Habits Are The Key To Your Success
“Success is the product of daily habits—not once-in-a-lifetime transformations.”
There is a reason as to why habits get so much praise in the “productivity world” today, and that comes with very good reasoning behind it. Habits, when implemented correctly over time, can have massive and incredibly positive effects on our life and well being, but that also means that if they are not used correctly, they can quickly lead us to stumble down negative habit loops that do us no good.
So how exactly do we make the most out of our habits and implement them in a way that we will derive the most benefit from them? Read on to find out.
Before we delve into the topic of habits and how exactly they are able to transform our lives, I would like to mention that the information in this post is partly based and built upon from the points that James Clear has made in his best selling book, Atomic Habits, that explores the science behind habits and how we build new ones and break bad ones. I would highly recommend the book to anyone interested in improving their life by using habits.
I would like to first begin by giving some introductory information on the topic of habits, that will enable us to grapple and understand the forthcoming content with much more ease.
WHAT ARE HABITS?
In basic terms, a habit is any automatic behaviour that we execute without having to put mental thought into doing it, meaning that it is largely unconscious. We all perform habits, however, most of the time we do not even realise that something is habitual behaviour since we are not applying conscious thought while executing the action.
A prominent study done by Duke University has concluded that about 40% of our daily actions are said to be habits, meaning that habits form a large chunk of our daily behaviour. What is the reason behind this? Why such a big percentage?
ROLE OF HABITS
Well, the answer quite plainly lies within our brain, that functions, in simple terms, like a big energy conservation machine. Even though our brain only takes up about 2% of our total body weight, it uses an astonishing 20% of our total energy intake for performing its daily functions. Because of its large energy use, the brains main goal is to use the energy it receives with as much efficiency as possible, meaning that not much of it goes to waste. And that is exactly what habits are here to do. They are unconscious actions, meaning they do not require thinking - or the use of mental energy - for them to be executed, allowing our brain to save this precious energy and use it for more important matters.
Apart from the fact that habits allow our brains to save energy, they also save our brain time, as habitual behaviour happens subconsciously and is in a way almost predetermined, meaning that we lose less time with coming up with a final decision, that would otherwise lead to the commonly known “decision fatigue”.
Therefore, because habits form such a large chunk of our behaviour, they can have very large and noticeable effects on our lives and well being, either being good or bad, depending on which ones we prioritize.
BUILDING BLOCKS OF HABITS
In order for us to understand how we can build long-lasting positive habits and break negative habit loops for good, we have to first understand the actual structure of a habit and what causes them in the first place. The first two components (the Cue and the Craving) are part of the problem phase that are based on input actions of the habit, while the last two components (Response and Reward) form the solution component as they focus on the outcomes of a habit.
CUE: This concerns an exterior stimulus in our environment that acts as a trigger to our habit. This is exactly why our habits are based so much in our environment because our environment provides most of the triggers to those habits.
CRAVING: The carving is all about the emotional drive behind a habit, and acts as a main reason of power for our brain to execute the action automatically. After all, if an action was not being craved by our brain, then why would it be done? While the craving is all about wanting the action, the response concentrates on performing the action.
RESPONSE: In other words, the response is the action that is triggered by the cue and is accelerated by the craving. Over time this repetitive response will form a habit loop, however, your responsibility to a cue is determined by a) how determined you are to complete the action and b) your level of ability to perform the action.
REWARD: Finally, the reward focuses on stimulating our brains with a positive reward that will encourage the repetition of the same behaviour later on, because the action will become associated with the same reward.
EXAMPLE OF A HABIT LOOP:
CUE: The sweet smell of a doughnut shop that you walk by on a street.
CRAVING: The sweet smell of fried doughnuts makes it hard for your brain to resist it because if something smells good it makes us want to eat it, as it will likely also taste good.
RESPONSE: You walk into the doughnut shop, purchase a doughnut and eat it, as a result of the initially enticing smell.
REWARD: Your taste buds are immediately rewarded by the sweet and fatty taste of the doughnut, so now walking by a doughnut shop will become associated with a sweet-tasting reward.
BUILDING NEW AND POSITIVE HABITS:
GENERAL TIPS:
Starting small and easy: When trying to implement a new habit into our routine, we have to start small as otherwise we feel overwhelmed as to how to start or we simply lose motivation to keep executing the action that has not yet become automatic, meaning that we will face more resistance to it.
Small daily imprvements: In his books Atomic Habits, James Clear often emphasizes the point that if we improve for even juts 1% each day, that over the course of months and years can accumulate to a large and noticeable improvement. The same can be said if we decide to pursue a negative habit and get worse for 1% each day. Small changes add up through consistency and effort.
Breaking down your habits: To once again not get too overwhelmed with the expectations that implementing a new habit brings, it is very useful to break up a large and hard to do habit into smaller easier to do actions. For example, if you want to start running every day, you can split this large habit into two smaller habits of fueling your body the right food to have enough energy and to get into the habit of finishing your work quickly to have more time to run, both of which will contribute towards your overall habit.
Getting back on track and tracking your progress: Many of us, when trying to start a new habit we wither forget about it rather quickly or we fall back into our previous habitual actions. These situations are completely normal, which is because when we try and introduce a new habit, old habitual neural pathways never get deleted, because they are only replaced by new habits, which explains why we often slip back into our old routines. To remain consistent with our new habit, I would also recomed tracking our progress, whether that is from a visual, numerical or emotional perspective, that when seeing positive results, will motivate us to continue the habit.
Have patience and consistency: Humans are wired to function based on instant gratification which allows us to receive immediate benefits from doing something but with habits it takes more time for the results to show, which is why it is important to keep trying our best, be consistent and be patient as the results will eventually come as long as we work for them.
RULES FOR STICKING WITH NEW HABITS:
Make the habit:
Have an obvious trigger (Desing your environment accordingly)
Attractive (Increases our likeness to do it)
Easy to do (Makes starting less daunting)
Satisfying (Ensures that we will repeat it)
QUITTING BAD AND PERSISTENT HABITS
GENERAL TIPS:
Replacing your habits: By replacing a bad habit with a good one that brings about the same reward or feeling, we will find it less tempting to slip back into our old habit routines as by doing the habit that is good for us we will still be getting the same or at least a similar reward as previously with the bad habit.
Social environment and Accountability: By working or partnering with another person or a group of people who support you in your habits and motivate you to keep persistent, that will greatly increase the chances of you a) sticking to the new habit and b) quitting a bad habit, as someone can hold you accountable for how much time has passed since you last did the bad habit. Accountability does not only have to wor with real-life people but can also be done with digital applications that help track your habits if you prefer.
Environmental design: Our environment is the largest sources of our, good and bad, habit triggers, therefore it is important to surround ourselves in an environment that will promote the formation of good habits while preventing the continuation of bad habits.
New identity: By adopting or quitting a habit, we essentially want to become a new person. For example, someone who might want to start eating healthier could identify themselves as a “healthy eater”, while someone who is trying to quit smoking will refer to themselves as a “non-smoker or ex-smoker”. By giving ourselves a new identity based on our habits, we become more intentional behind our habits as to why we would want to start or quit one, in order for them to align with our new persona.
RULES FOR BREAKING BAD HABITS:
Make the habit:
Have a non-obvious trigger (Designing your environment accordingly)
Unattractive (Decreases our chances of doing it)
Difficult (Requires more effort to do it)
Unsatisfying (Ensures we will not repeat it)
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