To Break An Unwanted Habit, Do This One Thing

To break a single bad habit, use this famous technique to support your decision one day at a time.

SIMPLE & EFFECTIVE | I never make New Year’s resolutions (unless they’re the Babylonian kind, which are really all about settling up—CLICK HERE for the Frugalbits story), but on 01 January 2013, I decided to inch into the game. For years I’d wanted to remove (oh-so-bad-for-you) Coca-Cola from my diet but, for a million lame reasons, had never been able to go more than a few days without succumbing to the drink.

SIMPLE, YES—AND EFFECTIVE

On the advice of a recovering alcoholic I know who measures his progress by recording the number of days, hours and minutes he’s remained what he calls “clean,” I selected January 1, 2013, as the start date of my new, healthier life without cola, and began to apply his technique. I’m now happy to report it’s now January 1, 2021 and it has been more than 2,890 days since I’ve had a drop of that addictive brown liquid, and I can’t see myself falling off the wagon any time soon.

I like the idea of breaking a single bad habit (or taking on a new, good one) by marking your progress on a calendar that is a regular, visible reminder of just how far you’ve come. Once you’ve racked up a whack of win-days, there’s no way you’ll want to jeopardize your advancement by falling back into to old, undesirable patterns because you’ve already experienced a benefit from changing your ways and felt the pride of accomplishment. —Carolann Rule