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bristol ozturgut

Me,

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What is one of your stickiest habits?

In the vein of Charles Duhigg's 'The Power of Habit,' consider your most-consistent daily habit and, perhaps, how that habit was formed.

I'm really fascinated by this topic and would definitely like to see this forum expand this topic.

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    Salim Solaiman 50+

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    Jan 22 2013: Asking questions....is mine one
    What about yours ?
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      bristol ozturgut

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      Jan 22 2013: I'd say that is a wonderful habit! I mean, unless you're like a child repeating "why?"
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        Salim Solaiman 50+

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        Jan 23 2013: Why consitutes one of the most powerful question I feel. It sonunds repeating child like WHY is not good.
        Then
        Why / when , kids ask repeating "WHY" you think?
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    bristol ozturgut

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    Jan 20 2013: http://duhigg-site.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/How-to-Change-a-Habit.jpg

    This is an awesome flowchart designed to help you identify and change a bad habit.
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    Fritzie Reisner 100+

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    Jan 20 2013: Mine is working too hard at things that are important to me. It is not healthy as a consistent, long-term habit, and I see all three of my children have the same practice. We all need to work on easing up and taking breaks.
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      bristol ozturgut

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      Jan 20 2013: Is this a daily habit? I am looking for a very specific habit, something that can be changed at the root.
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    pat gilbert 50+

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    Jan 20 2013: Quitting smoking. I quit about 50 weeks ago, how I did it was to read a book called quit smoking the easy way.

    My epiphany was that I was addicted to nicotine, I hear the collective Duh, but to a smoker it is an epiphany. In the book he points out that the body tells you that you need nicotine for some ambiguous reason which becomes a habit. Once you become aware of this fact it is in fact relatively easy to quit.

    He said in the book that your addiction starts the moment you put out a cigarette as that is when the body starts depleting the nicotine in your system. It occurred to me that this is how addiction works, which it might be another duh moment. But look at how many people are addicted to different things food, sex, drugs, tv, TED, sports, politics, etc.

    Is this an addiction or a habit, I don't know.

    What I do know is that life takes place now. I think the Buddhists had it right in that the goal is to be in the present. This means that you are not craving sensation. In sports you will here talk of how the athlete was in the zone, this means completely in the present. As you become more in the present your present expands into the future. This is a good lesson for life as it is about goals and purposes and the way that you achieve them is by being in the present.

    If you are craving sensation you are looking to avoid the present.
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      bristol ozturgut

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      Jan 20 2013: My husband still smokes and we realized he has an addiction to the occupation of rolling a cigarette. It's the oral and digital fixation that he craves. I bring that up just to illustrate how one act can have a different reward for every person.

      You are so right on about the Buddhist teachings about the present. I think I am a bit afraid of "wasting time."
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        pat gilbert 50+

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        Jan 20 2013: I thought I was addicted to the inhaling and exhaling of smoke. So I bought one of those E cigarettes but it did not help.

        The book indicated that it is simply an addiction to nicotine nothing else. This was my epiphany. You might want to try reading the book...
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          bristol ozturgut

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          Jan 20 2013: See the E-cigarette does it for my husband. I do think everyone has a different reward for similar habits.

  • greg dahlen 20+

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    Jan 20 2013: Don't really have any sticky habits. Try to put some variety into each day, find something new and different to do, or approach an old problem in a new way.

    Don't really see anything wrong with watching something while you eat. Might just mean you like having lots of ideas coming in.

    It is good to get outside. Do you like to walk, I myself walk to go to work and do all my errands, so I walk two or three miles a day.
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    bristol ozturgut

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    Jan 20 2013: I'll start. It definitely takes some thinking about....
    - scratching my scalp while reading a book
    - rolling my labret jewelry across my front teeth
    - half-assing cooking for myself. I'll put on the glam and effort for company but feel content enough to eat (often burnt) toast
    - needing to keep myself occupied while I eat - so movies or TV, rarely reading
    - don't get out enough, often staying in for two days at a time

    I think that last one is the worst and is especially scary to me considering my grandma's agoraphobic diagnosis. But it's also a bit more vague than the others, which will be hard to crack. I have to be able to identify a root, so I'll go with the second-to-last.

    How do I break myself from needing to watch something while I eat? I think I'm drawn to the multiple sensations involved - eating delicious foods while watching something pleasant. Of course the follow-up question is: do I dine with other people? For one meal a day. The other two, I tend to be alone. We don't have a schedule in our house. I think we also tend to migrate to the couch as we've only one dining chair.

    So what I should start considering is how to make the dining space more welcoming and, perhaps more importantly, how to cope with feeling alone during meals. Funny how I'm afraid of encountering crowds but still feel lonely. *sigh

    OK, your turn!
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      Ken brown 30+

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      Jan 20 2013: I'm just commenting on what you have just described and I think you will find that this is quite common in this day and age. I don't know why maybe it's from TMI or just a modern quirky behavior.
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      Fritzie Reisner 100+

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      Jan 20 2013: Silly as this may sound, if there is only one dining room chair and multiple people, leaving only the couch for sitting, and if you associate the couch with television or not being alone with your thoughts, you might consider a couple more chairs at the table along with a welcoming tablecloth.

      When you were a kid in school, you probably learned that it is best not to do homework on your bed or while eating. Homework in bed can make you tired while working (because the bed is most associated with sleeping) and restless while trying to sleep (because the spot also makes you think of homework).
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        bristol ozturgut

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        Jan 20 2013: You are definitely spot-on. I moved into a new house last May with a new husband and cousin and neither had the benefit of a sit-down dinner. So, as you can imagine, our dining area is terribly overlooked. It's hard convincing either of them of the importance of dining chairs, so I have to work at it for myself. Last night I forced myself to eat at the table with a stepping stool and, after I was done, explicitly told myself out-loud what I liked, disliked, and how I could change it. Went back to the couch and immediately wanted to snack again. Man, this is hard.

        You are so right about the bed thing too: whenever I read in bed, I start slipping into sleep. It got bad enough that whenever I read, anywhere - unless outside - I would start to fall asleep.
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