Day 117: On Dressing New Things in Old Habits
Whether selling a new song, a new food, or a new crib, the lesson is the same: If you dress a new something in old habits, it’s easier for the public to accept it.
You’ll find it easier to change your current negative habits if you make your new, positive habits seem similar to your original, disempowering patterns.
For example, if you’re a huge fan of potatoes (more specifically, French fries), and now your diet forces you to give them up, it might prove to be too big of a challenge for you to eliminate them just like that.
What if you allowed yourself to eat potatoes, but in a healthier form? Instead of eating French fries, you could eat baked potatoes that were sliced in a similar way as your beloved fries.
It’s an improvement to your diet, it gives you some positive momentum, and yet it shouldn’t cost you that much in terms of willpower.
If you want to start jogging and you’re a fan of listening to podcasts, why not tell yourself that you’re going to listen to some podcasts and in the meantime, move a little? It doesn’t sound like such a big, difficult change, does it
?
Whenever you can, find a way to link a new change or make it as similar as possible (in appearance, not consequences) to your previous negative habit. That way, it will more easily become a permanent routine in your life.