Occasionally we need to allow ourselves to break a good habit without losing the good habit completely. Rubin has named this safeguard the planned exception. One advantage of this terminology is that it makes the distinction between an impulsive decision and a planned decision. As an adult we can mindfully make an exception to a usual…
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The goal of safeguards is to help avoid breaking good habits and provide a way to deal effectively with lapses.
Remembering that a lapse does not mean total failure is an important perspective to remember.
Stumbles are a natural part of habit formation and an effective strategy to protect a habit. Rubin sounds a lot like…
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In this chapter titled "A Stumble May Prevent a Fall," Rubin explores the paradox of habits. They are surprisingly tough and also surprisingly fragile.
The subtitle, "Safeguards," captures the essence of the strategies she offers - anticipate and minimize temptation. Rubin explains that there is "a downward pull toward bad habits that requires us to maintain an…
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"It's Hard to Make Things Easier - Convenience" is where I left off in blogging about the book Better Than Before by Gretchen Rubin. The theme of this book is all about creating habits (in case you've forgotten since it's been a number of weeks since I last wrote about this topic).
Rubin says that…
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A recent article in The Oregonian (it was originally from The Washington Post) was titled "The Buzz, Income and Sleep."
It cited a report from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention that called sleep deficiency a public health epidemic. That report concluded that "people who don't get enough sleep…
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How many hours did you sleep last night?
Sleep is a topic I discussed while I was blogging about Better Than Before and so today I'm sharing another reinforcement from Greg McKeown, author of Essentialism, The Disciplined Pursuit of Less.
In his blog yesterday, McKeown discussed myths about the differences between…
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