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<\/p>\nMany people fail to change their habits because they focus limitations, not the opportunities that arise from those limitations. Restrictions can actually create more variety in your life.<\/p>\n
The reason restrictions often add new variety is in the paradox of choice. The paradox is that, given more choices, people often make worse decisions. Cognition is a limited resource, so faced with infinite choices, people fall into the same old habits.<\/p>\n
Keep track of the amount of different meals you eat in a month. You\u2019ll probably be surprised to find that, even with a near infinite array of choices, you stick to the same dozen meals. Before you start any new diet, remember that you\u2019re already restricting yourself from 99% of the meals on the planet because of a lack of imagination.<\/p>\n
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I\u2019m a vegetarian. I have been for over three years. The first comment I usually hear when I inform people of this is that, \u201cI enjoy eating meat too much, I could never give it up.\u201d<\/p>\n
About half of the foods I cook today, I had never tried before becoming a vegetarian. In all probability, I wouldn\u2019t have tried them if it weren\u2019t for that decision. Becoming a vegetarian didn\u2019t limit the variety in my foods, it simply shifted my diet to a different set of meals.<\/p>\n
My point isn\u2019t that everyone should become a vegetarian. Rather, don\u2019t focus only on the limitations of a new eating pattern. Instead, use those restrictions as an opportunity to add more variety.<\/p>\n
I first discovered Toastmasters when I was on a self-imposed restriction to avoid television. By avoiding one use of time, my opportunities expanded to allow me to enjoy completely new hobbies.<\/p>\n
I had a similar experience when restricting my computer usage. Suddenly I was reading more books because I broke my old habits.<\/p>\n
Restrictions aren\u2019t a limitation of your choices, but a shift in those choices. Now, instead of examining one set of activities or behaviors, you have a completely new set. Creative leaps come from constraints.<\/p>\n
When I discuss giving up meat, waking up early or eliminating television some people get wide-eyed with fear and disgust. It\u2019s as if I told them I spend several hours a day with a flail mutilating myself out of piety.<\/p>\n
What\u2019s harder to explain is that most of my efforts towards restriction are for the exact opposite goal. Utilizing restrictions to get myself to do more interesting things. Giving up internet usage isn\u2019t to limit my life, but the opposite, to enjoy it more. By restricting one set of choices, I can get out of my default behaviors and make more interesting choices.<\/p>\n
There is this myth that people are perfectly rational, and that they will always pick the utility maximizing choice, when they have the option. That\u2019s garbage. People are irrational, and that includes me. Given the choice, people do what they did yesterday, not what\u2019s best.<\/p>\n
Adding new limitations to your routine does take some effort to adjust to. People are habitual creatures, so it takes more brainpower to divert your resources. Like changing the direction of a river, it can take some effort to break out of your current path.<\/p>\n