another habit (hopefully a beneficial one).

Though habits are generally performed subconsciously, they are still actions. So, to clarify the language, a bad habit is simply a bad action, albeit performed subconsciously. To replace it, a different action must take it's place. In other words, an individual must consciously act differently, consistently over time, in order to replace a destructive action with a more beneficial one. So far so good. But when it comes to actually doing this, many people find themselves in the dark, opting to conclude that such things are great “in theory” but ultimately not very practical.

So how can someone actually do this?

Consider a person who has developed the habit of watching television in the evening after work. This isn't necessarily anything destructive, but let's say that the said individual would prefer to be more active, as they don't get any exercise during the day, nor would they mind losing some weight. So what can they do? Since the “bad habit” (action) has already been identified, a new habit (action) must be decided upon to take it's place. So the question is what can they do instead of watching television at the time when they would normally sit down and watch television? Suppose this person decides that they can go for a walk. Great, but how can they implement this?

At the point in time when they would normally sit down and watch television, they get up and go for a walk—period. (This is so simple that many of us don't understand it at first.) Notice, I didn't say that they get up and go for a walk “if they feel like it” that day. They get up and go for a walk whether they feel like it or not. If it's raining, they get an umbrella. If it's cold, they put on a jacket. They deal with it, because that is the only way to develop a new habit. That is, if the said individual can maintain constancy in their decision to “go for a walk” instead of watching television, then they will, over time, replace watching television with walking. In short, they will reach a point in time when, rather than wrestling with the urge to sit down and do nothing, they will go for a walk without even thinking about it. Walking will become the new norm.

What traps most people, of course, is a process of rationalization. For example, they may decide “to go for a walk” instead of watching television, but when it comes time to actually “go for the walk,” they come up with some rationalization for why they would be better off “going for the walk,” starting tomorrow. When tomorrow comes, they miraculously have another “good reason” for forgoing the walk (surprise!), and conclude that they'll get to it as “soon as the weekend is over.” Over time, instead of developing the habit of walking instead of watching, they develop the habit of “rationalizing why they will walk some other time” immediately prior to sitting down and watching television!

Brilliant, wouldn't you agree?