All habits have four elements:

• Cue =          the trigger that prompts you to perform the habit.
• Desire =          the feeling that you need to act.
• Action =          the action you take to satisfy the desire.
• Reward =          the result of the action which reinforces the habit.

Using the example of procrastinating with social media, that bad habit can operate like this:

• Cue =          feeling the mental strain of attempting a difficult task.
• Desire =          wanting relief from that mental strain.
• Action =          picking up a smartphone and viewing social media.        
• Reward =          release from mental strain.

In this way, bad habits become a self-reinforcing system that can be difficult to break.

To eliminate bad habits, identify the cue, desire, action and reward that make up the habit. Then attack each element of the bad habit by taking the following steps:

Make the cue invisible.

• Remove the cue from your environment or take steps to prevent the cue from occurring, for example:
  • Put your phone on silent and away in a desk drawer so that it doesn’t attract your attention while working.
  • Close your email software while you work on a complex task so you aren’t distracted by emails that arrive while you are working.
  • Eat enough healthy food so you aren’t distracted by the desire to snack.
  • Get enough sleep so that tiredness doesn’t distract you during work hours.
  • Put gaming consoles out of sight in a cupboard.
  • Break the task down into small steps to reduce mental strain.
  • Take regular breaks so that you don’t reach the point of fatigue.

Weaken the desire.

• Find the aspects of the habit that make it desirable.
  • Find any pleasure that arises and identify precisely what the habit does to create that pleasure.
  • Find any discomfort it relieves and identify precisely how the habit relieves that discomfort.
  • For example: playing a mobile game might provide the following benefits:
    • Relief from a difficult task.
    • Relief from unpleasant thoughts.
    •  Novelty.
    • A sense of achievement.
    •  Rest.
    •  Fun.
    • If the game is addicting, playing can provide relief from the compulsion to play.
  • Reframe the desire:
    • Write down all the downsides of the habit.
    • Write down all the benefits of avoiding the habit.
    • Slur the habit:
      • Associate the habit in your mind with horrible or disgusting things, for example:
        • Imagine that there is a snail in your can of soda.
        • Imagine that playing a computer game causes part of your brain to bleed and rot.
      • Focus on the benefits of avoiding the habit. Write all the benefits down.

Replace the Action

• Replace the unhelpful action with another more helpful action.
• The trick is to ensure the action satisfies the underlying core desires for the habit, but in a helpful way, for example:
  • Chat with a colleague or friend to relieve boredom during your breaks rather than spend time on social media.
  • Rather than going on to an addicting website or watching TV for a rest, sit down and read a book you are interested in.
  • Rather than sit down to watch a movie for entertainment, go for a walk while listening to music or a podcast.
• If you can replace an unhelpful action with a positive one in a way that satisfies the desire and links to the cue, you can hack your bad habit and turn it into a good habit.

Make the action difficult

• Increase the number of steps between the cue and the action, for example:
  • If the action requires an object, make it difficult to get to. Put it in a high cupboard or in the garage, attic or basement.
  • Log out of websites and apps and don’t automate your password. This creates an extra step that requires conscious thought before you begin procrastinating.
  • Delete apps that you are addicted to. You can always download them again later if you need to.
• Make the action impossible, for example:
  • Give away your TV.
  • Use app and website blockers.
  • Sell your computer game console and games.

Make the habit less satisfying

• Sabotage the habit by undermining the reward:
  • For websites or apps that allow you to subscribe to different channels or feeds, unsubscribe from all the features you like and subscribe to ones you are not interested in.
  • Cancel your subscriptions to streaming or pay-TV services.
• Reward yourself for abstaining:
  • Reward yourself each day you don’t do the bad habit, for example: deposit a small amount of money into your bank account each day you avoid the habit. Then use that money you save to treat yourself to something you love.
• Use accountability:
  • Tell others about your plan to overcome the bad habit so that relapse has social consequences.
  • Ask someone to hold you accountable and set up rewards or punishments that they administer.
• Find another more helpful method to get the reward:
  • If tiredness drives your procrastination, find ways to get better sleep and take restful breaks throughout the day.
  • If boredom drives your procrastination, take steps to make the task more fun.