Think about your current habits - good or bad. How do you think they became habits? Can you pinpoint when, where and how they became second nature? Are there habits you want to create or habits you are looking to break?
According to “The Power of Habit” by Charles Duhigg, all habits entail what is called a habit loop. The habit loop contains 3 very important characteristics: The Cue, The Routine, and the Reward. All habits, good and bad are born from these three characteristics, and of course having the same cue, routine, and reward for 21+ days will make it a habit and second nature. The brain is very efficient, but it doesn’t like to do a lot of thinking. It instead likes to do most things on autopilot and categorizes tasks and behaviors as what we like to call - habits.
So in order to create and change habits, you have to have a basic understanding of what these 3 characteristics are, and how to use them to your advantage.
The Cue
The cue is what makes you start to think about a routine and the reward afterward, and following through with doing the routine to get the reward. Can you think about certain habits you currently have? Is there a cue that starts the process of the routine? For example - while at a dinner party, you smell a delicious food item. Does that smell make you give into your craving? Every morning you have a cup of coffee, is your cue the act of waking up and feeling like you can’t get the day started without that cup? How can you use cues to your advantage? Can you take your gym bag to the office to make you start thinking about going to the gym? Can that or something else be your cue? Whatever it is, just know that all habits have a cue and something that ignites the rest of the habit loop - routine and reward.
The Routine
The routine is the behavior itself, so take the example above while at your dinner party, you smell the delicious food (cue), so you take a bite and then another bite and another (routine). The behavior is the act. But also know that the routine is actually the least important piece in the habit loop. The cue and reward play a way bigger part in creating and changing habits, so try focusing on those two when you are creating new habits and breaking old ones.
The Reward
All habits have a reward, otherwise they wouldn’t become a habit in the first place. So from the example above, you understand smelling the food is the cue, taking the bites are the routine, and the reward is most likely the way it tastes and the endorphin rush (although fleeting) feeling you get in your body after tasting the delicious food item.
So how do you put this all together to create good habits and break bad ones?
Creating Good Habits
Well, for creating good habits, you have to first begin with the cue. So if you want to start making exercise a habit, you can start by taking your gym bag to work, or you can wear a heart rate monitor or fitness tracker, or you can take the route that passes by the gym. It doesn’t matter what it is, but find a cue that is powerful enough that it gets you thinking about the routine and eventually the reward.
So after your cue, you go and do your routine (exercise in this case). What is your reward? According to Charles Duhigg (The Power of Habit), the reward is more effective if it is immediate. So saying your reward is getting closer to a summer body… it is not immediate, it is not tangible. A better reward is the endorphin rush you feel after working out. Or if you have a post-workout meal or shake you really enjoy, you can think of that as your reward. Your reward has to be something tangible, and if it is something you can feel, touch, taste or see, it’s more effective in creating that new habit.
Changing Bad Habits
So now you understand what the habit loop is and how to create good habits, but how do you change bad habits? Remember how I said that the cue and reward are the most important pieces? You can have the same “cue” and the same “reward”, but you can also change the “routine” piece. So if your bad habit is eating icecream before bed, and your cue is the hunger pangs at 7:00 PM and the reward is the endorphin rush you get from the taste of the icecream, how can you have the same cue and reward, but change the behavior/routine? So if your cue is hunger pangs at 7:00 PM, can you instead drink a protein shake or eat a healthy snack that you enjoy to create the same reward? It takes willpower to swap out the routine, but it can be done and that new routine can create the same reward as the icecream. This goes for anything.
When you understand and master the habit loop, you can use these tools to your advantage in building your life around the behaviors and habits you want. The brain is adaptable, just like the human body. It can be molded into anything you want it to be. It just takes effort and action. You can create the life and the thoughts you want when you have an understanding of something as simple and basic as habits.