OK, I'll admit that I have a tendency to turn into a little bit of a coffee addict. I'm not the drink coffee constantly guy, but I do notice that I look forward to it every time I am out.

Now first of all, it it's good coffee, I drink it black. I drink organic and fair-trade coffee when available, and this is the only coffee I keep in the house. By the way, organic coffee is slightly lower in caffeine than mass-produced coffee, but there's still the major jolt I'm looking for.  Even though I am Canadian, I'm not a fan of Tim Horton's.  In Nova Scotia, they have some great fair-trade coffee franchise, Just-Us Coffee.

And I enjoy it. But I also enjoy the little boost I get from it.

So why am I stopping?

I have noticed a few really bad tendencies that I think relate to coffee, and I just got back from my naturopath, and like I have suspected for years, my adrenal glands are weak.

(On a quick side note, most people's adrenal glands are under too much stress simply because our bodies were designed to go into fight or flight much less frequency than our urban-digital life requires.)

Now what I noticed about coffee is that it a makes me more eager to get started doing tasks, but at the same time, it often interferes with the quality of those tasks.  For example, drinking coffee (particular multiple cups) will start my brain overflowing with many ideas about business.  The problem is that it often takes me past the state where I can actually work on, focus, and implement those same ideas.  So it can be pretty frustrating.

Here is what Steve Pavlina said that is similar in his post about how to give up coffee.

On the positive side, coffee can dramatically increase my mental clarity and sharpness.  The feeling when I am generating ideas is great after a nice cup of dark coffee.  Almost euphoric.  It just seems to make my mind "all-thumbs" when it comes to really planning out the details.  And that's frustrating, because coffee prevents me from that critical fine-tuning that is really where the money is.  (It's almost never in the idea.)

So the coffee keeps me in a more energized state but unable to really discuss, articulate and plan those same ideas, which can be very frustrating.

But the worst effect of drinking too much coffee is the dreaded afternoon crash.  Occasionally drinking coffee will leave me in an agitated state, but unable to focus on any kind of meaningful work.  And then I get tired very very quickly.  And then I need to take a nap.  It's like my brain needs a re-charge, so I take a quick nap and feel fine again.

So to prepare for giving up coffee, I cut back for a full week.  I set a day.  (Today.)

And during the last week I switched to de-caffeinated tea as a distraction when I was in the house, and half-caf, half-decaf when I was on the go.

Now when giving up anything hard, in my opinion, the best route is cold turkey, with a little preparation.

1. You must have a definite start-date
2. You must tell some other people about it.  (That holds you to your word better.)
3. Start making those little choices to say "no".
4. You need that time to mentally prepare yourself as you mention it daily to other people you know.
5. Then you do it.

The hardest part is the first 3 days.  Always.  It was the same when I gave up smoking 8+ years ago.

Now in the last week as I've been preparing I've noticed some changes.

• I have had only 1 headache. 
• I chose my coffee more carefully.  (IE if I get it, I always get a good coffee I'll enjoy, not a Tim Horton's just because it's there.)
• It doesn't taste quite as good.  (Half-caf's are not the real deal.)
• My energy is up
• My mental clarity is up overall

Changing habits is pretty easy and can happen quickly.  The important thing is to make the guidelines in advance.  It's those self-imposed boundaries that allow you to deal with the unexpected situations that crop up.  But it you really want to give up coffee, you've got a guideline for your own plan.

What do you think about giving up coffee?  have you done it?  Would you like to?  Think I'm nuts?  Post your comments below.