Habits are our brains way of trying to create less work. The Baso Ganglia part of our brain determines when it is time to create a habit, which makes room for our brain to focus consciously on other things. Once the habit trigger kicks in, actions can be done through auto suggestion.
Imagine that every afternoon around 3pm you walk into the break room and grab a cookie. After the first few days its not that big a deal, but after two years of eating mid day cookies and a few extra pounds around the waste line, you really wish you could break the cycle. But every day around 3pm, you find yourself subconsciously walking into the break room for a cookie. In Charles Duhigg’s book, “The Power of Habit,” he explains the three components of any habit:
1) The Trigger: Every habit begins with a trigger. This is the spark that kicks your brain into auto drive. In the example above, this is 3pm at the office.
2) The Routine: Once the trigger occurs, the routine is the activity that your brain has become accustomed to. In the example above, this is the walk to break room.
3) The Reward: This is the ending, the reason for the whole cycle. In the example above its finishing the delicious cookie.
Habits typically can’t be eliminated, but rather replaced. Once you understand the three components of a habit, you can systematically replace it.
A way to override the example above would be:
1) The Trigger: in understanding your trigger, you realize that it begins with mid afternoon boredom, not hunger. So, you determine that another activity would be a walk around the building listening to a podcast.
2) The Routine: Each afternoon at 3pm, you head outside for your walk instead of into the break room with your favorite podcast ready to go.
3) The Reward: When you get back to your desk, you have an apple or piece of fruit waiting on you to give you a small boost of energy to get through the rest of the day.
Awareness and understanding around the different components of your habits is the first step in replacing unproductive habits with productive ones. Our brain isn’t biased, meaning it is just as happy creating a good habit as a bad one. I challenge you to reflect on your current habits and identify the ones that need to be systematically replaced.