Changing Addictions to Productive Routines

When I sit down to do my work, I am often wondering as to why I do it.

There are no immediate rewards, and while I have been told that if I stay at it I will do well, I am not sure if that will actually happen. This leads to a little loss of resolve as things progress.

And yet work can be addictive if the right rewards are attached to it.

In The Power of Habit, Charles Duhigg claims that “Habits can never be extinguished from the brain, but the routines can be tweaked.”

So I still crave the rewards that from before. But if I can identify the CUES, then I can change the routine!

Let’s say, I am bored. If I am bored then what I need is a routine that will help me feel less bored and help me pass the time.

If I use a TV show to overcome my boredom, then it does fulfil the condition I set out for it in the first place. But instead if I have activities that I can jump to and perform? If only for two minutes?

Perhaps I can begin to change the way my mind works.

I realised that my core beliefs and motivations might not change all that much anymore, but the actions that I take from them might begin to change more and more. But for that I have to start nudging things in the right direction.

Take actions that start getting associated with cues that triggered other routines.

Small victories could lead to a whole new identity being formed, and if that happens then you are looking at a new life altogether!