Quitting’s not hard. Deciding to quit is hard. Once you make that easy mental leap, the rest is easy. — Gayle Forman
Let’s state the fact that everyone has some toxic habit of quitting to lead a more productive and healthy life.
It’s ironic to learn while growing up that ‘never give up’ is the only way to lead a successful life.
Never giving up is terrible advice.
- Winning doesn’t mean following blindly; you don’t have to read the whole book if it’s boring or the author has already said the main point in the first 30 pages.
- “Never give up” is terrible advice; even the real winners must give up and walk away to start something new.
- It’s the society that attaches a stigma to giving up, especially when we were kids.
Note: I am not saying to give up without giving your 110%.
Quitting is leading, too. — Nelson Mandela
I grew up in a small, remote village without power most of the time; I vividly remember studying under candlelight or kerosene lamps back in the ’90s. Here is a picture of a similar lamp.
I remember sitting next to a kerosene lamp with a textbook in my hands while mom was sitting on a charpoy (bed) with a long stick to keep an eye on us, repeatedly saying, you are almost done with your homework. You have already finished ten pages of the book; don’t quit now.
As I said earlier, that one thing, ‘don’t quit,’ has been ingrained in your systems since we were kids.
In this article, I am going to share the importance, especially that one thing you have to quit right now or follow these 30-day challenges to learn how to build a sustainable and also how to quit a bad habit. You will not build a habit in merely 30 days, but you will get a taste of the habit if it’s something you can do in the long run.
It started with the following famous tweet by Avril.
Before reading this tweet, I used to spend 4+ hours on my phone screen scrolling Instagram, TikTok, Reddit, and YT videos. I was doing everything that the tweet said except one thing: my phone screen time.
Try to check your phone screen time; the screen will also show you which App you spent the most time on.
You will be shocked to see how much time you spend on useless apps. Now, let’s move to the big question.
How to reduce your cell phone screen time
I was wasting my time almost 70–80% on Instagram and YouTube. Now, I call it mindless scrolling.
Track your screen time pattern right after dinner or when you feel relaxed or have done the work.
The smartphones even provide you with a weekly summary of your screen time with every app usage metric in detail.
I did not develop significant progress until I put the cell phone in a box or in a different room out of my eyes. Later, I will share 1o effective strategies to reduce screen time. Let’s see what the research says.
Research → 2617
Research shows that an average human touches their smartphones at least 2617 times.
Let’s say you used the phone for only 5 seconds each time. That equals 3.6+ hours.
We need to do the math to realize how much time we waste by just touching the phone.
I would recommend shaving off the time one step at a time.
If you chronically spend time on Instagram, TikTok, or any game, it will be really hard to break the bad habit and build a new good one.
I recently wrote a detailed article on developing sustainable habits after reading the book Atomic Habits by James Clear.
Key Takeaways
It will not be easy to break a bad habit and then build a new one.
I shared a glimpse of how I quit this bad habit. Let me recall the strategies that worked for me and others in my social circle.
- Many smartphones come with a built-in screen time limit feature; you only have to set a daily limit.
- I designated a couple of areas in my home where phones are prohibited. For example, I do not take my phone in the bedroom and office. The bedroom is for quality of sleep to recharge my brain, and the office is to bring food to the table.
- I make sure to spend a maximum of 90 minutes on my phone. I live by this rule; it’s my rule for my life. Sometimes, you must be hard on yourself to live a successful life.
- I found other ways. Instead of scrolling time on the phone or watching TV, I placed books almost everywhere in the home. I only use purposeful content (books).
- Practice meditation to calm your brain.
- A big one is to make sure your notifications are off.
- Friends and family know that I am not reachable from 8 AM to 12 PM, which is my creator mode. I use that time to do deep work: writing, planning, creating, and hustling.
- In the end, if nothing is working out, it’s okay to get professional help. Reach out to a mental health professional and share all the strategies you tried and why nothing is working out.
Thank you for reading. I wish you a happy and healthy life.
As a new reader, please check my holistic health, productivity, and well-being stories reflecting my reviews, observations, and 30+ days of experiments (29 completed so far) to build a sustainable healthy lifestyle.
