Did you know that your habits can actually ruin your entire life if you don't control and direct them correctly? Did you know that your habits are actually more influential over your entire personality and behavior than anything else? Well, they are! And that's why you need to understand your own habits and start using them to your advantage.
Are you aware of the fact that the actions and behaviors you engage in every day are merely a result of your established habits? You may believe that (for example) how you interact with your family and friends, how often you exercise, how much television you watch, what you eat every day, what activities you enjoy, and virtually everything you do are a result of a conscious decision you are making - but they're not! They are all a result of your habits. Consequently, it would be fair to say that your habits are dictating your life - for better or for worse!
Habits occur when we stop making "decisions" and our behavior become automatic. This happens when the brain converts a sequence of actions into an automatic routine. We have hundreds of these routines that we rely on every day. For example, how to brush your teeth, how to get dressed, how to use your cell phone, how to drive a car, how to make a sandwich (how to do absolutely anything!) You don't have to re-learn how to do these things each day - you just do them automatically! But how do the routines emerge?
Put simply, in order for a habit to emerge it relies on three elements being present. The first is a cue such as, "I'm hungry". The next is a routine, such as, "I'll eat a cookie". And finally comes the reward, such as, "I'm now full and satisfied". If you go through this three-step sequence (cue, routine, reward) enough times you will have yourself a habit. This is known as the habit loop.
Unfortunately, habits aren't always helpful. Why? Well, your brain doesn't know the difference between good and bad habits. All it knows is the habit loop. It doesn't know whether your loops make you fit or whether they make you fat. It doesn't know whether the loop makes you smart or whether it makes you dumb. To the brain it's just a sequence that it responds to.
But unfortunately the bad news doesn't end there. Habits are actually powerful enough to overrule everything - including your common sense and your conscious thought. So, if you have a smoking addiction and want to quit but "can't" stop, it's because your habits are overriding your desire to quit. The cue keeps coming up (in this case it could be "I am stressed out or I need a cigarette or I need a nicotine hit") and a routine and reward must always follow the cue. The habit loop must be closed or the cue will get stronger and stronger.
So, how do we use our new knowledge of the habit loop to our advantage? How do we take control of our habit loops? How do we create new routines that overpower existing habits and become our new automatic behaviors? The answer is actually quite simple. The so called "golden rule" of habits is that if you use the same cue, and provide the same reward, you can shift the routine and change the habit. Problem solved! Well, not quite!
But how does this work in practice? To change your habits you need to master the art of creating new behaviors. But what does that mean? Well, if we use the cookie example again it would look like this: there is a cue ("I'm so hungry!"), a routine ("I will eat an apple" (not a cookie)) and a reward ("I'm full and content"). As this example shows, the loop has changed but the cue and the reward have remained the same. The routine is the only thing that changes. Instead of eating a cookie to become full we have suggested eating an apple.
In this case we have used a simple example of eating an apple instead of a cookie. This is obviously simplifying the habit. But the process is the same. The loop is always the same. There is a cue, a routine and a reward. Focus on changing your routine and you will transform your habit. It truly is that simple - and that difficult!
To transform a habit you must first identify the habit and then consciously decide to change it. You must consciously accept the hard work of identifying the cues and the rewards that drives the habit's routines, and find alternatives for yourself. You must understand that you have control over your actions and be self-conscious enough to use that control to your advantage. You now know that you can transform your habits if you want to. Keep in mind that nothing will have a greater impact on you than good habits. Good luck!
Are you aware of the fact that the actions and behaviors you engage in every day are merely a result of your established habits? You may believe that (for example) how you interact with your family and friends, how often you exercise, how much television you watch, what you eat every day, what activities you enjoy, and virtually everything you do are a result of a conscious decision you are making - but they're not! They are all a result of your habits. Consequently, it would be fair to say that your habits are dictating your life - for better or for worse!
Habits occur when we stop making "decisions" and our behavior become automatic. This happens when the brain converts a sequence of actions into an automatic routine. We have hundreds of these routines that we rely on every day. For example, how to brush your teeth, how to get dressed, how to use your cell phone, how to drive a car, how to make a sandwich (how to do absolutely anything!) You don't have to re-learn how to do these things each day - you just do them automatically! But how do the routines emerge?
Put simply, in order for a habit to emerge it relies on three elements being present. The first is a cue such as, "I'm hungry". The next is a routine, such as, "I'll eat a cookie". And finally comes the reward, such as, "I'm now full and satisfied". If you go through this three-step sequence (cue, routine, reward) enough times you will have yourself a habit. This is known as the habit loop.
Unfortunately, habits aren't always helpful. Why? Well, your brain doesn't know the difference between good and bad habits. All it knows is the habit loop. It doesn't know whether your loops make you fit or whether they make you fat. It doesn't know whether the loop makes you smart or whether it makes you dumb. To the brain it's just a sequence that it responds to.
But unfortunately the bad news doesn't end there. Habits are actually powerful enough to overrule everything - including your common sense and your conscious thought. So, if you have a smoking addiction and want to quit but "can't" stop, it's because your habits are overriding your desire to quit. The cue keeps coming up (in this case it could be "I am stressed out or I need a cigarette or I need a nicotine hit") and a routine and reward must always follow the cue. The habit loop must be closed or the cue will get stronger and stronger.
So, how do we use our new knowledge of the habit loop to our advantage? How do we take control of our habit loops? How do we create new routines that overpower existing habits and become our new automatic behaviors? The answer is actually quite simple. The so called "golden rule" of habits is that if you use the same cue, and provide the same reward, you can shift the routine and change the habit. Problem solved! Well, not quite!
But how does this work in practice? To change your habits you need to master the art of creating new behaviors. But what does that mean? Well, if we use the cookie example again it would look like this: there is a cue ("I'm so hungry!"), a routine ("I will eat an apple" (not a cookie)) and a reward ("I'm full and content"). As this example shows, the loop has changed but the cue and the reward have remained the same. The routine is the only thing that changes. Instead of eating a cookie to become full we have suggested eating an apple.
In this case we have used a simple example of eating an apple instead of a cookie. This is obviously simplifying the habit. But the process is the same. The loop is always the same. There is a cue, a routine and a reward. Focus on changing your routine and you will transform your habit. It truly is that simple - and that difficult!
To transform a habit you must first identify the habit and then consciously decide to change it. You must consciously accept the hard work of identifying the cues and the rewards that drives the habit's routines, and find alternatives for yourself. You must understand that you have control over your actions and be self-conscious enough to use that control to your advantage. You now know that you can transform your habits if you want to. Keep in mind that nothing will have a greater impact on you than good habits. Good luck!
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