This is becoming a habit...

... Six am in the morning, and I'm still opening this blog.

Wonder what people normally do in these situations. How does one stop a habit before it starts? I suppose one would proceed as follows:

1. Identify the almost-habit. 
2. Accept that it actually is becoming a habit. Denial will get you nowhere.
3. Take measures to lower the incidents of said almost-habit.
4. Fight temptation.
5. If you fail at step 4, repeat steps 2-4 immediately.
6. Try and try until you succeed i.e. stop the almost-habit completely.

(On second thought, I suppose this is how a determined person, with an unbeatable and enviable amount of will-power would proceed) 

Unfortunately, these steps do not work for me: I would like to reduce the time I spend on this page, but not stop altogether. On modifying the steps above, I must also calculate the amount of time I'd like to reduce to and work toward it (i.e. to somewhere in the middle of step 6). 

However, for a precise and accurate determination of the quantity of time I must cut from the time spent on this page, I have to first precisely and accurately determine how much time I do spend on this page. Alas! One day is not enough time to reach the required determination. Statistics tells us that, in order to draw a line on a graph (you know, the X-Y axis thing), we must have at least three points on it. Similarly, I postulate that I would need at least three days for my calculations. The more time I take to calculate, the more precise and accurate it will be. Three weeks, I think, will give me the most precise and accurate answer I can imagine--any longer and my patience and mental ability for calculations won't be able to take it.

So there it is. My self-help guide on countering an almost-habit. I only hope that Robin Sharma's (The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari) 21-day rule--It only takes 21 days to make a habit-- isn't true or else, instead of an almost-habit, I'll be stuck with a whole-habit by the time I finish step 3. 

On the other hand, it could be that I've mistakenly identified a beginner's enthusiasm for a new hobby as an almost-habit. In this case, only time will tell. Relying on this option, however, seems a little risky to me: What if time takes 3 weeks to tell that my identification above has indeed been mistaken? The end-result is a whole-habit, yet again.

And everybody knows a whole-habit is much harder to break.