Atomic Habits 14

The chapter starts with an interesting tale about one of my favourite authors- Victor Hugo (VH). The publisher of VH, being tired of his procrastination on his upcoming instalment, issued him an ultimatum of 6 months. To beat the odds, VH asked his assistant to collect all his clothes and lock these away except for a shawl. In those days, a gentleman had to be immaculate. That’s a French thing. Haha! Being deprived of suitable clothing, VH remained in his study and wrote passionately, culminating in the publishing of The Hunchback of Notre Dame shortly after.

If you find yourself continually struggling to follow through on your plans, then take a page from VH and make your bad habits more difficult by creating what psychologists call a Commitment Device.

That example was epic! N’est-ce-pas? (Had to drop a little French.)

Commitment Device

A Commitment Device is a choice you make in the present that controls your actions in the future. Commitment devices are useful because they enable you to take advantage of good intentions before you can fall victim to temptation.

An example given is a friend of the author who installed an outlet timer plugged in between his internet router and the power outlet. At 10 pm each night, the outlet timer cuts off the power to the router. When the internet goes off, time to zzzzzzz. I can see a few faces reading this post who require this outlet timer. Ummm umm.

Extract: I often find myself gravitating toward social media during any downtime. If I feel bored for just a fraction of a second, I reach for my phone. It’s easy to write off these minor distractions as “just taking a break,” but over time they can accumulate into a serious issue. The constant tug of “just one more minute” can prevent me from doing anything of consequence.. average person spends over two hours per day on social media. What could you do with an extra six hundred hours per year?

Jai Shri Hari!

PS: If you haven’t read Les Misérables by Victor Hugo, do it! It’s laboriously boring with the history lessons, so I would recommend an abridged version. The main character of this epic novel, Jean Valjean is a force to reckon with. A convict, because he stole bread! The story will break you, join you, shatter you again and make you realize that love (selfless) is the most powerful of emotions. It’s called a classic for a reason. Yes, I read all the 1500+ pages when I was 18. It was a powerful coming of age for me.