Studies suggest that relying on will power to break habits is hopeless (2019) • Hacker News Board

Re: Studies suggest that relying on will power to break habits is hopeless (2019)

#51

Post by tacocataco » Sat, Jan 06, 2024, 10:44 PM UTC

I quit smoking by delaying my first smoke in the day as long as I could. There was no "end date". Just me lasting as long as I could.

Someday, it's a smoke right in the morning day. Shit happens and I wouldn't feel bad for smoking when I needed it.

But after a couple of months, I started getting later and later in the day.

Rolling my own and buying the worst tobacco in the world helped to. Have as much as you like! But it's shit.

Of course if I buy delicious smokes i was not going to quit! But a all you can smoke buffet of the worst smokes? Yeah I'll pass.

They were so bad people didn't want to bum smokes from me. 50 cents a pack back in the day, help yourselves!

Re: Studies suggest that relying on will power to break habits is hopeless (2019)

#52

Post by BaculumMeumEst » Sat, Jan 06, 2024, 10:44 PM UTC

Good thing I didn’t read such a bullshit defeatist conclusion before I dropped 40 lbs 7 years ago (adopted sane diet, never gained it back) and dug myself out of a deep hole of alcohol dependence.

haven’t beaten the habit of falling for engagement baiting headlines though i suppose

do not let yourself believe you are weak or a victim

Re: Studies suggest that relying on will power to break habits is hopeless (2019)

#53

Post by k8svet » Sat, Jan 06, 2024, 10:46 PM UTC

I really like this thread. Thanks to those for sharing their own processes and tricks. It's fascinating the ways people trick themselves into will power. Cool stuff, potentially life changing.

I wrote and deleted mine a few times. Will power is weird and I've found weird ways of enabling some in myself. And then some I can't explain. I've been destroying my fingers for literally 30 years and about a month ago I decided I wanted healthy fingers. If you know, you know, that sounds absurd. And yet, my fingers look better than they have in literally 22 years. I don't get it, I actually have imposter syndrome. I've never, ever made it even 1/5th this far. It's something I'm embarrassed of and also secretly proud of myself.

Re: Studies suggest that relying on will power to break habits is hopeless (2019)

#54

Post by andrewstuart » Sat, Jan 06, 2024, 10:47 PM UTC

Someone explained to me that the subconscious mind does not like giving up something that it likes in exchange for nothing.

Say for example you want to give up smoking.

So don't give up. Instead, just stop that behavior for the present time - then your subconscious is not fighting you.

So you want a cigarette? Well sure OK you can have one, but defer that decision to have it for some period of time. Maybe start with 30 seconds. Build up the defer period. See if you can defer that cigarette for 1 minute, 2 etc etc. After the defer period has elapsed, if you still REALLY want the cigarette then have it - don't fight your subconscious mind.

Eventually, you'll have deferred that cigarette essentially indefinitely. You never "gave up smoking", so your subconscious hasn't been forced to get you back in line by reestablishing the cigarette smoking behavior that it likes.

Even with this strategy, it still took me hundreds of attempts to give up cigarettes. Those things are addictive.

Re: Studies suggest that relying on will power to break habits is hopeless (2019)

#55

Post by somewhereoutth » Sat, Jan 06, 2024, 10:48 PM UTC

antwerp1 wrote: post #3

It’s just like decision fatigue: your capacity for it diminishes the more you use it (within a given time range). Instead, carefully curate your identity . This is described well in Atomic Habits. Train yourself to think “I am just not the kind of person who does x.”

Or perhaps (and by extension?) help to curate a society where these sorts of bad things don't happen.

Re: Studies suggest that relying on will power to break habits is hopeless (2019)

#56

Post by maximus-decimus » Sat, Jan 06, 2024, 10:48 PM UTC

arcastroe wrote: post #50

elchief wrote: post #43

use your lack of will power to your advantage fill your fridge with healthy food, and force yourself to leave the house if you want junk food

That doesn't work at all. Ordering junk food is a few lazy taps on your phone whereas eating the healthy food requires forcing yourself to cook and prepare it as well as washing dishes afterwards

That's why you need Soylent^TM bottles, so that drinking them is even less effort!

The way I see it, that's kinda the whole advantage of something like soylent.

Re: Studies suggest that relying on will power to break habits is hopeless (2019)

#57

Post by NoZebra120vClip » Sat, Jan 06, 2024, 10:48 PM UTC

keyle wrote: post #49

One of my friends who's a marathon runner told me once something rather powerful. We have all these ways of losing weight: you can poop it, sweat it, band it off, run it off, lift it off, swim it off, dance it off, on and on. And yet there is only one way to put it on (pointed to his mouth) with these things (showed his hands) Made me think for a while and he made an impact on me. We control our hands. We control wha…

According to the eminently reliable folks at SciShow, the chief way that anyone loses weight is by breathing it out.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C8ialLlcdcw

Re: Studies suggest that relying on will power to break habits is hopeless (2019)

#58

Post by Boogie_Man » Sat, Jan 06, 2024, 10:49 PM UTC

jnsie wrote: post #38

Boogie_Man wrote: post #32

Quitting things for me personally requires tricking my base lizard brain. I recall an Onion News video with a parody PSA: "Smoking is Gay". You have to use the smart guy you to outsmart the dumb guy you. Set traps for him. Anticipate his moves and crush him.

You can't bring us this far without some examples! Fess up, OP!

Cigs: Not telling him he couldn't smoke, but that he could only smoke outside bare-chested one winter Eating: Mirror at gut hight in the kitchen Drinking: Reading that Infinite Jest section [pick one] twice a week Weed: Picked a fist fight with the guy I bought it from (he won) (this section is just a joke I do not commit crimes) The only thing a human man can't give up is onanism (I don't believe those who say they do).

Re: Studies suggest that relying on will power to break habits is hopeless (2019)

#59

Post by a_n » Sat, Jan 06, 2024, 10:50 PM UTC

[flagged]

Re: Studies suggest that relying on will power to break habits is hopeless (2019)

#60

Post by PaulDavisThe1st » Sat, Jan 06, 2024, 10:50 PM UTC

devbent wrote: post #19

rodlette wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> This is described well in Atomic Habits. Train yourself to think “I am just not the kind of person who does x.” Is this just basically willpower? Or perhaps I should read the book to find out.

People who consider themselves "gym rats" go to the gym because it is what they do. People who are mountain bikers don't ride to keep in shape, they look forward to getting on their bike.

For years, I was "a person who liked to ride my bike 300+ miles in a day". Then one day I realized that was a lie, or at least only a half-truth. Then I realized that most of why I did it was that I liked to keep in shape, and to eat a lot.