The Power of Habit

Habits exist to save energy for the brain

Habits have been created by nature to save us time, to save us energy. Our brain is repeatedly searching for new methods to reduce energy and save effort. If you leave the brain to itself, it will try to take advantage of any shortcut and transform any routine into a new habit. Why? Because habits permit our minds to reduce push the so-called auto pilot button and chill out in the background a little bit more often.

Cue, routine, reward

Habits are not too complicated, there is a simple action cycle that consists of a cue, a routine, and a reward. For example, waking up in the morning with a bad smell in your mouth might be the cue that triggers the routine behavior of brushing your teeth, which in the end gives us the reward of having a clean and nicely smelling taste in our mouth. The habit cycle is normally driven by desires and good feelings or comfort.

For example, we might desire to have the feeling of a clean and good smelling mouth, which will prompt us to regularly perform the task of brushing our teeth after we experience the cue of waking up from bed in the morning. It is crucial to understand how habits work before we start to change our old bad habits. Finally, next to understanding how to create new positive ones, it is crucial that we are aware of the cue, routine, reward habit mechanism.

The Golden Rule

The Golden Rule of how to change Habits: it is not possible to delete and get rid of a bad habit, the only thing you can try to do is to change it into a good one. Our brains have a huge memory of all our past habits, so they become deeply rooted into our body, they can even form a part of our identity. So while it would be nice to be able to erase these hard-wired connection, it is not possible. So we have to be intentional about changing our bad habits into good ones, rather than focusing only on eliminating the bad ones.

How to change habits

In order to change our old habits, we need to stick with the the cue and reward, they always need to stay the same, but what we need to change is only the routine. For example, when you visualize how you smoke a cigarette every time when you drink coffee in the morning. In this case, the coffee is the cue, smoking a cigarette is the routine, and the good and familiar feeling some people get from the cigarette is the reward. So, if you drink your coffee tomorrow, change the routine, which means do not grab a cigarette and light it in order to get the good feeling but instead go for a walk or try to hit the gym in the morning.

Keystone habits

Keystone habits are those kind of habits that have the power to transform bad habits in almost all other areas of our lives. Physical exercise can be called a keystone habit. Imagine if you would be exercising as often as possible, your brain and body would start forming other healthy behaviors automatically in order to maintain coherence with this positive habit. After you have finished a great workout routine, instead of eating a pizza or fast food, it makes more sense to go for a healthier meal, such as a protein shake or a fresh salad.

The relevance of agency

Anytime we need to perform an important task it is important to control the feeling of agency in order to balance how much effort our brain has to put into this action. If we really like to do something, it will not require a lot of energy and only a little mental effort to get the job done. Otherwise, if we are forced to do something we do not really like, it will drain our energy and it will require a lot of willpower to accomplish it. This process is relevant when we have to motivate people to perform important tasks at work.

How to explain something new in a familiar context

Given the case, that we have to present a new product or idea to a group of people, the group is more likely to fully grasp and accept any new idea, if we frame the new idea within a more familiar context. This is exactly how many startups apply this principle when they create a marketing slogan like “We are the Amazon or Facebook of [a specific industry].” Everybody is familiar with these big brands, so it is easier to categorize and place the new product within this context so that people can easier understand the idea behind the vision. An unknown and new startup company is more likely to be accepted by the masses when it is situated within the framework of familar brands that people know and trust.

Habits are like water

A fish for example can not know what water is, because he has never had the experience of what it is like not to be in water. The fish would not be able to understand the concept of water even though it is immersed in water every moment. Habits to us are exactly like the water to the fish, they form the basis of our lives without us even noticing them – most of the time we are not aware of the behavioral patterns that make up our lives as they are automatically performed in the background by the subconscious mind. The first step in order to change habits is to become aware of how they control our behavior. The second step is to do the required work and practice it as often as possible.