There are some psychological hacks that actually work and you would be a miss to not try them. The proof behind their effectiveness is in the lives of those who have tried them and the results it has had in their lives. From the life of the Author of the book I will reference, James Clear we can find practical ways to engage in life that not only reinforce good habits but stop bad ones.
Recently, I have started to see myself as a mental health specialist who would be more driven toward Behavioral therapy.
While I understand the benefits of cognitive therapy given that we as humans are the only species aware of our consciousness. We are the only being to be, cogito, ergo sum, we think therefore we are as noted by French mathematician and philosopher René Descartes.
Behavioural modifications as opposed to cognitive changes have always seemed more practical. After all, what we do with our brains as humans seems to define us more than the specific thought that goes on.
We've been able to find other animals with consciousness like the Dolfin and Elephant but none of them are conscious of their consciousness.
This very helpful hack I'm about to show you is not my Idea. I learned it from James Clear in his book Atomic Habits.
He called it keeping a habit scorecard. In his book, he explained how Carl Jung's famous quote:
Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life and you will call it fate.
plays out in our day to day.
If you are still lost as to what I mean by a habit score card then you should check this out with me. This is my habit scorecard as of the few days I have been reading Atomic Habit.
I wake up =
I dress the bed +
I check TikTok -
I go to the toilet (while using TikTok)-
I turn on YouTube Daily Devotional +
I use Elevate +
I upload my first TikTok video +
I try to read +
I try to write +
Then I go do whatever I like (usually TikTok) -
Then I remember that I have to work/Clean up -
I prepare for work +
Come back from work =
Either go to the gym +/use TikTok all day till I sleep-
Sleep
Each of these habits is like a vote on the identity I wish to embody and each time I take an ineffective habit, I vote against the identity and each time I do, I vote for it with the + meaning a good vote and - being a negative vote and = being neither.
In recent times, by writing these out I have been able to remove some of the trash time from my day. I know exactly how much time I'm wasting and I can try to reduce that.
What I do when I'm anxious
https://unsplash.com/photos/two-women-smoking-while-leaning-on-yellow-wall-siM_YaIGrzU
Many of us deal with anxiety differently and the reason we do is that we are dealing "with it" quite literally. Dealing with it in this sense is a good thing but the methods we use in dealing with it can take on an effective or ineffective form.
One of the most popular ways to deal with addictions is with substance abuse. Using substances helps "calm the nerves" because they have direct or indirect effects on the brain.
Most of these substances or activities hijack the reward system of the brain. All roads lead to a dopamine hit...so you feel good in the short term and you don't have to focus on the trigger of the anxiety.
The problem with this is that there are solutions to your anxiety that may not be apparent to you when the feeling comes up. You are afraid you won't pass that exam, or you won't be able to save up for that trip or you are scared your family won't make it through the month knees deep in-depth and you are wondering where you can turn to.
Time eventually clears the air but in the moment that is never so apparent.
I recently had to fight my own demons and won some complex fights while reading this book. It has opened me to new techniques new reasons why I failed and more feasible options to fight back.
There I was standing there with what I had subconsciously promised myself that I would not live without just to put it down for a life worth living.
What would it be like if these habits that draw us back didn't define us?
It's weird how many of us think this way. We would like to be defined by good behaviors and would not like to think that the bad behaviors have any bearing on us.
You are what you consistently do, especially those that you do automatically.
Imagine throwing a ball at a basketballer, 9 times out of 10 I bet he'd catch it so long as it's within his range of vision. The reason he would be able to do this is because he has had to do this same thing so many times.
Now look at those habits that are not good for you and the ones you know to work well with the character you are trying to build. In order for you to hone down on the good characters you have to make it work.
For me building good habits has been more of dealing with bad ones and making sure they don't ruin me.
I hope you learn a lot from this post. See you next time.
References
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