A Complaint Free World

I often skim through some of the older posts on a number of blogs and websites I follow, and I stumbled across a post from Tim Ferris’ Four Hour Work Week Blog from 2007 (http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog/2007/09/18/real-mind-control-the-21-day-no-complaint-experiment/) that really hit home to me.  Tim is the author of the book “Four Hour Work Week” and subsequent follow-up books, and is always interesting and fun to read, even when the things he’s talking about don’t directly apply to my life.

In this case, Tim himself had come across a thought experiment based on a book titled “A Complaint-Free World”, by a minister named Will Bowen.  In his book, Bowen challenges you to try and make it 21 days without complaining, gossiping, or criticizing. 

Wow.  I have noticed at various points in my life that I have a number of negative people in both my ancestry and in my life.  Names will not be named.  They may not know who they are.  I have also noticed, and this is key, I’M ONE OF THEM!!!!!

I don’t want to be negative, I really don’t.  But I’ll remark on something (tv show, song, etc) and then realize afterward that I only noticed the negative thing.  Why is that???

So as described on Tim’s blog, the key to ending the habit of complaining is this:

“ … word choice determines thought choice, which determines emotions and actions. It’s not enough to just decide you’ll stop using certain words, though. It requires conditioning.”

Short but sweet, this means: “fix the words and you fix the thoughts”.

Bowen believes it takes 21 days to recondition yourself to your new non-complaining habit.  The idea he came up with was to give members of his congregation a purple bracelet – kind of like the Lance Armstrong “Live Strong” bracelets.  Each time one of them complained, they were supposed to switch the bracelet to their other wrist and start again from day 0.

Apparently this was a HUGE hit and really made a difference in everyone’s lives.  So they ended up having a website and selling bunches of bracelets and trying to spread the word.  Bowen was on Oprah and The Today Show when he came up with the idea, but I apparently missed out on this whole movement when it originally happened (back in 2007, as near as I can tell). 

At any rate, I’m doing it now.  Starting today.

I’m not going to shell out my meager cash on a purple bracelet, but as suggested by Tim, I’m going to use a rubber band.  Not terribly fashionable, but it should do the trick.

Oh, and as Tim did when he did this experiment, I’m also going to add cuss words to the mix.  I do have a bit of a potty mouth, though I’m WAAAAAAAY better then I was back in college :-).  Still, I recognize that I need to eradicate the profanity.

Will keep you posted on how it goes.  And if anyone wants to try it along with me, dive in and let me know how you’re doing!

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Edited to add:  Decided to use a pony-tail holder instead of rubber band.  Much more attractive.