5 Hacks to Help A-Man-With-Tiny-Hands Kick His [SNIFF] Habit

Running for president is hard.

From squeezing into your Spanx to staring down your opponent, it can be hard to stay in the zone — and easy to give in to old [SNIFF] habits in the auditorium bathroom before your debate. But addiction is a real problem in America. And we deserve a President who lead by example.

So even if your self control is as tiny as your hands, pause for a moment before you roll up that crisp hundred and consider these five hacks that can help you kick your bad [SNIFF] habits.

1. Find and Remove Your Triggers

‘Cold Turkey’ might not be enough to keep your nose clean — and understandably so. As our brains process our thoughts and the external world we can encounter triggers: thoughts or sensations we’ve previously learned to associate with a [SNIFF] bad habit. Our brains learn to chain triggers to [SNIFF] behaviors that become our defaults: when we experience a trigger we aren’t given a choice: our brain runs on autopilot to [SNIFF] perform our habit.

But everyone’s triggers are different: maybe its the stress of thinking about a failing hotel property — or perhaps the sight of a well-worn pantsuit? Maybe even Lester Holt’s disarming smile. Only you will know your triggers.

The sad reality of addiction in America is that 40–60% of people in recovery experience relapse. So identifying your triggers is critical for self management and the first step in creating a healthier environment free from stimuli that stand between you and recovery.

2. Reward Progress 🎉

By either accidental chemistry or ingenious design, all habits work the same: they hack the brain’s natural dopamine system. That 💥 of dopamine is more than just pleasurable: it’s rewiring us!

Behind the scenes, the molecule reshapes brain circuits to strengthen the link between a triggers and [SNIFF] actions that earned the brain a hit of dopamine.

But the re-wiring may be reversible. The key lies in finding new actions that release more dopamine than the old [SNIFF] habit.

Start by finding new actions that you can do whenever you experience your previously [SNIFF] destructive trigger. Keep these actions small and easy to perform.

Then, find people and things that can reinforce you when you do your new actions instead [SNIFF] of the old.

Crucially: the reinforcement doesn’t need to be gold plated or tremendous, just surprising.

3. Innovation is Here to Help

New technology, like the Virtual Reality tools under development at the University of Houston, offers people new, safe ways to ‘experience’ otherwise risky triggers to help them kick their [SNIFF] habit.

In this new treatment approach, participants interactively explore immersive VR environments that they’ve previously found triggering with the supervision of a psychologist. It’s unclear if the Houston team will be simulating Debate Podiums or 3D college amphitheaters any time soon, but their work is an exciting example of how flexible the brain can be.

4. Imagine Your Way Through Cravings

Using our imagination can be mentally taxing. But skip the cognitive tax break: research suggests you can use mental imagery of a different stimuli to bootstrap your way out of your [SNIFF] bad habit.

Researchers recently reviewed a decade of observations on the Elaborated Intrusion (EI) Theory of self-control. The EI Theory explains and predicts how we imagine the [SNIFF] satiety of our cravings when we’re gearing up to perform a bad habit.

The review suggests that focusing our attention on other pleasant stimuli can help override the [SNIFF] cravings.

So next time you’re jonesing, vividly imagine other things you love; like the enveloping scent of Sean Hannity’s intoxicating musk [SNIFFFFFF].

Be a job creator: put your imagination to work.

5. You’re going to backslide: don’t give up

When breaking any [SNIFF] bad habit, we must be resilient and patient with ourselves when things don’t go as planned. You’re going to backslide.

Just like losing hard-earned polling points, it might feel at times like you’re losing hard-earned progress. Worse yet: life can throw you curve balls. Poorly run hotels flop. Bankruptcy happens. Infidelity occurs. People use large words like demagogue and you *still* don’t know what it means and that makes you angry. [SNIFF]

The point is that you won’t be able to control every step of this journey. But perhaps more important that needing to have your tiny hands on the wheel at every moment is having the [SNIFF] stamina and emotional resilience to keep going. To keep pushing at what you can — no matter what — knowing some days will go better than others.

Because you can do this.

You can make your habits great again.