Habits and Diminishing Returns (Ep. 64)

Coffee used to be amazing.

The first time I discovered that I actually liked coffee – which happened after buying a Keurig machine for making chai lattes and mochas, and receiving a bunch of free coffee samples – something clicked in my brain. 

Soon, coffee became an everyday habit. My head would pop up from the pillow, and not five minutes later a K-cup was popping into the machine.

Eventually I learned that these machines are pretty bad for the environment and don’t really make that great of coffee in the first place, so I upgraded – first to a French press, then to my beloved AeroPress.

After so many months, however, something dawned on me. While I still coffee in the morning, the euphoric (don’t you dare tip a fedora at me for using that word) taste and rush I’d gotten in the past wasn’t there. Coffee became… background noise.

A fixture.

When I started reading Gretchen Rubin’s recently published book a specific passage in the book pointed the reason out to me. Essentially, habits can deaden experiences. 

They also compress time, which is why people often remark that the years seem to fly by. People fall into routines and don’t have a lot of variety in their lives, and their brains compress the memories accordingly.

The deadening effect was what really interested me, though. I realized my coffee habit had become a deadened experience; the question was, what should I do about it? That’s the subject of today’s podcast. Maybe you’ll be able to apply my thoughts to any deadened habits you might have as well.

Things mentioned in this episode:

• Episode 63 – Habit-Building Strategies for Different Personalities with Gretchen Rubin
• Gretchen’s book

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