The Smallest, Stumbling Block

The other day I was working with a client who talked about the difficulties in breaking bad habits. Simple bad habits like lazing in bed, having a soda with every meal, snacking mindlessly ... And we decided to create the Smallest Stumbling Block to break up their bad habits. We decided to do something that required almost zero effort, but made it just that little bit harder to do that bad habit. ​

Like charging your phone away from your bed so that you're forced to get out. Leaving your soda out before mealtime because nobody likes warm soda. Chewing gum or filling up on beverages so that you have a full belly and don't feel like snacking. 

None of these solutions break the bad habit completely, but they do show that even minor inconveniences can make us behave differently. The smallest stumbling block can help us realize that we can change ourselves and change our environments to get rid of our bad habits.

Create enough small, stumbling blocks and your bad habits will have a hard time catching up with you.