Similarly, suppose your goal is to drink less soda

Similarly, suppose your goal is to drink less soda. Rather than deciding on a case-by-case basis whether you're going to drink soda-something that requires a lot of effort and that is prone to error-make a rule instead. For example, "I only drink soda at dinner on Friday," or maybe, "I don't drink soda at all." Having a rule means not having to decide at every meal. The execution path is short, and less error prone.

— from Expanding Your Range (Growth/Change/Education/Learning/Habit) · Clear Thinking: The Art and Science of Making Better Decisions by Shane Parrish

Also belongs to

• Decisions & Choices (Decision/Choice/Focus/Forethought/Consequences)
• Goals, Action & Defining Success (Goal/Action/Success/Motivation)

Related

• You need to distinguish between the challenge of detecting…
• Going to bed-a goal that had once involved a…
• It's not about achieving the goal
• The first step in creating an If-Then plan is…
• Then we try to plan for every habit challenge…
• The inertia default pushes us to maintain the status…