Many self-help books discuss establishing good habits or re-designing your environment to help you avoid engaging in bad habits. What if you could completely take away the option of even engaging in the bad habit in the first place?
For instance, if there is a time of day that you normally decompress and have a drink, replace that time of day with a workout or at-home yoga video. You can’t drink and engage in a strenuous workout at the same time (or at the very least this is not advised). Even if you still have that drink when you are finished, you have eliminated some time in which the choice for a second drink could happen and you have done something more positive.
The point is to sign up, get a friend to show up, or commit to engaging in some activity during the time in which your bad habit would occur. If you sit on the couch every day mindlessly scrolling then have a friend show up at 9 am for a walk. Or ask your neighbor if you can take their pets out for a walk and make it habitual. If you have an obligation that you can’t put off or have pre-filled your day with activities that are not conducive you you engaging with your vice then you automatically win.
“Never trust the dopamine”. Yes, it will be hard for you to break these bad habits as often they trigger your brain to be flooded with potent neurochemicals, seeking those stimuli until you satisfy that craving. The hardest things to deal with are over-eating, wasting your precious time on social media, drinking in excess, smoking, etc. It is ok to take two steps forward and introduce new positive activities and one step back by engaging in your bad habit. Over time your identity follows the action and you will see yourself differently as you continue to engage in these more soul-fulfilling activities. Over time you will begin to crave them over the bad ones. When you crave the exact thing that is good for you and staying true to your virtues brings you happiness, this is a life well lived.