“Habit is habit, and not to be flung out of the window by any man, but coaxed downstairs a step at a time.” Mark Twain
I cut my phone time at night by adding jazz.
For years I tried subtraction:
- Phone in another room
- Notifications off
- Computer closed
Each rule held for a few nights and broke. I’d reach for some screen and the evening was gone.
Then I carved out an exception. Jazz on the phone became the only allowed use at night. The pull to scroll dropped because the phone had one job. Music. The disconnection held.
Twain has the verb. Coaxed. A step at a time.
After years of failing to break the habit cold, the question stops being “how do I quit?” and starts being “what do I put in its place?” Imperfect substitution leaves you with progress. Pure abstinence keeps leaving you with nothing.
When you’ve been trying to break the same habit for years, find what it’s filling for you and put something else there. The replacement doesn’t have to be ideal. It has to be progress over the thing you’re trying to break:
- Music instead of a feed
- A walk instead of a snack
- A call instead of a drink
🎷
What have you been trying to quit that you might actually replace instead?
