I was in the gym, thinking deeply about what to do next.

My breaths were getting heavy, as I was recovering from my third set of lunges.

It was 8AM, and surrounding me were my condo's gym hustle gang - they're almost there always there whenever I work out this early.

Bicycling Bill was there getting his hours in on the stationary bike, he never misses a day, not even the weekends!

And Weightlifting William was working hard at the dumbbell rack, eager to add on more muscle.

If my schedule allowed, I would join them every day at the gym. With them, there's no drama, no loud music, no fighting over equipment - everyone's just doing their own thing and not getting in each other's way.

When my breaths finally slowed down, I picked up my phone.

I went to the search bar, and typed: "Twitter".

I long-pressed the app button, and a list of options came out.

"Delete App", I tapped

"ARE YOU SURE YOU WANT TO DELETE THIS APP? The threads, the drama, all gone with a tap. Think carefully... one more doom-scroll might change your mind"

"Yes", I tapped again, certain of my decision.

Sending yesterday's email about my weekend with too much screen time made me reflect on the unnecessary ways I was using my phone.

Since I can't cut down on the time I spend on my laptop because of work, and neither could I cut any gaming time on my PlayStation cause that's my time to relax...

...okay I probably could but we'll address that next time 🙃

And since I also won't be saying 'no' to movie dates with Rhea, the only sensible thing to do was to cut the BS apps I was using - in my case, Twitter.

So that's what I did.

I went cold turkey, and deleted the app just like that.

No negotiating with myself on hard limits or screen time, no 'thinking about it for another day', and no FOMO on what I would miss.

I just did it.

Is going cold turkey the best way to start a good habit or get rid of a bad one?

Honestly, it should be the #1 way you approach habits, good or bad.

You'll spend less time thinking about it and more time just getting on with it - and since action is the whole point of habits anyway, it doesn't matter what you think until you take progressive action forward.

The in-between grey area of negotiating with yourself, thinking about the pros & cons etc is just all BS your mind comes up with to resist change.

But going cold turkey will help you skip all of that and actually move the needle on the habits you're trying to start or stop.

The worst thing that could happen is that you can't keep up after going cold turkey, but you would have at least attempted a 1-day 'streak', and that alone is a lot better than never moving forward at all.

So, what's a habit you want to drop or a good one you've been putting off?

Try going cold turkey. Just for today. Because one day is all it takes to start.

The rest? It’ll either follow or it may not, but you can cross that bridge when it comes.

What will definitely come tomorrow is my daily email - so see you then! 😁

Nicholas Ng