One of the hardest things to break is a habit. It doesn't even have to be something really big. It could be the smallest of things, like how you need to let the alarm on your phone snooze like twice before you'll finally clamber out of bed. Or it could be something like how you brush the right side of your teeth before your left, or vice versa.
Nothing wrong with habits, because we're all habit forming creatures. But what happens when the habits you have are actually bad for you?
We've all heard people telling us about our bad habits. Stop playing computer games! Stop eating snacks before dinner! Stop calling her a bitch! She's your teacher!
Oh, I have to share this totally unrelated experience. I saw a dog on the road once. It barked at me. I called it a bitch. And I was totally right. It really was a bitch. I went to school. I saw my teacher. She barked at me. I called her a bitch. And I was totally right too. She really was a bitch.
Breaking a habit is tough, but trying to break a bad one, its crazy. Ever tried telling a smoker to stop smoking? They know its bad for them, but they continue doing it anyway. The problem with bad habits is, we know its bad for us. We just have to do them anyway.
One of my worst bad habits is procrastination. I procrastinate way too much, even on things I shouldn't be procrastinating on. Let's say I have an assignment I have to submit by the next day. I will procrastinate till the very last minute, and then I'll tell myself "Okay I need to do this now or I will fail."
Then I tell myself I can't work unless I feel fresh and go take a bath.
The problem with procrastinators is, they always miss out on good lobangs. Sistic was giving out 1000 free tickets to see Kobe Bryant play live next Wednesday at the Indoor Stadium. If you follow basketball, this is like the biggest thing to happen in Singapore like ever. The only thing you needed to do was show up at any of their offices and get a pair. The offer started on July 17, and it was supposed to last till the 19th. Of course, me being me I thought heck I'm busy on the 17th, I'll go first thing 18th morning. And when I checked the website on the night of the 17th, they were out of tickets.
Dammit! You know how much those tickets would be worth on eBay or hardwarezone forums.
Seriously. Singapore is full of basketball Ah Bengs flush with cash from vacation jobs or selling pirated VCDs. If I had roped some buddies together to queue, we'd all have made a killing. Just by not procrastinating.
It was a painful lesson well learnt. I will try to procrastinate less.
In the future.