Excusing ourselves

I like wine. It’s Friday night. 

One wine? Why not?

Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday night.

One wine. Why not?

Hey, I only drink at night. 

Well I mostly drink at night and I never drink alone.

Well I sometimes drink alone, when there’s no-one home.

And there’s no-one home. I don’t share my house.

Who are you to judge me Willis? What you talkin’ ‘bout?

...

These are the lyrics of Clare Bowditch’s song, Modern Day Addiction, which so beautifully encapsulates the stream of rationalisations we make throughout our day.

After all, it’s only one wine/slice of pizza/tub of ice-cream/bar of chocolate/hour of scrolling…

My internal monologue goes something like “I worked out today, so that means I can…” 

👉 This is self-licensing, where we counterbalance virtue with vice.

Sadly, it means most rules we set ourselves are malleable. If you want to change that, bolster them with two techniques:

• Set up your environment to give yourself no option
• Enlist an accountability buddy who won’t let you off the hook

Do you wriggle out of commitments you’ve made to yourself?

What strategies have you used to see things through?

P.S. Try my free habits inventory to better understand where to focus your efforts.