Transformation Journey: Eliminating a Negative Practice, Embracing a Positive One: Eradicate an Unwanted Routine and Adopt an Improving Behavior
In the pursuit of personal growth, the Roman philosopher Seneca offers a timeless approach rooted in Stoic philosophy. His teachings emphasise deliberate practice, rational discipline, and focusing on what is within one's control. This article outlines Seneca's strategies for eliminating bad habits and leveling up good habits.
Seneca advocates for acting according to reason and duty rather than fleeting impulses or motivation. Consistency through discipline, rather than relying on motivation alone, is key to building habits. Instead of waiting for inspiration or emotion-driven motivation, commit to your habits as duties.
Define what you want your good habit to be and keep your attention on your own actions and choices, not external outcomes. Habits form when you take responsibility, a mindset of personal agency that Seneca endorses. Simplify your focus to just a few key habits or tasks rather than spreading yourself thin. Seneca encourages quality over quantity—meaning it's more effective to cultivate a small number of meaningful habits excellently than many superficially.
Regular reflection and journaling are also essential practices. While this is more explicitly emphasised in other Stoic writings, Seneca also recommends reflecting on one’s progress and setbacks regularly. This practice helps reinforce virtuous habits and avoid relapse into bad ones by holding yourself accountable internally.
Instead of merely trying to suppress a bad habit, substitute it with a positive behavior that aligns with your values. For example, if you tend to procrastinate, replace it with the habit of starting a small, manageable task immediately. Focus on virtue as a habit, cultivating these virtues consistently until they become second nature, rather than pursuing short-term gratification or ease.
Rather than adding a new habit, focus on sharpening, deepening, or making a current good habit a cornerstone of one's life. Resist the temptation to dabble in everything and instead direct energy towards fewer, higher-quality pursuits. Seneca warns against scattering focus too thin, comparing it to people at a banquet sampling everything but truly enjoying nothing.
Bad habits may include drinking too much, complaining, hitting snooze too many times, procrastinating, doomscrolling, eating junk food, checking phone first thing in the morning, or engaging in negative self-talk. Taking a good habit to the next level could involve a monetary investment, an investment of time, or an investment of effort.
Seneca himself worked on overcoming his flaws, aiming to eliminate old evils. The goal is to eliminate one bad habit and level up one good habit. Growth also involves reinforcing what moves us forward. The effort of leveling up a good habit compounds, potentially becoming a defining part of one's life. Cal Newport refers to this as "taking a big swing," a psychological commitment to a habit.
Seneca struggled with anger, indulged in food excessively, and let vanity cloud his judgment. However, he recognised the importance of taking action against bad habits today, not tomorrow or next week. The work of self-improvement is never done, but every day is an opportunity to take another step forward.
Seneca supports the strategy of treating habits as duties and focusing on what is within one's control to build and improve them, which aligns with the pursuit of personal growth and self-development for the goal of personal growth. By substituting bad habits with positive behaviors and commitment to excellence over quantity, one can cultivate virtues and facilitate personal growth, fostering permanent change and contributing to personal development.
