Do a daily 2-minute snack aversion Pavlok session

HABIT #10

Starting Saturday, 24 December 2022 | Day 4

Details & Clarification

Pavlok is a device that let’s you shock yourself to break bad habits. One of it’s features is to do an aversion session, where you intentionally do your bad habit (after the urge for it arises), and shock yourself every 30 seconds 10 seconds. I might graduate this habit before the end of the challenge, if I no longer feel the desire to snack.

Starting point & Lessons from the past

I’ve bought a Pavlok a couple of years back, but when I wanted to use it recently, I noticed the batteries had gotten quite bad and I really disliked the plastic bulky design, preventing me from wearing it consistently. Today, I got the new Pavlok, which has a much nicer metal design and better battery life, so it will be more pleasant (in as much as shocking yourself can be pleasant) to wear and use.

Why this habit is important to me:

There is quite a bit of research that shows aversion therapy is effective when it comes to breaking habits. I like to test this for myself and see if I can use this strategy to effectively break bad habits.
I like that it gives me the ability to master my desires, rather than be a slave to them. It’s not just that I want to learn to resist a certain snack, I want to eliminate the desire for the snack in the first place. I don’t necessarily want to limit my desire for all snacks completely, but there are quite some sugary snacks that I would be better off without.
It will help me be more healthy, as eating too much sugar messes with my body temperature (due to some auto-immune issues) and overall energy.

Identities I want to build with this habit:

Self-disciplined

Trigger:

I will do this after I get the urge to snack, most likely after lunch or after dinner. I have added a daily recurring task in Akiflow to keep it top of mind.

Tracking:

I will track this habit in my Akiflow app.

Habit boosters (things that will help me follow through):

Public accountability: Having it part of this public challenge will boost my motivation to follow through.
Resource investment: Spending resources on a habit or the elimination of a habit can help you become more invested, and more likely to follow through. Since I just got my new Pavlok, I will feel inclined to not let it go to waste.

Obstacle battleplans (how I’ll deal with potential obstacles):

Feeling resistence: I know that when I feel the urge to snack, I’m usually not in my most self-disciplined, and energized mood, and since shocking yourself isn’t particularly fun, I will have to deal with some resistance. I will keep in mind that what I actually want is not to have the snack, but to not want to have the snack. I will also keep in mind that if I eat the snack while doing my aversion therapy, I don’t have to regret eating the snack and feel guilty afterwards.
Forgetting: Since this habit works best with a trigger that requires me to be mindful of my snacking urge/ action, it is easier to forget. I have created an Akiflow task as a backup reminder, so if necessary I can do the habit at the end of the day, even if I don’t feel a snacking urge right at that moment.

Habit update Thursday 29th of December 2022

I’ve decided to do a 2-minute aversion session with a 10 second zap interval, instead of a 3-minute session with a 30 second zap interval. Since I’m only eating a small snack, it’s hard to stretch it over a 3 minute period.

Do a daily 2-minute snack aversion Pavlok session

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