You need to deploy a lot of strength to get rid of bad habits.

If you check your phone every five minutes, that’s a feeling of continuos anticipation of what you might learn.

If you read work emails in the evenings, that’s a feeling of commitment and importance and busyness.

If you eat a sweet snack four or five times a day, that’s a feeling of satisfaction and fullness.

Of course, tha aftermath of a bad habit is never as good as the moment that leads to it. But we are creatures of inputs, not creatures of outputs. We care about what comes before – the thoughts, the wondering, the emotions.

That’s why you need strength to get rid of a bad habit. Start with the phone, the emails, the snack, whatever you know will lead you there.

Half measures do not work in this case.