5/2 Wednesday Day 2 SLBC: How Habits Work
themedalist
Posts: 3,218 Member
Theme: How Habits Work
Today’s Challenge: Since sitting is a habit we want to change, today we are going to explore how habits work and the three components of every habit. There's been a revolution the last 20 years in the scientific understanding of habits and below are some key insights from that research. There's a lot of information here, but understanding the fundamentals of habit building will help you both in Boot Camp as well as creating or modifying any other habit you want. I’ve used the habits process many times, most notably to break a very bad Cheez-It® habit.
Why not stand up when you read today’s challenge?
Why Should You Care About Habits?
Charles Duhigg, author of “The Power of Habit”:
“Most of the choices we make each day may feel like the products of well-considered decision making, but they’re not. They’re habits. And though each habit means relatively little on its own, over time, the meals we order, what we say to our kids each night, whether we save or spend, how often we exercise, and the way we organize our thoughts and work routines have enormous impacts on our health, productivity, financial security, and happiness.”
Some Interesting Facts About Habits
1. Habits are essential to our daily lives. Think about all the tiny steps involved in the simple habit of brushing your teeth. If each day you had to relearn this sequence of steps, your brain would get tired and overwhelmed very quickly. The brain’s ability to seamlessly move through a sequence of steps on autopilot is what enables us to go through our our day with relative ease. Routine tasks can be automated into habits allowing us to focus on more complex tasks.
2. Roughly half of our daily actions are habits. At some point we made the decision to do a certain habit, but over time and after repeatedly doing the habit, we don’t consciously make the choice anymore, nor are we even usually aware that we are doing our habit. They run on autopilot, which makes them hard to break. Technically, a habit is something we do automatically without being aware we are doing it. When it’s something we do repeatedly that we are consciously aware we’re doing, that’s a practice or routine, not a habit. Practically speaking, these subtle differences in definition aren’t important.
3. No, it doesn’t take 21 days to form a new habit. How long it takes to build a new habit depends mostly on how complex the habit is and how motivated the person is to create it. A very simple habit can be learned in a few days if a person is very motivated. More complex habits, such as stopping smoking, typically take much longer.
4. You can’t force yourself to develop new habits. Human beings are hardwired to do things that they want to do and get rewards from doing. Don’t try to force yourself to learn a new habit if it’s not something you want to do. It won’t work and it won’t be sustainable. Pick a new behavior that you want to do.
5. Think small and then build. The most successful new habits are those that are incredibly small. Since they don’t require much effort or motivation, our naturally resistant to change brains will be far more receptive to sticking with the new action. If your goal is to exercise 30 minutes a day, start with 2 to 5 minutes of walking or another easy-to-do exercise.
6. Good Habit or Bad Habit? Your brain doesn’t care. Our brains make no distinction nor have any preference for Good Habits (those that help us) and Bad Habits (those that set us back).
7. Habits are triggered by our environment. What you see, hear, smell, and feel in your home, office, and other environments are powerful cues that trigger the habits you have. Location, time of day, a series of thoughts, and other people can also be triggers. Want to start a new habit? Take a vacation that gets you out of your usual environment.
The Three Components of a Habit (Called the Habit Loop)
The Trigger: This is the cue that starts the habit in motion. There is always a cue, even if it’s subtle and not something we’re aware of. The trigger can be a visual cue or an auditory cue such as the phone ringing. A habit can also be triggered by the time of day, which is why most of us move through the habit of brushing our teeth every morning and night.
The Routine: This is the habit itself, the series of steps you take quickly and effortlessly when you do the habit.
The Reward: In order for us to keep doing the habit, there has to be some reward or benefit that we derive. Sometimes it’s not obvious what we get from doing the habit and it can take some digging to figure it out. But we now know that rewards are a fundamental part of creating and maintaining habits.
Cues and Rewards are Connected
Cues also trigger the brain to remember the reward from doing the habit, setting off a craving for the reward. Even if we are not aware of it, our cravings for rewards drive the habit loop. Yes, donut shops really stack the odds against you.
You Can Visualize the Habit Loop This Way
Once you understand the components of every habit, you can start fiddling with and adjusting the three parts to create new habits or modify an existing habit.
The Most Effective Way to Create New Habits
The best way to create a new habit and have it stick is to anchor the new behavior to an existing habit that you already do. That existing habit becomes the cue that triggers you to do the new habit. The anchor needs to be something that you do every day or several times a day. Alternatively, it can be something that happens to you during the day such as the phone ringing. Pouring yourself that first cup of coffee or tea, checking your phone, powering up your laptop or tablet, or sending an email are just a few examples of anchors that make good triggers for new habits.
Practice and Repetition Leads to Success
In order to make your new action a habit, you’re going to have to do it repeatedly until it becomes automatic for you. It’s impossible to make something a habit when you only do it occasionally. Choose a new habit that you can practice daily, or better yet several times a day, and it will be easier to keep doing.
This critical step is the breakdown point for most wannabe habits. People will practice their new habit for awhile and then stop doing it and wonder why the habit didn’t stick. Because it wasn’t truly a habit and wasn’t given enough time, effort, practice, or rewards to become a habit. Whatever small sit-less habit you select to work for Boot Camp (more on this tomorrow), plan on working on it daily into the foreseeable future, if you want to have it stick.
Don’t Skip the Reward
Cues start the habit and rewards keep us wanting to do the habit again. It can be tough to think of an appropriate reward for a new sit-less habit, since the rewards tend to accrue years from now. Simple verbal positive reinforcements can be an effective reward. “Way to go, me!” or something similar, may seem a little silly, but it’s an effective response to completing a new action that we want to become a habit.
Rewards are a critical step in habit building because they help your brain decide if a particular series of steps is worth automating into a habit so that it can be recalled in the future.
Don’t skip the reward. :-)
Want to Change an Existing Habit? Change the Routine
Since all habits have a Cue-Routine-Reward component, a recommended strategy for modifying an existing habit is to keep the same cue and reward but change the routine. Almost any habit can be changed given enough time and focus if the cue and reward stay the same and only the routine is changed.
You’ve Got to Believe that Change is Possible
Belief is also an essential ingredient in habit formation. We have to believe that the rewards from creating new habits will be great enough to be worth taking the time and trouble to create the new habit.
We see this on My Fitness Pal. There are lots of success stories posted on the community forum and seeing our MFP friends succeed at their health and wellness goals makes our own success more real, tangible, and likely. Communities like MFP are terrific incubators for habit change since belief, support, and encouragement make the difficult process of personal change much easier.
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That's a lot of ground to cover! Tomorrow we'll be applying this information to selecting our sit-less actions.
And if you have a little more time, below are a short video by author Charles Duhigg (The Power of Habit) and a TED talk by noted habits expert Dr. BJ Fogg. Both are excellent. Or head out for a walk today!
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Charles Duhigg, author of "The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W1eYrhGeffc
Dr. BJ Fogg, Director, Stanford Persuasive Technology Lab. “Forget Big Change, Start with a Tiny Habit”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AdKUJxjn-R8 6 -
BJ Fogg made an excellent point in his video that I wanted to re-emphasize. Whatever new sit-less habit you choose to work on over the next 3 weeks, you already know how to do it. That’s not the stumbling block. The problem is it’s not automatic for you. And that’s where repetition, practice, triggers, and rewards come in. They help make a budding habit automatic.4
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Thanks for those videos - very interesting! Reminds me a bit of Tim Ferris and others who just suggest that you can experiment with your own actions/habits to change your life and see if anything 'works' for you better.3
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great way to start day 2 of the challenge thanks for the videos
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Awesome! I will revisit my habits and see which ones I need to continue, which ones need some fine tuning and which ones will need to disappear!3
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I appreciate the videos. When broken down in that manner, things don't seem so overwhelming. Thanks.3
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Wow . thank you for all the effort put into this.2
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Wow . thank you for all the effort put into this.
You are so welcome, @starryk02! To say that habits are a bit of an obsession for me is an understatement. I've read every recommended book I can find on the subject, taken webinars and online classes on habits, procrastination, and motivation, and I'm currently wrapping up James Clear's excellent Habits Academy Master Class. I'm thrilled to share what I've learned over the years with you about habits.
I hope that you'll use this information as @prgirl39mfp put it so well (I've tweaked it just a tad):
"to revisit your habits and see which ones you need to continue, which ones need some fine tuning and which ones will need to disappear!"
When you understand how habits work, you can change any habit that you have that's holding you back. It takes time and effort, but it can be done.
This pretty much sums it up for me:
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Another suggestion I have is to prioritize and nurture Keystone Habits. Keystone habits are those habits that tend to bring other good habits along with them. Ever notice that when you exercise regularly you also tend to eat better and vice versa? Exercise and eating well are both keystone habits. Not all habits are of equal importance. Pay attention to your keystone habits and other good habits will come a long for the ride.4
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Great info. It now seems doable. 1
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Great info. I am so glad to read how we get into habits. I've always heard it takes 21 days to make something a habit. Good to know that's not necessarily true. Thanks so much Denise for all you do.
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I am currently reading Duhigg's book The Power of Habit - great stuff!
One cue I use is putting on my sneakers first thing in the morning - right out of bed. That means I'm set to do my marching around the backyard. As for rewarding myself - my self satisfaction knows no bounds! Lol! One interest thing I find is that my plan is to walk 10 minutes,and I'll often catch myself thinking maybe only 5. But by the time I hit 5, I'm thinking maybe 12,then 15 or 28 until I must stop to get ready for work.3 -
Besides sitting too much, I've got a couple of other habits I'd like to work on. This is great information.2
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Excellent 2nd day! I'm really enjoying reading the many very insightful posts as well as the amazing resources!
There is a lot to know about habits that I didn't even realize existed! Or more than likely that I don't remember from past Boot Camps. These past two days are making me very hopeful that I can actually do this in a sustainable way! And that perhaps it will come together in a way that makes sense (meaning do-able) to me.
:flowerforyou:2 -
I made a point today to stand up for a few minutes for every 30 minutes of sitting. Sitting disease is scary!2
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Great posts full of useful and interesting information. Thanks!1
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I am currently reading Duhigg's book The Power of Habit - great stuff!
One cue I use is putting on my sneakers first thing in the morning - right out of bed. That means I'm set to do my marching around the backyard. As for rewarding myself - my self satisfaction knows no bounds! Lol! One interest thing I find is that my plan is to walk 10 minutes,and I'll often catch myself thinking maybe only 5. But by the time I hit 5, I'm thinking maybe 12,then 15 or 28 until I must stop to get ready for work.
Putting on your sneakers the first thing after you get out of bed is a terrific habit. You are set for walking and marching and no doubt you get in more steps.
And I’m not surprised that making a small ask of yourself such as “I’ll only walk for 5 minutes” leads to more steps. The hard part is getting started. That’s why a new habit needs to be small, so that there’s less internal resistance. But once you get moving, a body in motion tends to stay in motion.
Well done, @77tes!2 -
texasgardnr wrote: »Excellent 2nd day! I'm really enjoying reading the many very insightful posts as well as the amazing resources!
There is a lot to know about habits that I didn't even realize existed! Or more than likely that I don't remember from past Boot Camps. These past two days are making me very hopeful that I can actually do this in a sustainable way! And that perhaps it will come together in a way that makes sense (meaning do-able) to me.
:flowerforyou:
This habits section is new to Boot Camp, @texasgardnr. So you haven’t forgotten it...it’s new. Because sitting is a habit, it made sense to me to spend a day really looking at habits.
Plus, knowing the components of habits enables you to change any habit you have or create any new habit that would be beneficial to you. I hope everyone will use the info as @lwintx intends in whatever area of your life that needs a little tweaking.1 -
These are great and thank you for sharing. Every time I think to sit down, I now ask myself " do you really need to sit?" Sitting is difficult for me so I do stand most of the day. In fact I side step when standing in place. Blame Leslie Sansone....my husband calls it the pee dance."
I also have my laptop on my kitchen counter. This helps me from sitting and spending time online. I have to quit leaning though. I am working on that.5 -
These are great and thank you for sharing. Every time I think to sit down, I now ask myself " do you really need to sit?" Sitting is difficult for me so I do stand most of the day. In fact I side step when standing in place. Blame Leslie Sansone....my husband calls it the pee dance."
I also have my laptop on my kitchen counter. This helps me from sitting and spending time online. I have to quit leaning though. I am working on that.
LOL about the "pee dance." That's clever, having your laptop on the kitchen counter.2 -
These are great and thank you for sharing. Every time I think to sit down, I now ask myself " do you really need to sit?" Sitting is difficult for me so I do stand most of the day. In fact I side step when standing in place. Blame Leslie Sansone....my husband calls it the pee dance."
I also have my laptop on my kitchen counter. This helps me from sitting and spending time online. I have to quit leaning though. I am working on that.
Asking yourself, "Do I really need to sit?" is a great way to sit less throughout the day. Thanks for the idea, @PinkyPan1!1 -
@PinkyPan1, What I have been doing since my first Boot Camp to help me not lean over while using my iPad on the kitchen counter is I use an adjustable tablet stand, adjusted to the angle that I can easily read with. Then I put it with the iPad on top of a taller shoe box on the kitchen counter. This particular box works for me, but I did try out different things to elevate the iPad enough for me. Sometimes I readjust the stand to use it for my e-reader or phone so that I can stand and read on them also. When I'm done I just stash the box out of sight.
Maybe you can find something to help elevate your laptop enough to help you.
There are sit-stand desk converters that are height-adjustable that one can purchase to convert flat surfaces or conventional desks to a taller height. I don't have the space to make that work for me. So I didn't really explore that option.
:flowerforyou:1 -
hahahaha I am laughing so hard.0
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