1 00:00:03,120 --> 00:00:06,000 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff to blow your mind from how Stuff 2 00:00:06,000 --> 00:00:14,280 Speaker 1: Works dot com. Okay, he wasn't a stuff with where 3 00:00:14,280 --> 00:00:16,720 Speaker 1: your mind. My name is Robert Lamb and Julie Douglas. 4 00:00:16,800 --> 00:00:20,840 Speaker 1: You know, Julie. We're in a new year, essentially a 5 00:00:20,880 --> 00:00:24,320 Speaker 1: new studio, whole new set of rules and a Since 6 00:00:24,360 --> 00:00:27,360 Speaker 1: this new year, everybody is talking about, uh, you know, 7 00:00:27,360 --> 00:00:29,040 Speaker 1: what you're gonna change, how this year is going to 8 00:00:29,120 --> 00:00:31,160 Speaker 1: be different. Last year, we're just gonna go to write 9 00:00:31,200 --> 00:00:35,279 Speaker 1: that one off. But this year, this is the year 10 00:00:35,320 --> 00:00:37,559 Speaker 1: it's gonna happen, or this is the year it's not 11 00:00:37,600 --> 00:00:42,000 Speaker 1: gonna happen, I swear. Okay, blank slate, Folks, how are 12 00:00:42,040 --> 00:00:43,360 Speaker 1: you going to fill it in? What you're gonna do, 13 00:00:43,400 --> 00:00:46,440 Speaker 1: what you're gonna change? Yeah, we have an artificial news 14 00:00:46,520 --> 00:00:51,560 Speaker 1: start going virtue of the calendar. So so yeah, what 15 00:00:51,560 --> 00:00:55,560 Speaker 1: what does it take to change behavior? That's the big question, 16 00:00:55,560 --> 00:00:56,840 Speaker 1: And a lot of people have put in the other 17 00:00:56,960 --> 00:00:58,600 Speaker 1: two cents on this. A lot of people have sold 18 00:00:58,640 --> 00:01:01,800 Speaker 1: their two cents um this to a public that is 19 00:01:01,880 --> 00:01:06,600 Speaker 1: ever interested in changing themselves for the better. Well, first 20 00:01:06,640 --> 00:01:10,600 Speaker 1: of all, there's that three weak myth that persist, this 21 00:01:10,680 --> 00:01:13,440 Speaker 1: idea that in order to change a habit or make 22 00:01:13,480 --> 00:01:16,000 Speaker 1: a new one. All you need is twenty one days 23 00:01:16,120 --> 00:01:19,479 Speaker 1: consecutive days, and boom, there you go. You are now 24 00:01:19,959 --> 00:01:24,440 Speaker 1: going to be a Mandarin expert or some other uh 25 00:01:24,520 --> 00:01:29,240 Speaker 1: jiu jitsu warrior of knowledge and something. Yeah, which, of 26 00:01:29,319 --> 00:01:31,200 Speaker 1: course is ridiculous when you pair it up with the 27 00:01:31,280 --> 00:01:33,760 Speaker 1: with the other addedge, you hear a lot about ten 28 00:01:33,760 --> 00:01:37,000 Speaker 1: thousand hours, isn't it? The ten thousand hours towards something? 29 00:01:37,000 --> 00:01:38,680 Speaker 1: And you'll be you'll be, you'll be great at it. 30 00:01:38,880 --> 00:01:42,199 Speaker 1: Ten thousand hours a good bit longer than twenty one days. 31 00:01:42,240 --> 00:01:44,400 Speaker 1: But where does the twenty one days thing come from? Well, 32 00:01:44,400 --> 00:01:46,320 Speaker 1: you start trying to track it down, you kind of 33 00:01:46,360 --> 00:01:49,720 Speaker 1: lose your path in the in the history. But it 34 00:01:49,840 --> 00:01:53,120 Speaker 1: seems to have grown increasingly popular back in the nineteen 35 00:01:53,160 --> 00:01:56,520 Speaker 1: seventies due to a self help book called psycho Cybernetics, 36 00:01:56,880 --> 00:02:00,600 Speaker 1: which sounds like a good source. Who wouldn't trust the 37 00:02:00,640 --> 00:02:03,960 Speaker 1: bettering of their their their their their humanity to a 38 00:02:03,960 --> 00:02:07,680 Speaker 1: book called psycho Cybernetics and from the seventies, from the seventies, 39 00:02:08,120 --> 00:02:10,079 Speaker 1: which I'm just I haven't looked it up yet, but 40 00:02:10,120 --> 00:02:12,239 Speaker 1: I can already imagine that the cover to that book 41 00:02:12,240 --> 00:02:16,080 Speaker 1: because I have looked at some nineties books on self help. Yeah, 42 00:02:16,160 --> 00:02:18,679 Speaker 1: and again that's where this idea came from. The self 43 00:02:18,680 --> 00:02:20,520 Speaker 1: help book said, hey, just twenty one days, that's how 44 00:02:20,560 --> 00:02:23,160 Speaker 1: it takes. But as we're going to discuss, it's much 45 00:02:23,240 --> 00:02:26,920 Speaker 1: more complex than that, and we'll get to an idea 46 00:02:27,000 --> 00:02:29,880 Speaker 1: of what it takes in terms of days the consecutive 47 00:02:29,919 --> 00:02:32,200 Speaker 1: amount of time. But before we do that, let's talk 48 00:02:32,280 --> 00:02:35,840 Speaker 1: about the habit loop and what's happening inside of our brains. 49 00:02:36,200 --> 00:02:40,080 Speaker 1: New York Times business writer Charles Doig says, habit loops 50 00:02:40,200 --> 00:02:44,480 Speaker 1: they contain three parts. Okay, First, there's a cue or 51 00:02:44,520 --> 00:02:47,359 Speaker 1: a trigger that tells your brain to go into automatic 52 00:02:47,480 --> 00:02:52,000 Speaker 1: mode and let a behavior unfold. Okay. Second, he says, 53 00:02:52,000 --> 00:02:56,040 Speaker 1: there's the routine, which is the behavior itself. And then 54 00:02:56,080 --> 00:02:58,720 Speaker 1: the third step, he says, is the reward, something that 55 00:02:58,760 --> 00:03:01,560 Speaker 1: your brain likes that helps it to remember that habit 56 00:03:01,800 --> 00:03:04,520 Speaker 1: loop in the future. So, like an example of this 57 00:03:04,520 --> 00:03:07,600 Speaker 1: would be the trigger. What's setting this off is, oh, 58 00:03:07,639 --> 00:03:09,320 Speaker 1: I feel kind of low energy in the afternoon, and 59 00:03:09,320 --> 00:03:11,200 Speaker 1: then what should I do? All Right, the automatic behavior 60 00:03:11,280 --> 00:03:13,440 Speaker 1: is I should go and have a soda. I'm gonna 61 00:03:13,480 --> 00:03:16,800 Speaker 1: have the big sugary grape soda. And then the reward 62 00:03:16,919 --> 00:03:19,440 Speaker 1: is I feel at least a temporary boost due to 63 00:03:19,520 --> 00:03:21,959 Speaker 1: all that sugar in my body. Right, And if you 64 00:03:22,040 --> 00:03:25,240 Speaker 1: keep doing that over and over again, eventually those cues, 65 00:03:25,240 --> 00:03:27,520 Speaker 1: those environmental keys will start to work on you. You know, 66 00:03:27,600 --> 00:03:31,200 Speaker 1: maybe it's three o'clock and you're tired and you need 67 00:03:31,240 --> 00:03:33,280 Speaker 1: that break, and you get that. You look at the 68 00:03:33,280 --> 00:03:35,120 Speaker 1: clock and you see that three o'clock, and that becomes 69 00:03:35,280 --> 00:03:37,520 Speaker 1: one of the cues that adds up in this database 70 00:03:37,560 --> 00:03:40,720 Speaker 1: of I want the soda. Yeah, it's time for the soda. 71 00:03:40,760 --> 00:03:42,880 Speaker 1: The soda. Time to to press the hot key on 72 00:03:42,960 --> 00:03:46,480 Speaker 1: soda behavior. Now, in part, we can trace habit making 73 00:03:46,920 --> 00:03:50,240 Speaker 1: back to the basil ganglia, which also plays a key 74 00:03:50,360 --> 00:03:53,920 Speaker 1: role in the development of emotions, memories, and pattern recognition. 75 00:03:54,280 --> 00:03:58,160 Speaker 1: So decisions meanwhile, though, they are made in the prefrontal cortex. 76 00:03:58,600 --> 00:04:01,920 Speaker 1: And this is really interesting is as a behavior becomes automatic, 77 00:04:02,200 --> 00:04:04,520 Speaker 1: the decision making part of your brain goes into a 78 00:04:04,680 --> 00:04:08,200 Speaker 1: kind of sleep mode. Yeah, And and in this the 79 00:04:08,200 --> 00:04:10,840 Speaker 1: basal gangla is essentially it takes the behavior and turns 80 00:04:10,840 --> 00:04:13,440 Speaker 1: it into an automatic routine. It's essentially a hot key, 81 00:04:13,640 --> 00:04:15,440 Speaker 1: you know, like like when you're using Photoshop or any 82 00:04:15,440 --> 00:04:17,440 Speaker 1: other program, you have that hot key like you know, 83 00:04:17,480 --> 00:04:19,599 Speaker 1: it's all control or whatever. I used to have a 84 00:04:19,720 --> 00:04:21,960 Speaker 1: bazillion of a memorize when I was using in Design 85 00:04:22,040 --> 00:04:24,040 Speaker 1: for a Living and uh, and so you just go 86 00:04:24,120 --> 00:04:26,560 Speaker 1: to this automatic behavior, all right, just push these these 87 00:04:26,600 --> 00:04:28,480 Speaker 1: quick keys and we'll do some sort of automatic function 88 00:04:28,520 --> 00:04:31,200 Speaker 1: on the page you're working on. Uh. And we do 89 00:04:31,279 --> 00:04:33,040 Speaker 1: that in our lives. We do that when we as 90 00:04:33,040 --> 00:04:35,760 Speaker 1: we're driving to work, as we're trying to navigate the 91 00:04:35,760 --> 00:04:38,360 Speaker 1: hallways of our house without you know, busting our elbow 92 00:04:38,360 --> 00:04:42,920 Speaker 1: and something. Well, Android says that there's a real boon 93 00:04:43,040 --> 00:04:44,920 Speaker 1: to us when we do that, because, in a sense, 94 00:04:44,960 --> 00:04:47,800 Speaker 1: your brain starts working less and less, and he says, 95 00:04:47,800 --> 00:04:49,880 Speaker 1: the brain can almost completely shut down. And this is 96 00:04:49,880 --> 00:04:52,279 Speaker 1: an advantage because it means that you have all of 97 00:04:52,360 --> 00:04:55,200 Speaker 1: this mental activity that you can devote to something else. 98 00:04:55,360 --> 00:04:57,600 Speaker 1: It's why you can listen to stuff to bow your 99 00:04:57,600 --> 00:05:01,080 Speaker 1: mind while walking to the bus stay and while driving 100 00:05:01,080 --> 00:05:03,760 Speaker 1: to work, or while doing you know, data entry in 101 00:05:03,800 --> 00:05:07,480 Speaker 1: an Excel spreadsheet. Right. So, because it's all this has 102 00:05:07,480 --> 00:05:11,240 Speaker 1: become habituated and wrote and routinized, and we need all 103 00:05:11,279 --> 00:05:14,200 Speaker 1: this stuff, right, we need this kind of predictability. But 104 00:05:14,320 --> 00:05:16,440 Speaker 1: of course the problem becomes when we want to change 105 00:05:16,440 --> 00:05:18,520 Speaker 1: that behavior. And he says that if you want to 106 00:05:18,600 --> 00:05:20,839 Speaker 1: change it or create a new one, you have to 107 00:05:20,960 --> 00:05:24,400 Speaker 1: gain those three aspects. You have to gain that trigger 108 00:05:24,760 --> 00:05:27,440 Speaker 1: or that queue and know that it could be boredom 109 00:05:27,680 --> 00:05:30,480 Speaker 1: or that you're tired, and acknowledge that that is the reason, 110 00:05:30,920 --> 00:05:33,280 Speaker 1: not just at three o'clock and it's time for that soda. 111 00:05:33,320 --> 00:05:36,080 Speaker 1: You kind of have to break it down and kind 112 00:05:36,080 --> 00:05:38,520 Speaker 1: of goes slow mo with your thinking. Um. He also 113 00:05:38,560 --> 00:05:42,080 Speaker 1: said that you have to disrupt the routine and the reward. 114 00:05:42,839 --> 00:05:46,839 Speaker 1: You have to figure that out too. You have to say, okay, fine, 115 00:05:46,920 --> 00:05:50,279 Speaker 1: this might give me a temporary lift, but how gross 116 00:05:50,320 --> 00:05:52,160 Speaker 1: am I going to feel a half hour later when 117 00:05:52,160 --> 00:05:54,800 Speaker 1: all that sugar is sitting in my belly? Um. And 118 00:05:54,839 --> 00:05:56,919 Speaker 1: then he also said that you can replace that reward, 119 00:05:57,040 --> 00:05:59,640 Speaker 1: so instead of having that soda, you can take a 120 00:05:59,640 --> 00:06:02,240 Speaker 1: walk exactly. Yeah. And this was really helpful to me 121 00:06:02,320 --> 00:06:05,719 Speaker 1: when I quit drinking, actually, because I had noticed that 122 00:06:05,760 --> 00:06:07,920 Speaker 1: between hours of six and eight pm at nine that 123 00:06:08,040 --> 00:06:10,000 Speaker 1: were sort of my witching hours, and I would go 124 00:06:10,040 --> 00:06:14,200 Speaker 1: and work out instead of reaching for a glass of wine. Uh, 125 00:06:14,240 --> 00:06:17,279 Speaker 1: and that's replaced that reward for me, and it disrupted 126 00:06:17,279 --> 00:06:19,560 Speaker 1: the routine. So it was really helpful. Yeah. I mean 127 00:06:19,600 --> 00:06:21,960 Speaker 1: he stress that with a lot of things are related 128 00:06:22,000 --> 00:06:24,080 Speaker 1: to behavior. A lot of it is just realizing the 129 00:06:24,080 --> 00:06:26,200 Speaker 1: patterns of behavior, being able to look in the mirror 130 00:06:26,240 --> 00:06:29,400 Speaker 1: and and be self aware of what's going on. And 131 00:06:29,440 --> 00:06:31,120 Speaker 1: you have to remember we've talked about this a lot 132 00:06:31,120 --> 00:06:34,040 Speaker 1: before that these are neural pathways that once you did 133 00:06:34,040 --> 00:06:36,239 Speaker 1: just have it over and over again, they become really 134 00:06:36,760 --> 00:06:41,360 Speaker 1: grooved in your brain. Okay, so that is a pathway 135 00:06:41,480 --> 00:06:44,360 Speaker 1: that's easy for those signals to trot upon. So if 136 00:06:44,400 --> 00:06:46,279 Speaker 1: you do it less, then it becomes you know, the 137 00:06:46,320 --> 00:06:49,960 Speaker 1: strength of those pathways decreases. It will always be there 138 00:06:50,000 --> 00:06:53,120 Speaker 1: because you created the pathway. Yeah. And and ultimately it's 139 00:06:53,240 --> 00:06:57,080 Speaker 1: creating new behaviors. Forging new pathways, it's easier as opposed 140 00:06:57,080 --> 00:06:58,760 Speaker 1: to getting rid of old ones. I mean, you can 141 00:06:58,800 --> 00:07:00,359 Speaker 1: think of it, think of it in terms of, all right, 142 00:07:00,440 --> 00:07:03,520 Speaker 1: you have a road between two cities, and what are 143 00:07:03,560 --> 00:07:05,360 Speaker 1: you gonna do. Are you gonna shut down one road 144 00:07:05,400 --> 00:07:07,760 Speaker 1: completely and then build another one that you're gonna You're 145 00:07:07,760 --> 00:07:10,280 Speaker 1: gonna build an additional road and then you're gonna sort 146 00:07:10,280 --> 00:07:12,000 Speaker 1: of and then and then that new road is going 147 00:07:12,040 --> 00:07:14,560 Speaker 1: to replace the old one. If you just cut off 148 00:07:14,560 --> 00:07:16,120 Speaker 1: the road, then how are we gonna get where we're going? 149 00:07:16,120 --> 00:07:18,520 Speaker 1: How am I going to deal with the the trigger 150 00:07:18,560 --> 00:07:20,840 Speaker 1: effect of needing that soda in the afternoon. I like 151 00:07:20,920 --> 00:07:23,920 Speaker 1: that idea that there are parallel paths and that's how 152 00:07:23,960 --> 00:07:26,760 Speaker 1: you replace the one after a while, and you kind 153 00:07:26,760 --> 00:07:29,000 Speaker 1: of put the detour signs on the other one. It 154 00:07:29,000 --> 00:07:31,760 Speaker 1: always exists with the detour signs. Yeah. Um. And that's 155 00:07:31,800 --> 00:07:34,440 Speaker 1: one of the problems with any sort of habit that 156 00:07:34,480 --> 00:07:37,120 Speaker 1: you pick up again a bad habit, is that as 157 00:07:37,120 --> 00:07:40,120 Speaker 1: soon as you you engage in that behavior, those pathways go, oh, 158 00:07:40,200 --> 00:07:42,600 Speaker 1: I remember this road. I haven't taken it in a 159 00:07:42,640 --> 00:07:45,200 Speaker 1: long time. And like you said, the environment is a 160 00:07:45,240 --> 00:07:47,160 Speaker 1: big thing. I like if I if I I don't 161 00:07:47,160 --> 00:07:49,160 Speaker 1: know why I chose the soda habit. I haven't actually 162 00:07:49,240 --> 00:07:50,480 Speaker 1: had a soda in for every but it's a good, 163 00:07:50,480 --> 00:07:51,880 Speaker 1: good model because I know a lot of people have 164 00:07:51,920 --> 00:07:54,720 Speaker 1: this temptation. Uh So in this case, in this example, 165 00:07:54,800 --> 00:07:56,800 Speaker 1: I'm drinking sodas in the office. So the office is 166 00:07:56,800 --> 00:08:00,560 Speaker 1: the environment in which this behavior has become ingrained. So 167 00:08:01,040 --> 00:08:03,880 Speaker 1: one thing that actually helps is stepping outside of the environment. 168 00:08:04,200 --> 00:08:08,080 Speaker 1: That that that that that makes this behavior acceptable. Now, 169 00:08:08,160 --> 00:08:11,000 Speaker 1: changing your environment is not a cure all, but it 170 00:08:11,120 --> 00:08:14,440 Speaker 1: can disrupt some some of that that routine. And that's 171 00:08:14,440 --> 00:08:16,960 Speaker 1: why going on a vacation is often cited as a 172 00:08:16,960 --> 00:08:19,240 Speaker 1: good example of a of a time to to try 173 00:08:19,240 --> 00:08:21,400 Speaker 1: to break away from a routine. And it's also why 174 00:08:21,520 --> 00:08:25,080 Speaker 1: vacations are often really comforting because we're breaking away from 175 00:08:25,080 --> 00:08:28,000 Speaker 1: a number of routines, even if they're not necessarily you know, 176 00:08:28,080 --> 00:08:30,120 Speaker 1: bad for us. Maybe they're just you know, you're you're 177 00:08:30,120 --> 00:08:32,319 Speaker 1: free from some of the change you weren't even aware of. 178 00:08:32,600 --> 00:08:34,880 Speaker 1: It was so much easier to slow down in that 179 00:08:34,960 --> 00:08:38,000 Speaker 1: automated behavior, look at it and say, oh, why am 180 00:08:38,000 --> 00:08:40,120 Speaker 1: I reaching for this? Why am I doing this? You're right, 181 00:08:40,120 --> 00:08:43,920 Speaker 1: because you don't have those environmental triggers. Now, there is 182 00:08:45,520 --> 00:08:48,560 Speaker 1: a kind of average of days, at least in one 183 00:08:48,640 --> 00:08:51,800 Speaker 1: study that shows that there are certain habits that you 184 00:08:51,880 --> 00:08:56,920 Speaker 1: can pick up good habits. Let's say and sixty six days. Now, 185 00:08:56,960 --> 00:08:59,719 Speaker 1: this is the average of days that it took participants 186 00:09:00,280 --> 00:09:03,600 Speaker 1: to have a behavior become automatic. This is a study 187 00:09:03,679 --> 00:09:07,839 Speaker 1: led by Philippa Lally and she's a psychologist at University 188 00:09:07,880 --> 00:09:12,160 Speaker 1: College London. So we are talking about this length of 189 00:09:12,200 --> 00:09:16,040 Speaker 1: time varying anywhere from eighteen days to two hundred and 190 00:09:16,080 --> 00:09:19,400 Speaker 1: fifty four. Sixty six was just the average, and some 191 00:09:19,520 --> 00:09:22,360 Speaker 1: habits were talking about drinking a bottle of water after 192 00:09:22,440 --> 00:09:25,040 Speaker 1: lunch turned out to be a lot stickier, only took 193 00:09:25,080 --> 00:09:27,920 Speaker 1: fifty nine days on the average, because that's how difficult 194 00:09:27,960 --> 00:09:30,800 Speaker 1: is that? Now you're just tipping the bottle. But what 195 00:09:30,920 --> 00:09:35,839 Speaker 1: about doing fifty sit ups each morning? Much harder ninety 196 00:09:35,920 --> 00:09:39,280 Speaker 1: one days. So other findings were that missing a single 197 00:09:39,360 --> 00:09:41,559 Speaker 1: day did not reduce the chance of forming habits. That's 198 00:09:41,559 --> 00:09:45,240 Speaker 1: good news. In a subgroup, it turns out took a 199 00:09:45,280 --> 00:09:47,520 Speaker 1: lot longer than the others to form their habits, and 200 00:09:47,520 --> 00:09:51,520 Speaker 1: this suggests that some people are habit resistant. And of 201 00:09:51,559 --> 00:09:54,200 Speaker 1: course other types of habits may take much longer than 202 00:09:54,280 --> 00:09:57,560 Speaker 1: make you know, two fifty four days for instance for me, 203 00:09:57,760 --> 00:09:59,640 Speaker 1: the sit ups that would that would be like three 204 00:10:00,000 --> 00:10:02,360 Speaker 1: sixty five days for me. So what about you, what 205 00:10:02,400 --> 00:10:04,760 Speaker 1: would be the easiest thing and the hardest thing? Like 206 00:10:04,760 --> 00:10:06,320 Speaker 1: what would take you eighteen days? And what would take 207 00:10:06,360 --> 00:10:10,720 Speaker 1: you two? Well, I guess obviously something I enjoy doing Um, 208 00:10:10,920 --> 00:10:13,240 Speaker 1: a lot of people who who write are aware of 209 00:10:13,280 --> 00:10:15,520 Speaker 1: this hundred words a day thing where the idea is, 210 00:10:15,520 --> 00:10:17,800 Speaker 1: all right, your life is busy, but you really want 211 00:10:17,840 --> 00:10:20,360 Speaker 1: to work on you know, that novel, or work on 212 00:10:20,400 --> 00:10:22,520 Speaker 1: short stories, or write a little poetry, so you just 213 00:10:22,679 --> 00:10:24,520 Speaker 1: make sure you take out time, just carve it just 214 00:10:24,559 --> 00:10:27,240 Speaker 1: a sliver of time to do one hundred words, just 215 00:10:27,360 --> 00:10:29,200 Speaker 1: you know, open up your your word document, you know, 216 00:10:29,240 --> 00:10:32,000 Speaker 1: grab a notebook. One words, then you can move on. 217 00:10:32,440 --> 00:10:35,160 Speaker 1: So that would probably be easier for me, just because 218 00:10:35,520 --> 00:10:38,760 Speaker 1: obviously the reward, the reward is also in doing it. 219 00:10:38,760 --> 00:10:41,040 Speaker 1: It's something that I enjoy doing, and so that would 220 00:10:41,080 --> 00:10:42,640 Speaker 1: be something would be easier for me to do. And 221 00:10:42,679 --> 00:10:46,559 Speaker 1: you already have a huge writing muscle, yeah, exactly, so 222 00:10:47,600 --> 00:10:48,960 Speaker 1: that one would be an easy Also I'll have to 223 00:10:48,960 --> 00:10:51,080 Speaker 1: do is open a document or or grab a pet 224 00:10:51,200 --> 00:10:53,599 Speaker 1: but uh, one of it would be much harder. And 225 00:10:53,679 --> 00:10:55,400 Speaker 1: one that I also would very much like to do 226 00:10:55,440 --> 00:10:58,000 Speaker 1: would be, you know, to do yoga on a much 227 00:10:58,040 --> 00:11:01,360 Speaker 1: more regular basis these days. But for that, obviously I've 228 00:11:01,360 --> 00:11:03,520 Speaker 1: got to carve out a much larger piece of time, 229 00:11:03,679 --> 00:11:06,800 Speaker 1: like you know, at least twenty minutes ideally like an hour. 230 00:11:07,280 --> 00:11:09,839 Speaker 1: I need to either go to a space where I 231 00:11:09,880 --> 00:11:13,280 Speaker 1: can do the yoga or find a space both uh, 232 00:11:13,400 --> 00:11:16,120 Speaker 1: both physical and mental in which to do it every 233 00:11:16,200 --> 00:11:18,160 Speaker 1: day or a few days a week, and it becomes 234 00:11:18,160 --> 00:11:22,160 Speaker 1: increasingly complex. I read that if then statements help with 235 00:11:22,160 --> 00:11:23,880 Speaker 1: this because a lot of times we'll say we want 236 00:11:23,880 --> 00:11:25,360 Speaker 1: to do this, but when we find reasons not to 237 00:11:25,400 --> 00:11:27,840 Speaker 1: do things. And the idea is that instead of finding 238 00:11:27,840 --> 00:11:30,439 Speaker 1: those reasons not to do it, you say to yourself, 239 00:11:30,480 --> 00:11:34,720 Speaker 1: if it's Monday and it's noon and I have thirty minutes, 240 00:11:34,840 --> 00:11:38,040 Speaker 1: I'm going to go to X space and do yoga, 241 00:11:38,120 --> 00:11:40,480 Speaker 1: and that that becomes more of an action item in 242 00:11:40,520 --> 00:11:43,760 Speaker 1: your brain as opposed to a plan. Really well, it's 243 00:11:43,760 --> 00:11:46,560 Speaker 1: like a program, you know, because it reminds me like 244 00:11:46,600 --> 00:11:48,360 Speaker 1: the settings in email, if you've ever looked at that, 245 00:11:48,360 --> 00:11:50,319 Speaker 1: where you can set things like if this, then that 246 00:11:50,840 --> 00:11:53,880 Speaker 1: then X. So yeah, it's like and essentially that's what 247 00:11:53,880 --> 00:11:57,840 Speaker 1: we're talking about, reprogramming the self to incorporate new actions 248 00:11:58,160 --> 00:12:01,199 Speaker 1: or in some cases a limit other actions or choose 249 00:12:01,200 --> 00:12:03,680 Speaker 1: one action over another. Of course, all of this require 250 00:12:03,720 --> 00:12:06,520 Speaker 1: self control and will power. And we'll take a quick 251 00:12:06,520 --> 00:12:08,079 Speaker 1: break and when we get back, we're gonna talk about 252 00:12:08,160 --> 00:12:20,840 Speaker 1: this muscle of self control that we can cultivate for ourselves. Okay, 253 00:12:20,920 --> 00:12:23,000 Speaker 1: we're back and you're going to talk about you roll 254 00:12:23,080 --> 00:12:25,000 Speaker 1: a self control and will power because of course you 255 00:12:25,040 --> 00:12:29,199 Speaker 1: can't just have this um then like moment with your 256 00:12:29,200 --> 00:12:32,240 Speaker 1: brain where you slow everything down and you examine how 257 00:12:32,280 --> 00:12:34,520 Speaker 1: and why you're doing things. You also have to have 258 00:12:34,640 --> 00:12:37,800 Speaker 1: the will to change that habit. Yes, and we've we've 259 00:12:37,800 --> 00:12:41,720 Speaker 1: podcasted exclusively on will in some past episodes before and it's, uh, 260 00:12:41,880 --> 00:12:44,800 Speaker 1: it's a fascinating topic because it's, like most things in life, 261 00:12:44,880 --> 00:12:46,360 Speaker 1: it's not quite what you think it is when you 262 00:12:46,440 --> 00:12:50,559 Speaker 1: actually stop and examine. Willpower is not a set level. 263 00:12:50,880 --> 00:12:53,520 Speaker 1: It's not like you know, playing Dungeons and Dragons where 264 00:12:53,559 --> 00:12:55,280 Speaker 1: you you roll the dice and you have that that 265 00:12:55,400 --> 00:12:59,280 Speaker 1: set number that that you may modify with some magical 266 00:12:59,320 --> 00:13:02,800 Speaker 1: spells here. And it's it's something that that fluctuates throughout 267 00:13:02,800 --> 00:13:04,880 Speaker 1: the day based on where we are, where our attention 268 00:13:04,960 --> 00:13:06,960 Speaker 1: is that, what our diet consists of, what kind of 269 00:13:07,440 --> 00:13:10,640 Speaker 1: uh stimuli we're exposed to. And the good news is 270 00:13:10,679 --> 00:13:13,960 Speaker 1: that it is a behavior and not something that's hardwired, 271 00:13:14,000 --> 00:13:16,480 Speaker 1: so it can be changed. In fact, in a two 272 00:13:16,520 --> 00:13:21,000 Speaker 1: thousand meta study of self control Mark Moravin and Roy F. Baumeister, 273 00:13:21,200 --> 00:13:23,319 Speaker 1: we've heard from him before. They set out to answer 274 00:13:23,320 --> 00:13:26,240 Speaker 1: the question does self control resemble a muscle? And yes, 275 00:13:26,440 --> 00:13:29,319 Speaker 1: they say, if willpower is like a muscle, and muscles 276 00:13:29,320 --> 00:13:32,960 Speaker 1: can get stronger over time training, will power similar can 277 00:13:33,000 --> 00:13:35,920 Speaker 1: be trained and strengthened. And they found this and that 278 00:13:36,040 --> 00:13:40,200 Speaker 1: meta study. In addition, Australian researchers Megan Otan and Ken 279 00:13:40,280 --> 00:13:42,760 Speaker 1: Chang looked at this question and they took a group 280 00:13:42,840 --> 00:13:46,280 Speaker 1: of people through a customized two month exercise program. What 281 00:13:46,360 --> 00:13:48,480 Speaker 1: do they find. Well, of course the people got stronger, 282 00:13:49,000 --> 00:13:52,400 Speaker 1: um they developed more muscles, but they also found that 283 00:13:52,440 --> 00:13:57,280 Speaker 1: their behaviors there, their self control, their willpower changed with 284 00:13:57,320 --> 00:14:01,320 Speaker 1: the addition of the actual physical muscles. Yeah, this is 285 00:14:01,320 --> 00:14:04,200 Speaker 1: pretty amazing and that they throw out the example there's 286 00:14:04,240 --> 00:14:05,880 Speaker 1: like a like a pebble in a lake. There's this 287 00:14:05,960 --> 00:14:09,240 Speaker 1: ripple effect. You start in selling willpower into one area 288 00:14:09,280 --> 00:14:12,800 Speaker 1: of your life and it actually bleeds over into other 289 00:14:12,800 --> 00:14:16,640 Speaker 1: areas of your life because the overall willpower level increases. 290 00:14:17,240 --> 00:14:20,000 Speaker 1: I was thinking about this in the context of the 291 00:14:20,320 --> 00:14:23,920 Speaker 1: bit we found out about how a full bladder can 292 00:14:24,000 --> 00:14:27,920 Speaker 1: actually help with willpower at least you know, temporarily, because 293 00:14:27,920 --> 00:14:31,320 Speaker 1: if you have a full bladder, your brain is suppressing 294 00:14:31,720 --> 00:14:35,600 Speaker 1: the urge to p on yourself essentially, and as a result, 295 00:14:35,760 --> 00:14:39,680 Speaker 1: it is suppressing everything else. So not just you over 296 00:14:39,760 --> 00:14:43,560 Speaker 1: eating at the buffet, but controlling your bladder and perhaps 297 00:14:43,600 --> 00:14:46,720 Speaker 1: not having a cigarette at that very moment. It's why 298 00:14:46,920 --> 00:14:51,120 Speaker 1: drinking more water is such a no brainer for for 299 00:14:51,120 --> 00:14:54,320 Speaker 1: for New Year's resolutions, because more water good for your body. 300 00:14:54,360 --> 00:14:56,640 Speaker 1: You're mostly water anyway, right you can, you can line 301 00:14:56,720 --> 00:14:59,080 Speaker 1: up all the health and ifit's there, but your bladder 302 00:14:59,120 --> 00:15:00,920 Speaker 1: is going to be more full more of the time, 303 00:15:01,080 --> 00:15:04,720 Speaker 1: thus allowing you to better suppress other temptations in your life. 304 00:15:04,920 --> 00:15:07,480 Speaker 1: There you go. That's a tip right there. More water, 305 00:15:07,840 --> 00:15:09,840 Speaker 1: all right. So let's talk about the specifics of the 306 00:15:09,920 --> 00:15:12,640 Speaker 1: study we're talking about again a two month period in 307 00:15:12,680 --> 00:15:15,040 Speaker 1: which the participants hit the gym three times a week, 308 00:15:15,440 --> 00:15:18,760 Speaker 1: and before, during, and after the exercise, the group was 309 00:15:18,840 --> 00:15:21,280 Speaker 1: tested on a visual task that measured will power via 310 00:15:21,320 --> 00:15:25,120 Speaker 1: distraction and thought suppression. Now, after two months, the air 311 00:15:25,200 --> 00:15:27,880 Speaker 1: rate went down for the group from twenty three to 312 00:15:27,960 --> 00:15:30,840 Speaker 1: twelve percent, so, in other words, they were able to 313 00:15:31,480 --> 00:15:34,640 Speaker 1: not pay attention to those distractions to be more focused, 314 00:15:35,040 --> 00:15:38,560 Speaker 1: and they had that decrease in their brain just sort 315 00:15:38,560 --> 00:15:41,800 Speaker 1: of going willy nilly about things. Yeah. And the crazy 316 00:15:41,840 --> 00:15:43,520 Speaker 1: thing too, is that when I first started reading some 317 00:15:43,520 --> 00:15:45,760 Speaker 1: of those thinking, all right, the other areas they're gonna 318 00:15:45,760 --> 00:15:47,200 Speaker 1: be affecting their life, It's going to be like, oh, 319 00:15:47,200 --> 00:15:49,120 Speaker 1: well they ate a little more broccoli or something easy 320 00:15:49,240 --> 00:15:51,800 Speaker 1: like that. But now the the improvements that they saw 321 00:15:51,920 --> 00:15:56,200 Speaker 1: related to stuff like cigarette smoking, alcohol consumption. He'll be eating, exercise, 322 00:15:56,200 --> 00:15:59,240 Speaker 1: and household chores. So I mean the fact that cigarettes 323 00:15:59,240 --> 00:16:02,720 Speaker 1: and alcohol were also affected things that you often think. 324 00:16:02,720 --> 00:16:05,400 Speaker 1: I was having their talents a little deeper into the 325 00:16:05,400 --> 00:16:08,920 Speaker 1: psyche um to see to see those areas affected as 326 00:16:08,920 --> 00:16:12,760 Speaker 1: well by this ripple effect. It's really encouraged. Yeah, And 327 00:16:12,760 --> 00:16:14,400 Speaker 1: the behavior was all over the place. It might be 328 00:16:14,480 --> 00:16:17,400 Speaker 1: that someone missed appointments a lot, in which case they 329 00:16:17,440 --> 00:16:20,280 Speaker 1: found that a person went from missing an appointment every 330 00:16:20,320 --> 00:16:22,320 Speaker 1: day to like once a week, or in the case 331 00:16:22,400 --> 00:16:25,800 Speaker 1: the cigarettes down from fourteen cigarettes a day to just three. 332 00:16:25,920 --> 00:16:28,920 Speaker 1: That is amazing. Yeah. Alright, So coming back to the 333 00:16:29,320 --> 00:16:31,040 Speaker 1: old idea that we talked about at the beginning of 334 00:16:31,080 --> 00:16:33,840 Speaker 1: the episode, the idea that I apply X amount of 335 00:16:33,840 --> 00:16:37,440 Speaker 1: time towards something, towards a new skill, a new discipline, 336 00:16:37,520 --> 00:16:40,520 Speaker 1: a new subject. I can become an expert. I can 337 00:16:40,600 --> 00:16:45,920 Speaker 1: make this my own, I can own this content all right. 338 00:16:45,960 --> 00:16:48,600 Speaker 1: Because if you think about someone being a master of 339 00:16:48,640 --> 00:16:52,080 Speaker 1: their universe, you typically think of like Ben Franklin or 340 00:16:52,200 --> 00:16:55,040 Speaker 1: Leonardo de Venture. These are people who were true poly mass, 341 00:16:55,160 --> 00:16:59,960 Speaker 1: who could attack new topics, consume them, and by habit 342 00:17:00,080 --> 00:17:03,200 Speaker 1: they could do this right now, Some people would say 343 00:17:03,240 --> 00:17:05,560 Speaker 1: that that was the dreds. The world was much smaller, 344 00:17:05,600 --> 00:17:08,360 Speaker 1: that there are a fewer tones to go through and 345 00:17:08,560 --> 00:17:11,160 Speaker 1: become an expert. Now we have so much more knowledge, 346 00:17:11,200 --> 00:17:13,440 Speaker 1: so it's a lot more difficult. And you could say 347 00:17:14,080 --> 00:17:17,280 Speaker 1: that in some senses are our willpower, our ability to 348 00:17:17,280 --> 00:17:20,000 Speaker 1: really concentrate has been deluded by all of this knowledge. 349 00:17:20,920 --> 00:17:25,840 Speaker 1: But it remains that if you do something, namely repetition, 350 00:17:25,960 --> 00:17:29,120 Speaker 1: that you can still learn new things and you may 351 00:17:29,320 --> 00:17:31,600 Speaker 1: even become an expert. And you know that ten thousand 352 00:17:32,080 --> 00:17:34,480 Speaker 1: hours that Malcolm Cloud will always talks about, that's a 353 00:17:34,520 --> 00:17:37,120 Speaker 1: possibility in there too. But if you just want to 354 00:17:37,200 --> 00:17:41,480 Speaker 1: sort of pick up guitar or you know, stop smoking, drinking, 355 00:17:41,880 --> 00:17:44,760 Speaker 1: all of these things are available to you. You just 356 00:17:44,920 --> 00:17:51,200 Speaker 1: need to document it and uh repeat wash, repeat, yeah, 357 00:17:51,280 --> 00:17:54,240 Speaker 1: making making a pattern of it, regularly consuming it, be 358 00:17:54,320 --> 00:17:57,400 Speaker 1: at a hundred words a day, be a guitar lessons, 359 00:17:57,520 --> 00:17:58,920 Speaker 1: or be it. Hey, here's a good one. You can 360 00:17:58,960 --> 00:18:01,199 Speaker 1: listen to a new episode of stuff to blow your 361 00:18:01,200 --> 00:18:03,240 Speaker 1: mind every day for a year. I think we have 362 00:18:03,359 --> 00:18:05,560 Speaker 1: enough now, oh dear, oh yeah, And you have to 363 00:18:05,600 --> 00:18:08,359 Speaker 1: document it. This is the important part. And this is 364 00:18:08,400 --> 00:18:11,800 Speaker 1: where we bring up Karen X Chang. Okay, she is 365 00:18:12,119 --> 00:18:13,800 Speaker 1: kind of the I think the best example of this 366 00:18:13,880 --> 00:18:18,479 Speaker 1: kind of muscle flexing of self control. Now, she not 367 00:18:18,560 --> 00:18:20,960 Speaker 1: only was a program manager of Microsoft Excel. At the 368 00:18:21,000 --> 00:18:23,160 Speaker 1: same time that she was doing this full time job, 369 00:18:23,240 --> 00:18:24,960 Speaker 1: she decided, oh hey, I think I want to teach 370 00:18:24,960 --> 00:18:28,359 Speaker 1: myself computer graphics. She did within a six month period, 371 00:18:28,680 --> 00:18:30,520 Speaker 1: and then she got a new job as a designer 372 00:18:30,560 --> 00:18:33,679 Speaker 1: at Exact, this is a startup in San Francisco. Along 373 00:18:33,680 --> 00:18:36,399 Speaker 1: the way, she taught herself all sorts of things like 374 00:18:36,480 --> 00:18:40,680 Speaker 1: guitar and she began to realize that she had a 375 00:18:40,760 --> 00:18:46,200 Speaker 1: process in place that could allow her to enjoy and 376 00:18:46,320 --> 00:18:49,400 Speaker 1: explore all the things that she found fascinating. And she 377 00:18:49,480 --> 00:18:53,679 Speaker 1: started a website called give It one dot com and 378 00:18:53,760 --> 00:18:57,639 Speaker 1: This is based on her own video that went viral. 379 00:18:57,720 --> 00:19:01,200 Speaker 1: Some people may be familiar with this, in which she 380 00:19:01,280 --> 00:19:04,040 Speaker 1: taught herself to dance in a year and every day 381 00:19:04,080 --> 00:19:08,080 Speaker 1: she documented herself and it's a great video because it 382 00:19:08,080 --> 00:19:10,359 Speaker 1: starts out with her doing these sort of awkward popping 383 00:19:10,440 --> 00:19:12,600 Speaker 1: looks like I'm doing right now but you can't see, 384 00:19:12,960 --> 00:19:17,360 Speaker 1: and then she becomes this beautiful fluid dancer after three 385 00:19:17,600 --> 00:19:20,159 Speaker 1: d and sixty five days. So what what did she 386 00:19:20,200 --> 00:19:23,800 Speaker 1: give it? A hundred off? Well, the idea is that 387 00:19:24,040 --> 00:19:27,280 Speaker 1: one hundred one hundred days is something that a person 388 00:19:27,320 --> 00:19:30,600 Speaker 1: can sort of do like that what she did, although 389 00:19:30,640 --> 00:19:33,480 Speaker 1: sort of three sixty five light right. So in other words, 390 00:19:33,520 --> 00:19:36,239 Speaker 1: you pick a project, you document yourself. Every day you 391 00:19:36,320 --> 00:19:38,119 Speaker 1: upload a video. I think there's only like ten to 392 00:19:38,280 --> 00:19:41,520 Speaker 1: fifteen seconds of the video that shows on the site, 393 00:19:41,680 --> 00:19:45,040 Speaker 1: but you can see real progress after a number of days. 394 00:19:45,119 --> 00:19:46,560 Speaker 1: And that's one of the things that she says is 395 00:19:46,600 --> 00:19:50,040 Speaker 1: really important in trying to learn something new or do 396 00:19:50,119 --> 00:19:52,760 Speaker 1: something that you not just document that you do it 397 00:19:52,920 --> 00:19:55,440 Speaker 1: over and over again, but that you can see where 398 00:19:55,440 --> 00:19:58,359 Speaker 1: you're going with this. Yeah, and so the YouTube us 399 00:19:58,400 --> 00:20:03,199 Speaker 1: of YouTube here achieves that also is a great documentation system. Yeah. So, 400 00:20:03,280 --> 00:20:07,040 Speaker 1: I mean, if anybody's interested, I would say check that out. Um. Personally, 401 00:20:07,160 --> 00:20:10,200 Speaker 1: I'm playing around with the idea of doing that because 402 00:20:10,240 --> 00:20:14,800 Speaker 1: I would love to conquer the accordions are enough playing 403 00:20:14,800 --> 00:20:18,120 Speaker 1: around with it, pretending like I'm in some Parisian cafe 404 00:20:18,800 --> 00:20:21,919 Speaker 1: entertaining folks and having their ears bleed. Well, what you 405 00:20:21,920 --> 00:20:24,160 Speaker 1: need to do is do it on your drive to work. 406 00:20:25,119 --> 00:20:28,440 Speaker 1: That's a great idea. Yeah, I think it would work, Okay. 407 00:20:28,480 --> 00:20:31,000 Speaker 1: I mean, because things are pretty automated when when it 408 00:20:31,000 --> 00:20:33,240 Speaker 1: comes to driving, why not you get you get one 409 00:20:33,280 --> 00:20:35,840 Speaker 1: of those those little little little cameras that go on 410 00:20:35,880 --> 00:20:39,240 Speaker 1: the dashboard. Uh, turn it your yourself, and then every 411 00:20:39,240 --> 00:20:41,240 Speaker 1: morning as you drive to work, you're playing the accordion. 412 00:20:42,119 --> 00:20:44,840 Speaker 1: I think that the lawyers of Discovery dot com are 413 00:20:44,880 --> 00:20:47,680 Speaker 1: gonna love this. I think they will, and that secretly 414 00:20:47,720 --> 00:20:51,200 Speaker 1: they will love it. Um. But but I should also 415 00:20:51,200 --> 00:20:53,640 Speaker 1: mention the hundred words a day thing I'm talking about earlier. Now, 416 00:20:53,720 --> 00:20:57,400 Speaker 1: I am remembering that in the the official, uh prescribed 417 00:20:57,480 --> 00:21:00,479 Speaker 1: version of that, Um, you are keeping track of your 418 00:21:00,520 --> 00:21:02,520 Speaker 1: word count, like you're saying, yes, I did I did 419 00:21:02,520 --> 00:21:05,960 Speaker 1: a hundred two hundred day before and all that. So 420 00:21:06,000 --> 00:21:09,600 Speaker 1: that you. You have some level of accountability too. That's 421 00:21:09,680 --> 00:21:12,679 Speaker 1: because presumably somebody is looking at your YouTube videos. Presumably 422 00:21:12,720 --> 00:21:15,399 Speaker 1: somebody is looking at the you know the little ticker 423 00:21:15,440 --> 00:21:16,760 Speaker 1: that you have at the bottom of your web page 424 00:21:16,800 --> 00:21:19,840 Speaker 1: that says how many how many words you're you're pumping out? Yeah, 425 00:21:19,880 --> 00:21:22,520 Speaker 1: I don't know about give it one dot com, but 426 00:21:22,560 --> 00:21:24,119 Speaker 1: I do know the one hundred words a day. If 427 00:21:24,119 --> 00:21:26,560 Speaker 1: you don't write, they will send you an email a 428 00:21:26,600 --> 00:21:28,800 Speaker 1: little nasty Graham saying hey, you need to do this, 429 00:21:28,800 --> 00:21:31,800 Speaker 1: which is always really helpful. And that's probably a good, good, 430 00:21:32,080 --> 00:21:33,760 Speaker 1: good bit of info for me. Though about all this 431 00:21:33,840 --> 00:21:35,320 Speaker 1: is because I should if I'm going to do the 432 00:21:35,400 --> 00:21:37,320 Speaker 1: hundred words a day, I should maybe do the official 433 00:21:37,400 --> 00:21:39,440 Speaker 1: version to where there's a little more accountability and it's 434 00:21:39,480 --> 00:21:42,680 Speaker 1: not just though I forgot for three weeks. Yeah, so, um, 435 00:21:42,760 --> 00:21:45,359 Speaker 1: you know, as I moved through this year and master 436 00:21:45,400 --> 00:21:48,480 Speaker 1: the accordion and then make everybody's ears bleed, have about 437 00:21:48,480 --> 00:21:51,040 Speaker 1: in six months time? Should we say six months? We 438 00:21:51,160 --> 00:21:52,840 Speaker 1: we all meet back here in six months I'll play 439 00:21:52,880 --> 00:21:55,679 Speaker 1: for you guys. Um, as I think about this, I'm 440 00:21:55,680 --> 00:21:58,960 Speaker 1: gonna think about that habit loop and those triggers, right, 441 00:21:59,560 --> 00:22:02,399 Speaker 1: um and gonna think about my little basil ganglia. I'm 442 00:22:02,400 --> 00:22:05,399 Speaker 1: going to ask you to back off. Well, although I 443 00:22:05,480 --> 00:22:07,119 Speaker 1: might say, hey, you can go ahead and do this 444 00:22:07,200 --> 00:22:09,400 Speaker 1: when I get really good and it becomes an automated behavior, 445 00:22:09,680 --> 00:22:12,600 Speaker 1: but I'm also going to think about that repetition, and uh, 446 00:22:12,640 --> 00:22:15,720 Speaker 1: we'll see after sixty six days to where I land 447 00:22:15,760 --> 00:22:18,480 Speaker 1: on this. If this becomes uh pretty decent in terms 448 00:22:18,520 --> 00:22:21,240 Speaker 1: of my ability to play, uh you know, real quick, 449 00:22:21,280 --> 00:22:22,800 Speaker 1: I want to come back to Charles do Hig, the 450 00:22:22,840 --> 00:22:26,360 Speaker 1: author of the Power of habit Um. He also went 451 00:22:26,600 --> 00:22:30,600 Speaker 1: talked about alcoholics anonymous A little bit don't sound very interesting. 452 00:22:30,720 --> 00:22:33,320 Speaker 1: He's just talking about that with a A. There's no 453 00:22:33,480 --> 00:22:37,399 Speaker 1: scientific basis behind it originally at all. Like apparently there 454 00:22:37,440 --> 00:22:40,000 Speaker 1: are twelve steps because there are twelve apostles, So it's 455 00:22:40,160 --> 00:22:43,000 Speaker 1: there's a lot of of of of A is wrapped 456 00:22:43,080 --> 00:22:45,560 Speaker 1: up in this kind of you know, appealing to a 457 00:22:45,600 --> 00:22:48,199 Speaker 1: higher power to help you. But what he says, what 458 00:22:48,280 --> 00:22:50,359 Speaker 1: he points out is that that A of course really works, 459 00:22:50,359 --> 00:22:53,080 Speaker 1: and it's it has a great tracklate record because it 460 00:22:53,240 --> 00:22:57,040 Speaker 1: is essentially a big machine for changing habits around alcohol consumption, 461 00:22:57,720 --> 00:23:00,280 Speaker 1: and it gives people a new routine. Uh, other than 462 00:23:00,320 --> 00:23:03,200 Speaker 1: going to a bar and then drink or what have you. Uh, 463 00:23:03,280 --> 00:23:05,280 Speaker 1: And it's something that doesn't work when people do it 464 00:23:05,320 --> 00:23:08,080 Speaker 1: on their own, so it's new routine accountability. UM. I 465 00:23:08,119 --> 00:23:11,320 Speaker 1: found that interesting, and that is really interesting. Some people, uh, 466 00:23:11,560 --> 00:23:14,679 Speaker 1: that twelve step program doesn't appeal to them or it 467 00:23:14,720 --> 00:23:17,200 Speaker 1: doesn't work for them either because they're not sure about 468 00:23:17,240 --> 00:23:20,800 Speaker 1: the philosophy behind it. But you're right, there are certain things, 469 00:23:21,040 --> 00:23:23,679 Speaker 1: uh that do work in that program, and there are 470 00:23:23,720 --> 00:23:26,040 Speaker 1: alternatives to a A but they use the same sort 471 00:23:26,040 --> 00:23:30,400 Speaker 1: of ideas of distraction really in creating new routines. Um. 472 00:23:30,400 --> 00:23:32,760 Speaker 1: And to that end, I do have a quick email. 473 00:23:33,520 --> 00:23:37,560 Speaker 1: Let's see if Arnie can bring that on over. And 474 00:23:37,640 --> 00:23:41,240 Speaker 1: this has to do with our three years of Word 475 00:23:41,359 --> 00:23:44,280 Speaker 1: Salad episode. This is from Brenda, says hid Lane Robert. 476 00:23:44,320 --> 00:23:46,159 Speaker 1: I just want to thank you for your confession, so 477 00:23:46,240 --> 00:23:49,160 Speaker 1: to speak, on how the podcast has changed your life 478 00:23:49,200 --> 00:23:51,560 Speaker 1: podcast about giving up alcohol. I didn't want to be 479 00:23:51,680 --> 00:23:55,280 Speaker 1: presumptuous and imply any labels that you yourself did not apply, 480 00:23:55,400 --> 00:23:57,359 Speaker 1: but what you said did resonate with me because my 481 00:23:57,440 --> 00:24:00,520 Speaker 1: uncle went through something perhaps similar. I think a lot 482 00:24:00,520 --> 00:24:03,160 Speaker 1: of people tend to view alcohol problems as almost kind 483 00:24:03,240 --> 00:24:05,840 Speaker 1: of binary. Either you're in terrible shape and have a 484 00:24:05,880 --> 00:24:09,280 Speaker 1: serious life ruining problem, or there's no problem at all 485 00:24:09,359 --> 00:24:12,280 Speaker 1: in reality, though it's much grayer now. She goes on 486 00:24:12,359 --> 00:24:15,600 Speaker 1: to describe how people around her uncle actually doubted his 487 00:24:15,720 --> 00:24:18,240 Speaker 1: need to quit drinking simply because he didn't fit a 488 00:24:18,320 --> 00:24:22,960 Speaker 1: stereotype of an alcoholic or exhibit wild behavior, and she 489 00:24:23,040 --> 00:24:24,719 Speaker 1: says She ends by saying, I don't know if I'm 490 00:24:24,760 --> 00:24:26,600 Speaker 1: reading too much into what you said. Maybe you didn't 491 00:24:26,600 --> 00:24:29,679 Speaker 1: actually have anything problematic going on. You just didn't like 492 00:24:29,720 --> 00:24:32,080 Speaker 1: the idea of what alcohol does as you learned more 493 00:24:32,119 --> 00:24:34,199 Speaker 1: about it. I have another friend who has never had 494 00:24:34,200 --> 00:24:36,760 Speaker 1: a drinking problem, but doesn't drink simply because he doesn't 495 00:24:36,800 --> 00:24:39,200 Speaker 1: like what it does to other people. But either way, 496 00:24:39,240 --> 00:24:41,280 Speaker 1: thank you for sharing your situation. I hope it might 497 00:24:41,320 --> 00:24:44,040 Speaker 1: help even one person to realize that one doesn't have 498 00:24:44,080 --> 00:24:46,280 Speaker 1: to hit rock bottom to make a change like that, 499 00:24:46,640 --> 00:24:49,720 Speaker 1: and that not drinking is just as valid a choice 500 00:24:49,760 --> 00:24:53,679 Speaker 1: as drinking is. So thinks Brenda, that was really, I 501 00:24:53,680 --> 00:24:56,159 Speaker 1: think a very helpful email, because you're right, I was 502 00:24:56,200 --> 00:24:58,960 Speaker 1: playing it safe in that episode and not labeling myself 503 00:24:59,000 --> 00:25:01,640 Speaker 1: because you know, not drinking is still something that I'm 504 00:25:01,720 --> 00:25:04,240 Speaker 1: turning around in my head and trying to figure out 505 00:25:04,240 --> 00:25:06,800 Speaker 1: for myself. But I think you make an excellent point 506 00:25:06,880 --> 00:25:08,960 Speaker 1: that a lot of people feel like it is a 507 00:25:09,000 --> 00:25:12,640 Speaker 1: black and white issue and it is not um and 508 00:25:13,160 --> 00:25:16,920 Speaker 1: just being able to explore that as a great idea 509 00:25:17,160 --> 00:25:18,800 Speaker 1: is one of the reasons I could get to the 510 00:25:18,840 --> 00:25:21,679 Speaker 1: point where I could stop drinking alcohol in the first place, 511 00:25:21,960 --> 00:25:24,240 Speaker 1: because for many years I had to find that as 512 00:25:24,280 --> 00:25:26,439 Speaker 1: a black and white issue, and it really hindered my 513 00:25:26,480 --> 00:25:28,960 Speaker 1: ability to to get where I need to be in 514 00:25:29,119 --> 00:25:31,679 Speaker 1: terms of breaking habits. All right, well, there you have it. 515 00:25:31,920 --> 00:25:34,840 Speaker 1: Hopefully this podcast will serve as uh, you know, kind 516 00:25:34,840 --> 00:25:37,800 Speaker 1: of a pep talk, a little dose of enthusiasm for 517 00:25:37,920 --> 00:25:42,040 Speaker 1: whatever you are deciding to change or or tweaked this year. 518 00:25:42,080 --> 00:25:46,359 Speaker 1: In so as you continue, as you go on this journey, 519 00:25:46,600 --> 00:25:48,920 Speaker 1: we would love to hear from you your thoughts on 520 00:25:49,400 --> 00:25:53,400 Speaker 1: the application of this information towards your particular issue, your 521 00:25:53,480 --> 00:25:55,720 Speaker 1: thoughts just on the information in general. You can find 522 00:25:55,760 --> 00:25:57,600 Speaker 1: us at all the normal places. Stuffable your Mind dot 523 00:25:57,640 --> 00:26:00,440 Speaker 1: com is the mothership. That's the main page. Go there. 524 00:26:00,480 --> 00:26:02,360 Speaker 1: You've never been there before, Go to it, go check 525 00:26:02,400 --> 00:26:04,159 Speaker 1: it out. All the podcast episodes are there, all the 526 00:26:04,200 --> 00:26:07,640 Speaker 1: blog posted there. We have videos, we have links out 527 00:26:07,640 --> 00:26:10,800 Speaker 1: to our various social media outlets and other web pages 528 00:26:10,840 --> 00:26:15,480 Speaker 1: we use, you know, stuff like Facebook, Twitter, Tumbler, Google Plus, SoundCloud, 529 00:26:15,800 --> 00:26:18,639 Speaker 1: you name it. Um. And if you want to try 530 00:26:18,680 --> 00:26:21,520 Speaker 1: a more old fashioned method of getting in touch with us, Julie, 531 00:26:21,560 --> 00:26:24,760 Speaker 1: what can they do? Can take out this keyboard thing, okay, okay, 532 00:26:25,040 --> 00:26:27,600 Speaker 1: and you find an email program and then in the 533 00:26:27,600 --> 00:26:31,280 Speaker 1: two field you simply put below the mind at discovery 534 00:26:31,359 --> 00:26:34,680 Speaker 1: dot com and let us know what you're thinking. And hey, 535 00:26:34,720 --> 00:26:37,439 Speaker 1: if you guys actually have any episode request, let us 536 00:26:37,480 --> 00:26:43,480 Speaker 1: know there too. For more on this and thousands of 537 00:26:43,480 --> 00:26:52,240 Speaker 1: other topics, visit how stuff Works dot com