Like most people, I’ve had some major vices in my life.

They are pretty common ones. Video games. Weed (aka Cannabis). Alcohol.

For the longest time I thought to myself, I’ll change this… tomorrow.

Tomorrow would turn into next week. 

Next week would turn into the next month, which would turn into next year.

This dragged on and before I knew it I had spent a decade overindulging in vices.

I wasn’t going off the deep end or anything, but I knew there were imbalances in my life.

And it was making me deeply unhappy. Which further caused me to use vices as an escape mechanism.

Only recently have I been able to change and it wasn’t through sheer force of will.

It was because I started this blog.

What Causes a Vice

I believe vices are caused by two things:

1. A desire for small dopamine hits
2. A desire to escape current reality

Shopping and social media provide dopamine, alcohol and drugs allow you to escape reality. Video games give you both.

Vices for many are a safe place that can help you forget your day-to-day worries.

Worries such as anxiety you feel about the future. Stress you take home from work.

Whatever might be bothering you that day.

This issue with vices though, is that they often create negative feedback cycles.

You avoid what might be bothering you, or you chase another small dopamine hit. None of these actions fix the long-term, underlying issue though.

It just pushes issues out of your mind temporarily. Whenever I fell into this cycle, I would always think to myself “I’ll give this up”.

That never worked though, and I only realized now why it was the wrong approach.

Why Giving Up Alone Won’t Work

It’s impossible to give up a vice through sheer willpower. That is because your willpower is limited.

For so long, I tried to get rid of my bad habits using the classic approach of sheer willpower.

I would make it a New Years Resolution to give something up.

I’d try and create social pacts with friends to quit.

None of it worked. That’s because there is only a finite amount of willpower.

Once it’s depleted and you’re having a bad day, the first thing you will go to is your vice

That is why instead of relying on willpower, you need to instead replace the vice with something else.

Find something to do instead on both your good days and your bad.

How To Identify A Replacement

Don’t follow your passion. Trying to follow a “passion” is like trying to get rich by buying lottery tickets. 

Instead, set goals to accomplish, ideally ones that you can only do by putting in the work every single day.

My two current goals?

1. Write 52-articles in one year on this blog.
2. Learn to code. The best approach is to code every single day. Ideally for at least one hour.

Here are the reasons why this works:

1. This requires a daily commitment of time. Your hours in the day are limited, so you will have to give up something. If you have other responsibilities (like a job), that means that usually the first thing to go will be your vice.

2. You will know at the end of each day if you are putting in the effort required to reach your goal. It creates an immediate feedback loop.

3. It relies on an inherent motivation to get better. If you are trying to give up a vice you already have this motivation, focusing on a replacement activity just channels your time in a more effective way.

Hope this was helpful. It took me way too many years to figure out, but I’m glad I finally did.