The key is to catch ourselves in a stumble right away. Because of the colorfully named “what the hell” phenomenon, a minor stumble often becomes a major fall. Once a good behavior is broken, we act as though it doesn’t matter whether it’s broken by a little or a lot. “I didn’t do any work this morning, so what the hell, I’ll take the rest of the week off and start on Monday.” “I missed my yoga class over spring break, so what the hell, I’ll wait to start in the fall.” A friend’s wife used if-­then planning to avoid this “what the hell” trap. As she made her plan to quit smoking, she told her husband, “After I give up smoking, if by some chance you see me having a cigarette, remind me that I’ve still ‘quit,’ I haven’t fallen off the wagon altogether.” --- **Tags** -- [[quotes]] **Source** -- [[20240806084000 - B - Better Than Before]]