One of the greatest helps I found early on in my Alcohol Free days was this simple yet profound method of choosing an action to replace my drinking habit.
I thought it might be helpful to anyone who would like to make their own list ... right here where we all spend so much time ...
you will have a record of the date you wrote it, the action you want to change, the pay off that action has for you, the trade off for that action and choose a substitute ACTION (finding an alternative action).
One of the reasons it is so hard to STAY off alcohol, (or excess alcohol for those modding) is that we need to substitute better behaviors that still GIVE US SOME PAYOFF!!!!
Here is how it works:
The Action
Drinking
The Payoff
Numbing Fear
The Trade-off
Drunken Danger
No personality Control
Added Calories / Poor Health
The Substitute
Running / Working Out
The Substitute Payoff
I can still numb fear while doing this
The Substitute Trade-off
No down side except the demand on my time!!
Try this! Give it a great deal of thought because you can come right back here and look at the new action you have chosen! Your old habit is no longer an automatic response ... you are now making a CHOICE. Every time you are going to CHOOSE what you value more ... The payoff or the Trade-off !!!
PS - you can do this with ANY habit. The reason you consider something a BAD HABIT is because it leaves you feeling bad about yourself.
I thought it might be helpful to anyone who would like to make their own list ... right here where we all spend so much time ...
you will have a record of the date you wrote it, the action you want to change, the pay off that action has for you, the trade off for that action and choose a substitute ACTION (finding an alternative action).
One of the reasons it is so hard to STAY off alcohol, (or excess alcohol for those modding) is that we need to substitute better behaviors that still GIVE US SOME PAYOFF!!!!
Here is how it works:
The Action
Drinking
The Payoff
Numbing Fear
The Trade-off
Drunken Danger
No personality Control
Added Calories / Poor Health
The Substitute
Running / Working Out
The Substitute Payoff
I can still numb fear while doing this
The Substitute Trade-off
No down side except the demand on my time!!
Try this! Give it a great deal of thought because you can come right back here and look at the new action you have chosen! Your old habit is no longer an automatic response ... you are now making a CHOICE. Every time you are going to CHOOSE what you value more ... The payoff or the Trade-off !!!
PS - you can do this with ANY habit. The reason you consider something a BAD HABIT is because it leaves you feeling bad about yourself.
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