Protocol Hopping · also called method shopping
why do I keep switching systems instead of sticking with one
Protocol hopping is abandoning a system that is quietly working for a new app, routine, or framework the moment it stops feeling exciting, then repeating the swap every few weeks under the belief the right method has simply not been found yet. The method was rarely the problem. Leaving each one right before it had time to compound was.
You have downloaded the fix six times. The fix was never the app. It was staying with one long enough to work.
What to do about it
Before you switch to a new system, tool, or routine, commit to running the current one for thirty more days unchanged.
Books that work on this
Each is a 90-day programme. Start with the first — later books assume the work in the earlier ones.
No One Cares$6.99
Just One More$6.99
Standards Beat Goals$6.99
Discipline Pays Cash$6.99
Train The Want$6.99
Boring Is Winning$6.99
The Daily RepetitionComing soon
Mood Is Math$6.99Part of the Discipline series.
How people say it
Nobody looks this up by its clinical name. These are the ways it actually gets said.
- why do I keep switching systems instead of sticking with one
- I’ve tried every app and none of them stick
- I get bored of routines right when they start working
- I keep looking for a better method instead of using the one I have
- why does every new system feel exciting for two weeks then die
- I have a graveyard of abandoned trackers and planners
- switching tools has become its own procrastination
- I chase the next system instead of trusting this one
Written by Brian Spiker, who has run Spiker Carpet and Tile Care since 2013 — the receipts. More terms in the encyclopedia.