How Easily Simplicity Tips into Bad Habit
The interesting thing with the whole concept of simplicity is how close a bed partner it is with habits, and in particular bad habits.
I think.
The challenge I have is the apparent ease with which I can fall into bad habits vs. the challenge of maintaining a good habit. And whether the concept of ‘neutral habits’ is the answer.
Game playing and simple routines like keeping scorecards or tracking must be so close to creating a habit. I can see that when you consider the analysis of reactive and rational brains, the reactive is a blocker to a good habit vs. being acceptant of a bad habit.
As the bad habits are normally the ‘juicy morsel’, the reactive brain will be attracted to them and quickly addicted to doing the thing that gives it the reward. The reactive brain equally rejects the good habits as ‘hard’ and without the immediate reward. Our rational brains counter this with the longer-term reward. However, to turn the good habit into a routine involves a lot of battling against defaulting to the bad habit.
Does game playing lessen the ‘weight’ of the reactive response? Does it remove resistance because the new routine to be adopted is being done so as a game/ challenge as opposed to a mental challenge? It is therefore made ‘neutral’ by the game.
So in a sense, game playing and a simple response to routine accelerates the journey to the neutral point of a routine being as easy to continue as it is to stop. A route to the 21 days habit tipping point….
Hhmm. A Fooled by Randomness moment? 3 times 7 = 21?
Just Seven Things 