Ask HN: How habits work? hacking habits advice

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6579080

by shire • 13 years ago

5 5 13 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

I need help understanding how habits work. For too long I've been in some bad habits that are harmful to my life and I need to replace it with new ones. Is it uncomfortable when trying a new habit? How long does it take for the brain to actually make a habit an addiction? How do you force the brain to enjoy a habit? for example how do we teach our brains to release dopamine when we try a new habit? and allow the brain to be happy doing the habit and not be bored by it.

I need some advice on new habits I can try in my day to day experiences. I have to find a way to replace my old habits like nicotine and alcohol for new ones that are more productive and make me happier.

sillysaurus2• 13 years ago

Yes, it's uncomfortable trying a new habit.

The reason to be motivated to replace your habits is probably because if you don't, you'll hate yourself for it. But that's liable to trigger feelings of fear rather than of positivity.

It all depends who you are and what you like. What makes you tick. For me, reading through DaVinci's notebook has a way of driving me to be productive in my own life.

Most of the self-help material is unfortunately useless, probably because what works for other people usually wont' work for you.

The best advice is probably to try a bunch of different things and see what works. If you keep trying different things, statistically you will find something that works, because it's very unlikely that nothing will work for you.

jboynyc• 13 years ago

I know this may seem outdated, but Aristotle's Ethics may be a good place to start: http://www.iep.utm.edu/aris-eth/#H1

klaut• 13 years ago

The new habit you want to introduce should be a small thing (maybe a tiny component of a bigger change you want). And you always have to set a trigger for it and celebrate once you do it... Stupid example: I want to introduce flossing my teeth, so i start with a tiny habit - flossing just one tooth right before i start brushing my teeth. The trigger is something I already do every day and it already is my habit - brushing my teeh. So, everytime i go to the bathroom with the aim to brush my teeth, I imediately remember that I'll floss one tooth. And after I do it, I congratulate myslef for doing it (a celebration).

Important - you can't start with 25 habits you want to change. You will fail if you do. Start with 2 - 3 really tiny ones.

You might want to try tiny habit exercise: http://tinyhabits.com/join/

And you alsow might find this book helpful understanding how habits work: http://www.amazon.com/The-Power-Habit-What-Business/dp/14000...

Kanbab• 13 years ago

The Power of Habit, great book, just finished it. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1400069289?ie=UTF8&camp=213...

cliffcrosland• 13 years ago

Nick Winter describes an interesting approach to building habits and reaching goals in his ebook, "The Motivation Hacker" (http://www.amazon.com/The-Motivation-Hacker-Nick-Winter-eboo...).

He talks about using overwhelming pre-commitment as a way to force yourself to adopt a habit or reach a goal. Try to set up an environment where your success is over-ensured. Rather than tell a few friends that you'll stop smoking, destroy all of your cigarettes, pledge hundreds of dollars on Beeminder that you won't indulge in the habit, ask people to publicly shame you if you relapse, find and use the absolute best treatments and programs in the world for quitting, etc. Attack the habit with overwhelming force, much more than is probably necessary to overcome it. Doing so makes it easier to win.

Ask HN: How habits work? hacking habits advice

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