Understanding Habits

What are habits?

• Habits are automatic actions, that we do without thinking– allowing us to use our energy on more difficult tasks.

• About 40% of our behavior is determined by our habits.

• It takes on average 66 days to learn a new habit, but can be done as early as 18 days depending on how strong your motivation and planning is.

• According to a study by University of Scranton only 8% of people achieve their new resolutions. And the ones that do are more likely to have created a plan to change their habit.

• Habit formation begins in infancy. 1 study found that infants can learn and develop habits from as early as 2 months old – probably earlier.

• Willpower is like a muscle. The more you exercise it, the more willpower you develop.

• Studies have shown that when you successfully develop 1 habit makes it easier for you to change other habits.

The Science of how Habits work

In order to work more efficiently our brains try to go into automatic mode whenever they sense an opportunity. But in order for the behavior to be truly automatic our brains need to know which behavior to perform without us thinking about it. Now researchers at MIT have discovered the process behind how behaviors become automatic habits.

Your brain carefully observes the behaviors you engage in most often, and determines whether those behaviors are preceded by something in your environment. If a behavior is almost always preceded by the same and relatively unique cue, your brain associates the cue with the behavior and goes into automatic mode every time it sees the cue.

For instance your brain sees that every time you sit in the driver’s seat, you close the door, put the key in the ignition, turn it, change your gears, check your mirrors and then start driving. So it decides that it will use you sitting in the driver’s seat as a cue to engage in the automatic behavior of driving.

When you are rewarded for performing that behavior, your brain is satisfied that it performed the right habit. And that it should perform the habit again.

How to create a habit

• Something in your environment triggers your brain telling it to engage in a behavior. This is what we call a cue.

• That cue causes you to perform the behavior

• You are rewarded for the behavior.

Once you repeat this routine enough times the behavior becomes a habit and you engage in the behavior without thinking about it.

Because you received a reward for the behavior, the next time you see the cue you are more likely to perform the behavior again. Once you’ve repeated the routine enough times, just seeing the cue causes you to crave the behavior itself – not just the reward. Because you have begun to associate the behavior with the reward.

Over time the cue and reward become interlinked and eventually seeing the cue will cause the pleasure response automatically. You will experience a sense of craving as soon as you see the cue.

For instance when you smell a food you love, it’s like something out of your control almost forces you to eat it. It’s the craving which causes the habit. That when you act automatically when the cue is present.

And once the craving occurs and the habit develops your brain actually changes. Strong habits are actually like addictions in the brain.

How to change a habit

You can use the science of how habits are created to change a habit that already exists. Remember – the habit loop occurs when your brain associates a cue with a behavior. And receives a reward for performing the behavior.

There are two ways to change a habit:

• Remove the cue – while this is not always possible it is the easier option.

• Replace the old behavior with a new behavior which provides a similar reward. This means you create a new routine to replace the old one.

THE KEY here IS TO FOLLOW THE NEW THE ROUTINE UNTIL IT BECOMES A HABIT.

Sounds simple right? And yet if you’re anything like me you’re probably rolling your eyes and thinking “But that never actually works!”

The reason is simple – it’s because changing a habit requires a lot of planning. It also requires you to follow certain rules – which most people don’t know about. If you plan well enough and follow the tips below, you should be able to successfully form any new habit.

Tips to successfully create a new habit

Start small

Research shows that the smaller your behavior, the more likely you are to repeat it enough times for it to become a habit. If it’s trivial enough then you’ll feel ridiculous not doing it. I mean, what excuse can you possibly have for not flossing 1 single tooth, or doing 5 sit-ups a day. And do it EVERY DAY for 2 months. What’s important here is that it becomes automatic.

You’re probably rolling your eyes here. What’s the point of exercising 1 minute. That doesn’t sound like it will change anything. But it will - Just wait and watch. Once it becomes a habit, you’ll feel an itch to do more of it. Flossing 1 tooth a day will turn into flossing all your teeth.1 minute of exercise will become 5 minutes, then 10 minutes and eventually half an hour.

Something that required so much mental effort and energy to do will become a habit – an automatic behavior that will benefit you for years to come.

And all you have to do is commit to approximately a minute a day. What’s stopping you?

Change one habit at a time

If you’re like most people you probably want to change lots of things about yourself. And you may be tempted to change multiple habits together. DO NOT DO THIS. If you tackle more then 1 habit at a time, the chances of you successfully changing anything drops significantly.

Remember, successfully changing one habit, makes it easier to change other habits – so work on just changing one habit for now. Instead make a commitment to tackle 1 new habit each month for 1 year. That’s 12 good habits you’ll have developed in just 1 year. That’s more than most people do in a lifetime.

Don’t miss more than one day at a time

In order for a behavior to become a habit, it needs to be done enough times that the brain decides to make it automatic. The more consistently you repeat the behavior the faster it will turn into a habit.

So commit to doing the behavior EVERY SINGLE DAY. And if you miss one day – make sure you don’t miss a second day.

If you’ve started small – and have committed to only 1 minute a day that should be easy. If you’ve been more ambitious and committed to more than you just have to be extra vigilant about making sure hat

Pro tip: This is one of the most important steps of creating a habit – making sure you repeat the behavior enough that your brain decides that it’s a habit.

Create a visual cue

This serves a twofold purpose. Firstly it reminds you to perform the behavior when you’re just starting. Secondly it makes it easier for your brain to store it as a habit.

If you want to start exercising, leave an exercise mat or your exercise backpack in a location which is visible at the time you want to exercise.

So if you plan to hit the gym after work leave your backpack in your car. Or if you want to start eating healthy put your vegetables at the front of your fridge – so as soon as you open your fridge you’ll be reminded to eat the vegetables. Before you eat something else by mistake.

Predetermine your reward

Research has shown that artificially created rewards help create habits even once the artificial rewards is taken away. For instance having a small amount of chocolate after exercising has been found to create long lasting exercise habits. Even once you stop having the chocolate.

So decide in advance how you will reward yourself each time you complete the behavior. Maybe it’s a bite of your favorite dessert. Or listening to some music. Or watching a video.

Pro tip: Try to time the reward right after the behavior. This will make it easier for your brain to associate the reward with the behavior and turn it into a habit.

Plan Plan Plan!

The more you plan, the more likely it is that you will consistently perform the behavior. And the more likely the behavior will turn into an habit – that you do without thinking. Before you try and change your habit make sure you hae predetermined your habit routine, using the tips provided above.

Yes - It will take some time to create a customized plan for yourself. But trust me – it will ultimate pay off.