Weekend mental preparation

Morning.

As we head into the weekend, here's a big idea in a small package for you to consider:

Bad habits and tech vices like porn, video games, doomscrolling, binging YouTube and whatever else all share a common theme. You don't stop them by focusing on stopping them. That's like you not wanting to think about pink elephants, so you repeat to yourself "don't think about a pink elephant... Don't think about a pink elephant..."

What are you doing? Thinking about a pink elephant.

No, you stop bad habits by focusing on doing other stuff with your time and attention instead. If you just try to remove the behavior you don't want, without changing anything else, it won't take you very long before you slide back into the comfort-zone of doing what you've been doing.

Just to be clear, "just stay busy bro" frankly isn't very good advice when it comes to quitting something addictive, simply because it's incomplete.

It *does *help, of course.

What's better, though, is learning how to simply redirect your attention into some other activity instead.

You don't have to be busy constantly.

You just have to learn how to notice when your thoughts start wandering towards that bad habit, then consciously place your thoughts on something else instead.

It really can be that simple.

Give it a try this weekend and I'd love it if you write me to let me know how it goes.

That said, often it isn't that simple.

Especially in the case of something like porn, where childhood traumas and experiences, relationship problems, emotional self-soothing patterns, rationalizations, anxieties, self-worth issues, and more can all be driving factors keeping the addiction alive.

Which is why if you're struggling, and have been for a while despite feeling like you've tried everything...

You really need a more well-rounded approach that tackles it from all angles.