Your Daily Habits
When you woke up this morning, what did you do first? Did you hop into the shower, check your email, or grab a coffee from the drive-thru? Did you brush your teeth before or after you toweled off? Tie the left or right shoe first? Which route did you drive to work? When you got to your desk, did you deal with email, chat with a colleague or jump into the “to do” list?
“All our life, so far as it has definite form, is but a mass of habits,” wrote William James in 1892!
Our Choices
Most of our choices may feel like they are the results of well-considered decision making, but truthfully, they are not. They’re habits. And though each habit means very little on its own, over time, the meals we order, what we say or our partners each night, whether we spend or save, how often we exercise, and the way we organise our thoughts and work routines have enormous impacts on our health, productivity, financial security and happiness.
Why Do Habits Exist?
Countless people have spent many hours trying to understand why habits exist. Scientists understand the neuropathways or neurology and marketers exploit what people do and how they can change. But did you know that habits can be changed if we know how they work.
Research tells us habits all start as conscious, deliberate choices made at some point, repeated and then at some point it becomes automatic. This is when we stopped making that choice and the behaviour became automatic. At one point, we all consciously decided how much to eat and what to focus when we got to the office, how often to have a drink or when we went for a walk. Then we stopped making that choice, and our behaviour became a habit, a routine, an automatic response. This is the natural consequence of our neurology. However, if scientists have discovered how these patterns work, then you would think that a recipe for changing habits would be easy. Yet, it one of the greatest challenges people face. Just look at the weight loss industry; just try asking a person to change their food intake. It’s easy for some, extremely hard for others.
The Formula for Habits?
There is a formula – it’s finding the right formula to suit you.
Individuals and habits are all different and so the specifics of diagnosing and changing the patterns in our lives differ from person to person and behaviour to behaviour. Giving up cigarettes is different to curbing your overeating, which is different to the way you speak to your children, which is different to the routine you have when you prioritise your tasks at work. To add to the mixture, each person’s habits are driven by different cravings.
Listen to This Story
There was this one time when I decided to get fit. I had been incredibly sedentary and every opportunity to work at my desk was filled with achievement. My workspace was where I created amazing resources, emailed my colleagues and friends, and completed tasks which were recognised by my superiors. In other words, my sedentary lifestyle was being rewarded every time I produced and achieved. It became an intrinsic part of me.
After a while, I began to notice that all my resources and projects were based on my winning formulaic method. Nothing was fresh, nothing was new. Things were stale. So, I decided to add walking into my day. Walking was supposed to be refreshing, inspiring and moved the creative juices through the body. I identified my routine. I was going to walk early in the morning, starting at 5am. Then I was going to experiment with a reward system – I would definitely feel proud that I got up so early to make this change. I also would allow myself to have that extra chocolate at the weekend. Next, I isolated my cue. I got the alarm clock ready and set it for 4:45am but away from the bed so that I had to get up to switch it off. This helped me to actually get out of bed. Once standing far enough from the bed, I got motivated to dress and begin that walk.
Was it hard? Yes! Has it paid off? Yes! Did I see the benefits? Yes!
Over the next few months, other benefits also began to reinforce my intrinsic reward system. I started losing some weight, my sleeping habits improved, I generally felt better. Getting back to my goal of getting fit, the bonus was that I was now achieving better results, more creative and spontaneous resources and my mind was and continues to be sharp. The change did not come overnight, but with time and effort my new habit was taking hold.
What I Do Today
Today, I would like to teach about the four main steps in the framework of making or breaking a habit. The framework is:
- Identify the routine
- Experiment with rewards
- Isolate the cue
- Have a plan
1. Identify the Routine
Scientists know that a routine has three separate parts to it: a cue, a routine and a reward. Once you diagnose your own habit loop, you can look for ways to supplant old vices with new routines.
For example, every afternoon when you come home from work you drop your bag and keys at the door and head straight to the fridge for a drink and snack. This habit is causing you to choose unhealthy snacks because you’re hungry and tired. There are several ways of tackling this. Firstly, find the cue, which is coming home hungry and tired. You feel you need an energy pick-me-up. Secondly, the routine is that you come home and drop off your bag and keys and walk straight to the fridge. Thirdly, your reward is to have that snack and drink and it tastes great.
Let’s focus on the routine – walking straight to the fridge after you’ve dropped off your bag and keys. Dropping off you bag and keys sound great. They’re put away for the next time you need them. The routine – walking to the fridge can be changed. How about getting changed first? Or sitting down and having a conversation about your day? Or you actually may want to keep this part. Something, however, needs to change.
2. Experiment with Rewards
That drink and snack releases dopamine in the brain because the snack takes away the hunger and you begin to relax. This is the reward for coming home after a hard day at the office.
This is where you investigate what else can give you this pleasant feeling instead. How about changing the snack? Could you replace it with a healthy snack? You don’t need to deprive yourself – simply make it healthy and delicious. This will require some forethought, planning and effort. It will be worth it! Just imagine yourself, walking to the fridge and taking out that healthy option – not a slice of cake but a protein ball or dark chocolate-coated strawberries. There are many options; do the research. Or go to a health food store and start experimenting.
3. Isolate the Cue.
In our scenario, the cue the time when the person comes home, hungry and tired after a day’s work in the office.
Work out what your cue is: a smell that triggers your memories of times past; a time during the day that you’re feeling vulnerable or tired; a movie that sets off your emotions. Whatever the cue, once you become aware of it, you now have the option to work with it or change it. If you work on feeding yourself with a snack at 4pm every afternoon, the body will soon expect a snack at 4pm every afternoon. Use the cue to feed yourself a healthy snack or find something else to replace the routine that you created.
So, there you have it: the last step – planning through the previous steps to create a new habit. Give it a try, experiment with a simple habit. Change something that you want to change. Plan it with the steps: Identify the routine, experiment with rewards and isolate the cue.
You’re now on the way to creating a habit. I wish you every success!
Remember, if you need assistance with any of this, call me!