(I’m worried, writing this comment, that it’s going to come off very other-optimizing/”this solution is for a problem different than the one I have.” I am sorry if that is the case but figured it might at least inspire your own thoughts. I can make habits but I am unusually bad at it.)
The vast majority of the time, I do the default action for my environment. This means it’s worth it for me to put a lot of effort into setting up my environment to “expect” me to do things I want to do. For example, if I put my meds near my computer, the environment “expects” me to take my meds in the morning, and then this is easy for me to do. Pomodoros work really well for me because it makes working the default action and not working the thing I have to choose to do. Leaving the house at a specific time is easier if another person is leaving too. If that sounds like you it might help to look for more ways to cause the default behavior to be the thing you want to do.
I find that anything that can be transformed into a checklist (“in situation X, do steps 1, 2, 3”) or a menu (“in situation Q, your choices are X, Y, and Z”) works well if made into a list and put on my wall. You can get big post-it notes that help with this. I build the habit to check my lists, which obviously won’t work for you. But IME one tends to notice any change to one’s environment for a month or so, so changing up the lists regularly might help. (Different colors, pictures, etc.)
If I want to break a habit, I find that putting trivial inconveniences in the way of doing it works really well, because then I have an extra three minutes to go “hey, wait, is this really what I want to be doing?” For example, I don’t generally keep sweets in the house and I log out of Facebook and Tumblr.
Outsourcing habits to other people can be really helpful. Works best if it is something they will generally notice (“hey, you’re getting angry at me, I’m pretty sure you’re supposed to go take deep breaths now”), if they’re invested in you succeeding at a particular goal too (i.e. they’re not doing it as a favor to you), and if you will respond to the reminder with gratitude rather than through feeling angry and resentful.
The default action/trivial inconvenience judo thing I am already doing and is a good tool for harm reduction. I do not think I could hold down a job without it.
(I’m worried, writing this comment, that it’s going to come off very other-optimizing/”this solution is for a problem different than the one I have.” I am sorry if that is the case but figured it might at least inspire your own thoughts. I can make habits but I am unusually bad at it.)
The vast majority of the time, I do the default action for my environment. This means it’s worth it for me to put a lot of effort into setting up my environment to “expect” me to do things I want to do. For example, if I put my meds near my computer, the environment “expects” me to take my meds in the morning, and then this is easy for me to do. Pomodoros work really well for me because it makes working the default action and not working the thing I have to choose to do. Leaving the house at a specific time is easier if another person is leaving too. If that sounds like you it might help to look for more ways to cause the default behavior to be the thing you want to do.
I find that anything that can be transformed into a checklist (“in situation X, do steps 1, 2, 3”) or a menu (“in situation Q, your choices are X, Y, and Z”) works well if made into a list and put on my wall. You can get big post-it notes that help with this. I build the habit to check my lists, which obviously won’t work for you. But IME one tends to notice any change to one’s environment for a month or so, so changing up the lists regularly might help. (Different colors, pictures, etc.)
If I want to break a habit, I find that putting trivial inconveniences in the way of doing it works really well, because then I have an extra three minutes to go “hey, wait, is this really what I want to be doing?” For example, I don’t generally keep sweets in the house and I log out of Facebook and Tumblr.
Outsourcing habits to other people can be really helpful. Works best if it is something they will generally notice (“hey, you’re getting angry at me, I’m pretty sure you’re supposed to go take deep breaths now”), if they’re invested in you succeeding at a particular goal too (i.e. they’re not doing it as a favor to you), and if you will respond to the reminder with gratitude rather than through feeling angry and resentful.
The post-it wall thing seems promising.
The default action/trivial inconvenience judo thing I am already doing and is a good tool for harm reduction. I do not think I could hold down a job without it.