Don’t Break a Habit – Remodel It – Part 2

This is a continuation of yesterday’s post with a more detailed discussion about changing habits.  All the information in this post is taken from The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg. 

There is a neurological pathway that drives every habit which is depicted in the image below.

The more often you run through this cycle the more intense craving for the behavior becomes.  In order to change a habit you have to understand the forces that are driving it.  You will need to do some introspection and maybe some experimentation to determine what the cue and rewards are for your habit.

Discover the cue

Research on habits has shown that there are 5 things that most often trigger a habit:

1. Location
2. Time of day
3. Emotional state
4. Other people present
5. The immediately preceding action

So make a plan to do a little experiment whenever your habit is triggered.  Prepare a form on paper, Google Doc or whatever with the following questions:

Where am I?

What is the time of day?

What am I feeling  (emotional state)?

Who else is with me?

What was I doing?

Answer those questions each time your habit is triggered and keep a record of the responses.  After a few days you will begin to see a pattern.  Whichever of those questions has the same or a similar response every time – that is your cue.

Now you have to figure out what reward you are getting from the behavior.

Determining the reward

Think about your habit, what benefit are you getting from it?  It could be relieving stress, satisfying hunger, easing boredom.  If you aren’t sure, some experimentation is required.

First determine what the reward could be and write down your guesses.  Pick the most likely one and think of a way to replace the unwanted behavior with something different that will also provide the same reward.  For example if you think your reward is easing boredom and the unwanted behavior is going on youtube and watching videos, think of something else you can do to relieve your boredom.  You can go for a walk, switch to a different task, work on your novel, etc…

Make a plan, write down what alternative behavior you will try when you feel the cue begin to trigger your habit.  It is important to plan ahead and be aware of when the craving for your habit begins.  If you aren’t planning ahead it will be too easy to fall into your usual habitual behavior.

When you have successfully substituted a different behavior for your habitual one, set a timer for 15 minutes later, then go about your business as usual.  When the time goes off, assess how you are feeling, does your craving seem to be satisfied?  If your craving is still strong, the alternative behavior hasn’t satisfied you.  Make a plan to try a different behavior next time.

When you finally feel satisfied after the alternative behavior, you have found your reward and a possible replacement behavior.  Once again formulate a plan to replace your habit with your newly discovered alternative.  You will have to remain aware of your cue and your plan and make a conscious effort to change the behavior.  If you aren’t paying attention the old habit will play out as usual. 

You will have a few set-backs, especially when you are under stress or not paying attention, but don’t beat yourself up about it.  Set-backs are part of the process.  Eventually you find that a new, more sensible behavior is now your habit.

Today’s Action Item:  Form a plan to start the process of discovering the cue to your habit today.