When you are like me, you want to have good habits, you’ve tried to develop them, and failed many, many times. And then... you come across this book “Hack Your Habits” by Joanne Jast. It’s a blast!
Jast has a scientific background, and knows how to convince a simple habit failer like me that I do not need to fail. She describes how she struggled with habits herself, and how she learned what worked for her. Joanna Jast does not talk fairy tales!
My greatest “habit problems” for a long time have been around physical exercise, and procrastination. While I kept reading, I saw how I can overcome these problems. Putting this to practice has already benefited my health and productivity.
As you and I know, our motivation in itself never was “strong” enough to change our habits over time. There is no problem when our motives are less “lofty”, like being motivated by money or fame. It’s so important to stay straight and honest with yourself.
The author got me to get my motivation for a certain habit change clear, but she certainly does not stop there. She made crystal clear to me why I fail at exerting self-control in the first place. Plus she shows me how to circumvent every pitfall that till now has prevented me from effectively hacking my habits.
A lot of attention is given to the concept of willpower. Jast is ready to assume the worst - that willpower is limited - and from there looks at the best ways of dealing with this fact. One of her suggestions I found “dangerous” to hacking my habits. That is, when my willpower is “used up”, she suggests me to relax with my favorite, guilt-free pass-time. Well, those being sitting in the sun, reading on the internet, chatting on social media and so on... stopping with that type of relaxing activities takes... willpower, at least for me. So, this is a dangerous strategy, and not one I’d recommend.
She suggests us to use our weaknesses as our strengths - for instance the weakness of craving for a break. She lays out a powerful technique, that I now use to my advance.
The book contains lots of common sense, so much that I sometimes realized: I knew that, but couldn’t make it work for me. Now with her explanation and very clear style of writing, she got me working with “the obvious”. With her book, Jast has really got me hacking my habits for the better. That’s why I must give this book 5 stars.