Quitting bad habits, stopping short and overcoming biases
Three pieces that I found interesting:
Quitting bad habits is not easy. However, a technique that has worked most for me is applying commitment devices. The working principle behind commitment devices is to own up or pay a penalty when you have faltered (for instance a dollar amount to your spouse every time you smoke). The idea is not that the amount is so huge that it hurts. But just that there is a penalty — however small — that should serve as a reminder, an artificially introduced friction, that should nudge you to reconsider your decision. A recent research has shown that commitments are more powerful than rewards alone. Nir Eyal writes about it in this piece where he cites a recent study published in the New England Journal of Medicine that provides evidence that ‘putting some skin in the game makes people more likely to accomplish their goal of stopping a bad habit’.
This story in Men’sHealth puts forth a rather counterintuitive proposition — if you want to master a skill, stop short of exhausting yourself fully while practicing. In sports parlance, this is referred to as ‘stopping one rep short’. Brad Stulberg, who has written a book ‘Grounding’ on the topic, proposes that the strategy is not relevant only for sports but for all walks of life. “What you are able to accomplish tomorrow is in part influenced by the restraint you show today. This strategy applies well beyond sports. For example, a common piece of writing advice is to stop one sentence short,” he writes. It’s an interesting proposition and the idea of stopping short when you have more to give is something that I struggle with. However, the article has nudged me to give this strategy a shot.
Finally, some sound career advice came in this short piece that appeared in the FT. When it comes to career building we might be falling prey to inherent cognitive biases, such as those that enforce self-doubt, imposter syndrome or confirmation bias. Grace Lordan writes about how to train yourself to notice and overcome these biases. For countering each bias, she proposes ‘seven career-building life hacks’ that range from making 90 minutes weekly commitment to up-skill yourself, to creating a personal board room. Worth a read!
A quote that I came across:
We need to redefine “hard work” to include “hard thinking”
