DEV Community

Discussion on: Building Habits: The One Technique That Worked For Me

Collapse
 
codemouse92 profile image
Jason C. McDonald

One of the persistent "glitches" leftover from my traumatic brain injury (2008) is the near total inability to form new habits, good or bad. It's been amazingly frustrating, as you can imagine.

Making it more frustrating, visual reminders seldom work for me. They "wallpaper", as I explain it: my perception filters out something I see more than once or twice, like wallpaper. I've had urgent reminders on my desk or bulletin board, right in front of my face, sit there for well over a year.

However, what you describe may in fact be a way around that no-new-habits glitch. I've been wondering why the only way to form habits since the head injury has been to associate a different location with a different task: I think I may have been habit-stacking based on entering a new space! I can't change spaces very often in my current living situation, but habit stacking may be a good way of replicating that.

I'll try and remember to tell you how it goes. :)

Collapse
 
murrayvarey profile image
MurrayVarey

That's an interesting point. It makes sense that the different ways to link habits (visual, theme, new space, etc.) are more effective for different people.

Good luck, Jason! Keep me posted.