I need to stop playing Solitaire

[simont]

It's a habit I've formed over the last year or so: if I'm sitting at a computer and trying to have a good idea, or make a design decision, or think about anything that isn't immediately obvious, I'll start a game of Solitaire, just to distract the surface levels of my mind from the immediate problem and allow my subconscious to work on it undisturbed.

This occasionally works, but more often I just waste a lot of time playing Solitaire and don't get anywhere with the other problem. So I've never been convinced that on balance it was a useful habit.

However, I've just sunk to new depths. I started a game of Solitaire, and half way through I realised it was going to be one of those borderline games that doesn't come out easily and isn't obviously impossible, but instead requires a lot of thought. And before I knew what my fingers were doing, they'd clicked over to the GNOME menus and started up another game of Solitaire, to distract me from thinking about the first one.

So I think enough is enough. Anyone got any good tips for breaking strong habits?

Comments

[hilarityallen.livejournal.com]

Thinking about it, the slightly obsessive streak that makes one lock into a habit is precisely the same streak that makes most of us good at what we do. This doesn't help break the habit, though. There aren't solitare self-help groups out there, though. It isn't inherently a destructive behaviour, so you're unlikely to get rid of it in a hurry. Sorry. I'm terribly addictable too. Fortunately I don't have Spider Solitaire on my machine, otherwise my D.Phil. would stand less of a chance than it does already.