Making a Change

Posted by Dava Lee Stewart on October 22, 2009 in writing | 0 comments

So much of what is considered success has to do with changing habits. To lose weight, you must create a habit of eating healthy food and exercising regularly. To be healthy you must stop the habit of smoking or eating a chocolate bar every evening. Whether you need to establish good habits or banish bad habits, you probably need to change some behavior in order to reach your goals.

Not surprisingly, there is a wealth of information about habits available, some of it conflicting, some of it plain bad and some of it completely subjective. At work, my boss says it takes 21 days to establish a habit, but on zenhabits.com, Leo says it takes him more like 30 days to establish a habit. Then I ran across this article that says, on average it takes 66 days to establish a habit.

I have created and destroyed plenty of habits during my life. At work, where details are important, I develop a system for every task, so that things are done consistently. Type the name first, then add the resume, then create a link, then add notes and mark them with my initials. Then, if the process is interrupted, I know exactly where to begin again. These processes, which are also habits, because I do them automatically, without thinking at all, take very little time to establish – maybe as little as 15-20 repetitions.

Why then, is it so very much harder to develop a more personally satisfying habit? Sure, it’s satisfying to get things done efficiently and correctly at work, but it does not help my freelance business grow. For that to happen I need to (among other things) establish the habit of writing for a specific amount of time each night. Of course, at home many distractions are competing for my attention, so not all of my focus is aimed at developing or maintaining good habits.

The whole topic is further complicated by the fact that some things work for some people but not for others. Probably the most studies have been done on quitting smoking and other addictive behaviors. When I quit smoking, I chose a date randomly–because someone told me the Farmer’s Almanac suggested it–then quit. Okay, I did buy enough nicotine gum to last a week or so. But that was it. No support group, no prescription drugs, nothing. I planned it, thought about it, then did it.

It’s a bit more complicated for those who smoke marijuana. Those who do smoke it do get medicinal benefits from it. However, smoking does have drawbacks for lung health. Fortunately, many who smoke marijuana can use vapes to get the medicinal advantages without the health risks. You can visit this website to read more about vapes for those who use cannabis.

Other people have success quitting smoking through different routes than I did. And most habits are like that. For example, a friend of mine recently tried vaping as he thinks it is a safer alternative to smoking. He used products from Slickvapes because, although they still contain nicotine, vaping produces less harmful substances such as carbon monoxide and tar.

Moreover, one factor that makes vaping unique is the wide range of e-liquids that are available. Vape juices come in so many different flavors that there really is something for everyone. For example, if you are a fan of natural remedies, and enjoy using CBD products, there are plenty of CBD infused vaping liquids out there. Correspondingly, you can find more information about vaping and CBD e-liquids here: https://cannaunion.com/product-category/cbd-vaping/.

Ultimately, you can read advice columns all you want, but in the end, you just have to keep trying things until you find what sticks. Then try applying the method that worked to other habits you want to change. Additionally, it’s true that vaping habits and products differ around the world, so eliquids in the UK are different from the USA. Bear this in mind when you come to buying.

It seems to me that breaking a habit is entirely different than establishing a habit in terms of what you need to do to make it work. And you shouldn’t expect it to be easy either way, because changing human behavior is difficult–something parents know well. The gurus who tell you it will only take one month and it shouldn’t be terribly hard either have far more self control than most of the rest of us, or they are not being completely honest with themselves.