Q: I don’t know what to give up. Any suggestions?
A: Why, as a matter of fact, we do have a few! Thanks for asking!
Some suggestions for habits you might want to change…
Drugs -- Maybe you are using some illegal drugs that you know aren’t good for you. Or maybe you are using some prescription drugs that you know you don’t need. Either way, give them up for four weeks and watch how your life changes. You might be surprised. (If you take this on, please consult a doctor first!)
Complacency – if you give up complacency, you must specify what you mean. IE: Once an hour, I will get up from my desk and walk all around the perimeter of the office. Or, I will do three Sun Salutations (yoga) a day. Or, I will walk or bike to work instead of driving. Be specific!
Lying – this is a big one. If you catch yourself lying, even a small lie, you must correct the lie with the person you lied to or lose your points for the day!
Negative Self-Talk – most of us speak unkindly to ourselves several times throughout the day. Each time you catch it, you must take the time to rethink – ie: I’m not a fat bastard. I’m a good guy and I’m working hard to change what isn’t working. If you don’t stop and rethink, you lose your points for the day.
Cursing – Maybe you have a kid now? And she’s started picking up on your potty mouth? And you don’t want her to grow up going, “Pass the fucking block this way, Jakie!” Consider this: Each time a curse word comes out of your mouth, you will put 5 dollars in a jar and at the end of the game, you’ll donate the contents to Habitat for Humanity or the charity of your choice (and the charity can’t be you.) By the end of the game, you’ll have broken the cursing habit or gone broke for a good cause!
Coffee – If you are drinking like 8 cups a day, don’t quit cold turkey. Set a plan that goes something like, three cups a day for week one, two cups for week two, one cup for week three, week four…. Oy. If you can give it up entirely and stay sane and functional, you have my utmost respect. Be warned: You may suffer headaches as you begin to withdraw – try to get a little extra sleep and drink some extra water to help with the withdrawl symptoms.
Texting While Driving – this is a fatal practice. FATAL. You wouldn’t drink and drive. And if you are in the habit of texting and driving, please take this on and quit cold turkey!
Watching TV (except Grey’s Anatomy. Don’t give up Grey’s Anatomy.) Turn it off. Or commit to only one hour a night. You’ll be amazed at how much time you suddenly have!
Mindlessly Surfing the Internet – Same as TV. This is where all your time is going! Give yourself a half hour to play online and that’s it.
Video Games – Same as TV and the Internet. These are a HUGE time suck.
Internet Porn – Turn it off. You’ll be amazed at how much more respect you suddenly have for women. And farm animals.
Gossip – Make the commitment that you won’t say anything behind anyone’s back that you wouldn’t say to their face. If you slip, you have to stop the minute you catch yourself and say three kind things about the person and make an earnest wish or say a prayer for their success and happiness. This can be time consuming – and eventually, you’ll break the unconscious habit. As an added bonus, you’ll worry less that people are trash talking you!
Watching the News – Turning off the news for a month has TREMENDOUS benefits for your health and well being! Televised news is as nagative as they can make it. It’s designed to scare you and studies show it prompts serious anxiety. Quit it like a bad drug. Read the news instead. Better yet, only read it one day a week. Because the human psyche was not designed to take in all the bad news of the world every day of the week. Stay informed. Just with less frequency. You’ll be amazed at how much better you feel.
Ordering In – If you are in the habit of ordering in even one meal a day, you would be amazed the effect that giving it up has on the planet. The Southern US remains the worlds largest paper producing region and every year millions of acres of the south's forest are clear cut to feed the pulp and paper industry. So give up one meal and you're helping to save the southern forests right here in the US. Or consider this juggernaut of a statistic: If we all used one less napkin a day, more than a billion pounds of napkins could be saved from landfills each year. Take this on. You’ll be doing us all a favor!
Buying Bottled Water -- if you are buying bottled water every day, giving it up for four weeks will save the planet energy, oil and landfill space. Get a refillable bottle and a filter for your tap water. It’s not expensive when you consider what you’re spending on bottled water. After a week or two, you’ll actually be saving a lot of money!
Q: Great! Now you got any ideas on what new habit I should take on??
A: You know us so well. We LOVE to give advice. Try one of these:
Take up Cooking (at least one meal a day)
Organize Your House, Clear Clutter
Study a Foreign Language
Learn/Practice a Musical Instrument
Rediscover Reading for Pleasure
Take up Journaling
Take up Yoga
Take up Meditation
Floss Daily
Call Three People You Like Each Day
Be of Service to Others (Do Charitable Work)
When you buy the book, The Game On! Diet, you’ll find a whole chapter full of friendly, easy to follow instructions on how to do any and all of the above!
Q: What if I chose my new habit poorly? Can I change my choice?
A: “Chose poorly” generally means that you chose hard and are struggling and feel you are losing too many points for your team. So before you change, consider why you chose the habit you did. Chances are it’s because it’s a thing you really do need to work on in your life. Can you work a little harder on it? Can you stick with it for one more week? Can you recommit?? Consider trying harder before you change – because you lose 50 points every time you change a declared habit. We impose this rule for a reason. According to researchers, it takes 28 days to successfully change a habit for life. If you change yours after a week or two, you aren’t getting the full benefit of the challenge.
Q: Okay, yeah, but have you ever changed a habit mid-game?
A: Yes. I tried to give up coffee once. I wanted to kill myself. I couldn’t do my job or write this book or function. Which tells me that I am truly addicted to the stuff and really should consider actually quitting it some time. Maybe slowly cut back until I’m off it completely. But I didn’t declare that I was cutting back. I took it on cold turkey, and I failed failed failed. But I learned a lot from the attempt so, all was not lost. 50 points were lost though. 50 POINTS. IT SUUUUUUUCKS to lose 50 points. So…again…choose carefully.
Q: Does it have to be a "bad" habit, or can it just be something that I want to change in my life?
A: It can just be something you want to change. And feel free to be creative. One Game, I wanted to floss my teeth as my new habit but I also wanted to make sure I stretched for twenty minutes each day. So my new habit choice was flossing, and the thing I decided to let go of was “Complacency.” Worked nicely.
Q: If I can't think of any habits that I want to change, can I help my husband change his bad habits?
A: Heh. Hee hee. I like your thinking. But no. What you could do is take a look at your own control issues. You could try giving up expressing any opinions about anyone else’s life for 4 weeks. See how that goes. I bet it’s tough for you (I know it would be for me).
Q: If I have a big project that I have been avoiding, like cleaning my garage, will it count if I do a little bit each day?
A: Yes! But you should set a definite and measurable task and goal. As in, “I will organize my garage for 20 minutes minimum each day. By the end of 4 weeks the garage must be completely organized.”
Q: As my healthy habit, can I take on more exercise?
A: You can, but I would encourage you to consider other things. Studies suggest that one of the keys to lasting weightloss is an open mind and a willingness to make changes that seem unrelated to fitness. So maybe you can take on extra exercise AND something else. Ie: For my new healthy habit, I will exercise for an extra 20 minutes a day, and I will journal for 15 minutes.
Q: What if an opposing team member picks a lame and easy habit to change? Can I request they pick another habit?
A: No. You can talk to them about it, but keep in mind that ‘lame and easy’ to you might be cripplingly difficult to your friend. 5 minutes of meditation is as hard for me as an hour of ANYTHING ELSE. But when I do it, my mind calms and my spirit improves (and occasionally five minutes even morphs into ten.) Still, if you think your friend is copping out, talk to her about it. This game is as much about building support and community for a healthy lifestyle as it is about anything else, so it’s absolutely fine to ask supportive questions and encourage your teammates to take on more.
