Day 11.224 No Joke

WHAT IS YOUR WORST BAD HABIT?

The plethora of possibilities are worthy of comedy. For me anyway.

I don't know, maybe you are perfect, or as close to it as a human being can get, but I am about as far from that as we are, Earth is, to Mars.

I own more bad habits than Amazon.com owns web pages. I have more bad habits than The Beatles had number one hits. The comparisons could go on and on - but I think you get the idea.

They say that it takes three weeks of behavior change to fully adapt to a new regimen, to transform some bad to a new good, or at least towards a better one. Which is interesting because it is usually about 21 days that I completely convince myself that I NEED another beer because it helps me relax and recover from the stress and anxieties that society relentlessly forces upon my frail shoulders. If this is my cross to bear, then so be it, with reward of beer.

Worse things exist, I console myself, don't make it any worse. Be happy you are still walking free instead of doing life without parole.

But you know what?

None of this is acceptable. Totally unsat. It is, as the janitors of the plaza del toro say, bullshit.

I am fooling myself. BECAUSE I KNOW BETTER. Or at lease I know more. Or at the very least because I SHOULD know by now.

I know this is a hallow facade, a false dichotomy and absolute subterfuge. I am lying to myself in order to make things easier. Because they ARE easier when I don't give a shit about anything, including myself.

AND THAT IS A BAD HABIT TO OWN.

So let's take a quick look at another very common situation, a bad habit known as the 'I have no time for exercise' felony plea.

The experts in this fascinating field suggest that there are four things that one needs in order to drop a bad habit:

1) Consistency
2) Environment
3) Active judgements
4) Low behavioral complexity

In other words, one needs to:

1) Do it often (every day)
2) Do it where safety and support are readily available
3) Receive appropriate and reciprocal feedback
4) Make it as simple as possible

Then the work begins.

I have also found that the motto of continual improvement, as compared to the failure-guaranteed idea of perfection, powerfully aids and abets the scenario of bad habit cessation.

The punch line in all this 'somewhat less than Divine' comedy is, perhaps, what you were expecting. A knock-knock sight gag from the joker-punster.

Sorry to disappoint.

Maybe you have already figured it out.

1) We work out every day. Once at 0530 and again at 1800
2) We do it safely and effectively indoors
3) I love my job because I get to tell my team how awesome they are about  one hundred times per session, and I mean it
4) It is just like ridin' a bike, about as simple as it gets

No joke.