Your life is shaped by your habits! You do 40% of your acts out of habit rather than conscious choice. Thus, habits play a significant role in your life, oftentimes without your awareness!
Fascinating habits-related information: Whether they are terrible or good, your life is mostly the culmination of all of your habits.
By making changes to your behaviors, you can regain control over your life. It takes an average of 66 days for a new habit to become ingrained in our brains, making it difficult to break. Habits never really go away. Just other habits have taken precedence over them. According to a survey, the majority of people’s pleasure stems from their everyday practice of accepting who they are. The brain uses cravings as motivation. Something has to pique our brain’s desire in order to become a habit (Duhigg, 2024a).
How do routines get established? The group of actions that can range from something as basic as drinking coffee first thing in the morning to something more complex like escaping issues as they arise. These behaviors did not appear immediately; rather, they gradually crept into our daily routines and mentalities until they were second nature.
Our brain uses habits to increase its efficiency. Daily activities and behaviors become habits thanks to the brain’s ability to turn them into automatic, thoughtless processes. This frees up mental energy for other, more pressing tasks. Our brain’s approach offers us amazing advantages. It makes it possible for us to live better lives. Just picture having to think through each and every move or response. All we would be doing is thinking!
If you’ve observed, doing something for the first time takes a lot of focus and mental energy. However, it got easier as you did them more and more. The amount of mental energy required to do these tasks dropped dramatically. This is known as “chunking,” and it is the genesis of habits. We unconsciously rely on these “chunks” of behavior every day.
As stated by neuroscientist David Eagleman in Incognito, “Brains are involved in information gathering and appropriate behavior steering.” Whether or not consciousness plays a role in the decision-making process is irrelevant. And it’s not most of the time. Habits are beneficial. Our brain operates with knowledge. Our main worry is whether or not the habits we’re forming are good for us. If not, how can we alter them (Duhigg, 2024b)?
The Three-Step Habit Loop: We must comprehend the origins of a bad habit in order to be able to break it. The neural mechanism underlying all habits was uncovered by a team of Massachusetts Institute of Technology researchers in the 1990s. This basic three-step loop is ingrained in our brains and is incredibly strong. Thus, in order to modify the rules, one must first be aware of them.
- A cue is any stimulus that instructs your brain on which habit to apply at which time.
- A routine is an emotion, behavior, or action.
- Your brain uses reward to decide whether or not a loop is advantageous to you.
ILLUSTRATION
Cue: You’re currently experiencing boredom.
Typical action: You reach for a wine bottle.
Reward: You get a joyful, at ease feeling.
The establishment of habits is greatly influenced by the cue and the reward. It leads to cravings and causes you to repeat certain acts or habits. For example, the cue might be stress, and the reward could be the temporary relaxation you feel after drinking wine. But if you drink wine frequently enough, even moderate wine consumption can lead to alcoholism. What would you need to do, then, if you wanted to break that habit?
You won’t be satisfied if all you did was focus on altering the pattern, like quitting drinking wine. Your brain will support your drinking habit by believing that the loop has broken. Our brains are wired for contentment and fulfillment. Research shows that breaking a habit requires not just elimination but replacement, which engages the same neural pathways used in the original habit. You must substitute a different routine that will yield the same reward for the loop’s routine in order to break a bad habit.
Try going for a jog or watching a nice movie when you’re bored instead of reaching for a bottle of wine. The same reward will be obtained from these activities: relaxation. Studies indicate that physical exercise, for instance, releases endorphins similar to those produced by alcohol, creating a similar sense of relaxation and contentment. Your brain will believe that this specific loop is functional. As you repeat it more frequently and reap the same benefits, it will take the place of the loop in which you reach for wine. This three-step loop demonstrates your ability to break a negative habit that is doing more harm than good (Johnson, 2024).
The ability of habits to bring about constructive transformation is crucial for long-term behavior change. Many people wish to break their bad behaviors. For example, smoking is a difficult habit to kick. Recent research suggests that smoking addiction is not only physical but also behavioral, making it harder to quit. When people attempt to give up, their cravings get the better of them, and they give up. Their lack of success isn’t a lack of willpower. It’s a dearth of knowledge about the formation of habits. Now that you know how habits take hold in our lives, you can start building new routines and loops that will encourage positive changes. Whatever negative behavior is preventing you from moving forward can be broken.
To help you create great habits in your life, take the following steps:
- Look at the routine: This is the behavior you wish to alter. If alcoholism is an issue, what motivates you to drink? What kind of fulfillment do you experience?
- Examine the Benefits: Drinking causes hangovers and a host of other issues. Of course, reaching for that bottle gives you instant gratification. What is the benefit? Is it a diversion, an escape, or an instant sense of relaxation? Finding a better habit that will reward you in the same way will be simpler if you understand the motivation behind the activity.
- Determine the cue: What forces your actions? Because triggers are subtle, you may need to watch how you behave and make notes. When an unwelcome behavior occurred, what were you doing? How did you feel at the time? Which prize were you pursuing? The first step in changing a habit is to recognize it and the things that are feeding it. This is a constructive approach.
How to develop positive behaviors in yourself
The commander of your ship is you. Sometimes we have a tendency to think of ourselves as powerless and say self-defeating things like “I can’t help it” or “This is all I am.” That is not at all accurate. Neuroscience shows that humans have a remarkable capacity for neuroplasticity, meaning we can reshape and rewire our brains based on our actions and thoughts. You possess the ability to govern the functions that occur within your brain.
You can rewire your brain now that you understand it’s only doing what it believes is best for you, which is to follow your lead. Research on habit formation reveals that small, incremental changes can lead to long-term behavioral shifts, making it possible to change even deeply ingrained habits. By consciously replacing a bad habit with a positive one, you guide your brain toward healthier choices.
Always keep in mind that the goal is to switch out the routine for a healthier action or behavior that will have the same effects. For example, if stress drives you to overeat, replace it with a calming activity like meditation or yoga. Until you’re satisfied with the outcomes, experiment with various routines. Never push yourself to do something you don’t feel totally comfortable doing. Studies show that sustainable habits are often formed when we find the actions enjoyable or fulfilling. When you do, you won’t be able to maintain it for very long and will likely fall back on your previous routines.
We are aware that it is not as easy as it seems. It doesn’t guarantee that a habit will stick, even if you persuade your brain that it has a reward. According to psychological research, habits can take anywhere from 21 to 66 days to fully form, depending on the individual and the complexity of the behavior. However, your brain will gradually recognize the benefits of a habit and become accustomed to it, making it seek the reward after enough practice and reinforcement (Johnson, 2024).
Willpower is not a skill; it is a muscle. Everybody has it. Research shows that willpower can be strengthened over time, much like physical muscles, through consistent use and practice. It will affect every aspect of your life and get stronger the more you utilize it. Your desires will materialize if you have faith in your ability to change and direct all of your efforts in that direction (Duhigg, 2024a).
References
Duhigg, C., 2024a. Psychology of Habits. [online] The World Counts. Available at: https://www.theworldcounts.com/purpose/psychology-of-habits [Accessed 7 September 2024].
Duhigg, C., 2024b. The Power of Habit. [online] Experience Life. Available at: https://experiencelife.lifetime.life/article/the-power-of-habit/ [Accessed 7 September 2024].
Johnson, L., 2024. Power of Habit: The Key to Breaking Harmful Patterns. [online] CBN. Available at: https://www2.cbn.com/news/health/power-habit-key-breaking-harmful-patterns [Accessed 7 September 2024].
