A shocking technique powerful enough to quit smoking in 5 days with a success rate up to 61.4%

#100HABITSIN100DAYS | DAY 4

Saturday, 24 December 2022

Is there a bad habit that you just can’t seem to shake?

Maybe you feel like you’ve tried everything, and nothing seems to work.

I know I have … I’ve never smoked (or not more than a few cigarettes in a lifetime), but I can’t seem to shake my snacking habit.

At least not for longer than a week.

What can I say, I’m a sucker for all of them, and I only have to read about them, or see them, or know they are in the house, and all I want to do is eat them.

Even though I know I only enjoy them for a minute, and then feel bad about it.

That’s why I thought it was time to try a bit more radical approach.

Taking advantage of a black friday deal, I bought a Pavlok.

This is kind of an extreme behavior wearable, that let’s you shock yourself each time you (feel the urge to) do a bad habit.

It can be anything from smoking, to visiting distracting websites, to snacking.

Some of these can even be automated so all you have to do is wear the device, and within a few days or weeks you’ll feel the urge disappear.

Pavlok uses the Aversion therapy to help you tackle those bad habits, by creating a negative association with your bad habit.

A treatment program that included five days of aversive conditioning (combined with group support session) helped up to 61.4% of smokers quit their habit.

The participants that went back to a non-smoking environment were more successful than those that went back to a smoking environment, but still I find it pretty astonishing that such a powerful technique is talked about so little.

But maybe it’s only for the crazy ones.

I consider myself pretty crazy, so I’m gonna give it a try during this challenge, starting with a daily 3-minute snack aversion session.

Here are my new habit recipes for today:

Habit 9: Weigh myself every day
Habit 10: Do a daily 3-minute snack aversion Pavlok session

A way to eliminate the desire for your bad habit

Instead of battling your bad habit straight away. Battle the urge first.

You can do this using a Pavlok (or an elastic that you wear around your wrist and ‘pinch’ yourself with), but there are other ways as well.

Before doing your bad habit, think of the negative consequences of doing your habit, and the positive consequences of not doing your bad habit.

You can also use visualization to make it even more powerful.

But here’s where it gets really powerful. Don’t just focus on the long-term consequences, focus on the short term.

Think about how you’ll feel 1 minute or 5 minutes after indulging in your habit. And how you’ll feel if you’re able to resist your habit.

And finally, ask yourself, “Do I want to do this habit?” or “Do I want to eliminate the desire for doing this habit?”.

Realizing that every time you resist doing your habit will help you eliminate the desire for it, and make it easier to resist it in the future, can help you tackle those tricky urges.

And if that’s still not enough, start indulging in your habit, but be very aware of how it makes you feel. Is it as fulfilling as you expected. Does it truly brings you happiness?

Most likely not.

And as you become more and more mindful of the actual effects of your bad habits, it will become easier and easier to resist it.

Would love to here your thoughts on this challenge, I’m just one email away at info@mightyhabits.co.

And if you have any questions, please let me know or ask them on the live Thursday at 17.30 CET in the Mighty Habits Facebook group.

Update 4/100 complete 💪. Thanks for reading!