Habits

• how habits work
• how to create new habits
• how to transform habits
• book: The Power Of Habit
• summary SL: Navade

how habits work

To explain how habits work, we are going to need a rat with wired brain, a T-shaped maze, some chocolate, and a week of time.

After a loud *click* a gate opens, an animal is free to move. It starts exploring the environment —slowly, with cautious— until it finds chocolate at one end.

A rat's brain activity, when exploring the maze for the first time. The brain is working hard the entire time:

After a week, the rat gets familiar with the maze, it knows exactly what to do when hearing a *click*. Go straight, turn left, smash the chocolate. The rat’s brain settles down as it runs through the maze:

When doing a set of activities for the first time, your brain works hard, to make sure, everything is okay.

When doing the same set of activities over and over again, it becomes familiar, it becomes a routine. Your brain knows, you are safe with whatever you are doing, it goes auto mode and shuts down to save the energy.

After a week of training, a rat develops a habit. Here is a basic structure of a habit loop:

• CUE: a rat hears a *click* (gate opens)
• ROUTINE: running through the maze
• REWARD: chocolate

This is not a rat only formula, it is universal, also works with humans.

• CUE: a trigger that tells your brain to go into automatic mode and which habit to use
• ROUTINE: can be physical, mental or emotional
• REWARD: helps your brain figure out if this particular loop is worth remembering for the future

More you practice, the process becomes more automatic. It gets to the point / when a habit becomes strong: you receive a cue, you will anticipate, want, crave the reward, so you will kill the routine in order to get it.

how to create new habits

To create a new habit, we need a CUE, a ROUTINE, a REWARD. Stronger the wanting/craving for reward, stronger the routine.

Let's say you want to build a habit of going for a run each morning.

CUE
Something simple. Put sneakers next to your bed, so that's what you see first thing in the morning. Hang running clothes on your bedroom door.

ROUTINE
The running: just go for it. Push at the beginning, first couple of days/weeks, since your mind doesn't know about reward yet. When you learn and start craving the reward, the routine goes auto mode. Be patient with the process. For all the newbies: walk first, gradually add duration and intensity.

REWARD
Has to be clear: ~your favourite snack; ~a sense of accomplishment from recording your kilometers (spreadsheet file or paper, put it on display on your door, share it online with others); ~the endorphin rush you get from a jog (the "feel good" feeling after an effort).

College summer routine

College times, I was late with exams every freaking year. Trying to pass 80% of my duties last two months. Summer time, when other disciplined kids had time for traveling the world, partying, or earning cash at various lousy jobs.

My days were like: sleep, eat, study, study, run and some porn at the end of the day as a reward.

Porn is fun, going for a run means effort. I never needed a reminder for having fun, but it wasn't that difficult for my mind to "forget" about running (mostly just trying to skip it).

What I did, I used porn as a cue and reward for running. When my mind reminded me by itself in the evening: "enough for today, it is play time now, you deserve it". I knew, it was actually time to go for a run first, and then a reward. No run = no play. My typical summer behaviour, four years in a row.

So yeah: cue — useful routine — reward.

how to transform habits

The golden rule of habit change: "You can't extinguish a bad habit, you can only change it."

How does it work? Use the same cue, provide the same reward, change the routine.

Most of the time, that's it. For bigger (habit) changes, people must also believe change is possible. For many, it is easier with the help of a support group.

Do you smoke, and you want to quit? Figure out, why do you do it: you like nicotine, it provides a burst of stimulation, a structure to your day, is it a way to socialize? Experiment, and replace it with new routines, that provide similar payoffs: a quick series of push-ups, stretch & relax, a healthy snack?

How does AA (Alcoholics Anonymous) work? They force you to create new routines for what to do every day instead of drinking. When you don't feel okay, you don't go to a bar and "solve it" with booze; you attend a meeting and talk through your problems with others. The trigger and payoff stay the same, what changes is the behaviour.

General framework for habits transformation:

1. identify the routine
2. experiment with rewards
3. isolate the cue
4. have a plan

(1) What routine/activity bothers you (has negative effects), what would you like to change?
(2) What exactly is the reward, what are you craving for? — we are often not conscious of the cravings that drive our behaviours. To experiment with rewards, try/test different routines and note, if your mind is satisfied.
(3) Find out, what triggers the behaviour (location, time, emotional state, other people, specific activity).
(4) We have figured out the old habit loop. Now, make a plan: when I see the same cue, instead of old routine, I will do a new routine, in order to get the same reward.

book: The Power Of Habit

The knowledge, figures for this article are taken from the book: The Power Of Habit by Charles Duhigg. Excellent work, I have read it twice: 2017-09 and 2020-06.

To understand habits more in depth, to better understand your own daily behaviour, and how to manipulate it (in your favour), go read the book.