The Power of Habit

As I have done before, I decided to post a write-up of a book I'd read on my personal blog, and am copying it here.

It's rather long - you've been warned!

I recently read the book The Power of Habit, and thought about ways this could be applied to weight loss.

Habit, according to the book, accounts for 40% of our day-to-day actions, and the key to changing our habits lies in understanding how habits work. A habit has three key components: a cue, which is the trigger to tell our brain that we should begin performing a routine. At the end of the routine lies a reward.

So how does a habit change? The golden rule the author proposes is to utilize the same cue, provide the same reward, but substitute a more desirable routine. The basic steps proposed:

1. Identify the routine. Before a habit can be modified, one must first be aware that the habit exists and figure out what the routine is. Most of the time this is easy – the routine is exactly what we want to change. It’s overeating, or smoking, or some other habit that we have that we would like to break.

2. Experiment with rewards. Now that you know the routine, the next step is to identify exactly what reward you’re craving. This is not always obvious – for example, maybe you have a habit of getting up in the afternoon, going to a cafeteria, and having a cookie. It might be tempting to see the cookie as the reward, but that’s actually part of the routine. The reward is in how the routine of going to the cafeteria and eating a cookie makes you feel. Is the reward a cessation of hunger? In that case, eating an apple at your desk would be effective, too. Maybe it’s craving a break from work or a stretching of the legs, and a walk is a substitute. Maybe it’s craving the socializing that occurs in the cafeteria, and talking with a friend is an alternative. Maybe it’s a way to reduce stress or anxiety, and listening to music or meditating could be an alternative. Here, you substitute new routines until finding one that satisfies the craving. You can tell if the craving is satisfied by doing the new “experimental” routine and waiting 15 minutes to see if the urge to do the old routine still exists – if it does, the new routine didn’t deliver the proper reward.

3. Isolate the cue. When you get a craving to do something, write down the time, the place, your emotional state, any other people who are present, and what action immediately preceded the craving. Chances are, one of these factors is your cue. Do this for a while and a pattern is likely to emerge that will tell you what cue is driving the habit.

4. Create a plan. Now that you know what the cue is, and what reward you were really looking for, create a plan for a better routine that will satisfy your need for the reward. The basic idea is to consciously think about “IF-THEN” plans: If <cue>, then <new routine>.

That is the basic framework of the book, as it applies to an individual seeking to change habits (there are also parts of the book dealing with habits of organizations which I am omitting from review). There were several other good nuggets in the book, but the ones I thought were most important:

Plan for how to deal with pain or failure

A group of senior citizens who just had hip surgery received education on how to keep using the joint, and it was stressed that even though it would be painful, this was very important for the healing process and their future mobility. All of the individuals were given blank pages at the end of the pamphlet where they were encouraged to fill out a plan. Those who did were significantly more successful than those who didn’t, and much of this came down to both having very specific plans (at 3:30 PM I will walk to the bus stop) but more importantly, for having contingencies for what to do when things went wrong (if the pain is severe, I will take X medication).

This kind of “inflection point” thinking – planning ahead for struggles that were anticipated and having a plan to deal with each – was a major factor in how likely the patients were to go through with their plans. Choosing how you will respond ahead of time to a crisis can greatly improve your success.

For example: if you have a calorie goal, how will you respond if you realize you’ve gone over? Are you going to plan to say “the day’s shot, to hell with it” and binge like crazy? It probably isn’t something you’d ever plan, but many people do just that (I’ve done it, I’m sad to say). If you plan to walk every day, what will you do if it’s raining or snowing? How will you handle a craving for a food that doesn’t fit with your goals for that day?

I’d take this a step farther, though. If you want to work out, what are the steps you need to take? When, specifically, are you going to go and do this? Create an action plan that describes what you will do and when, and how you will respond to challenges that you anticipate might arise.

Failure is part of learning

Another point is that failures don’t mean the attempt was a total waste. Treat a failure as an opportunity to learn. Former smokers who successfully quit rarely do so on the first time, and many take up to seven times before they quit for good. Rather than see these as failures, though, we should see these as steps toward success. As a child, I ended up with many scrapes, bruises, and skinned knees while learning to ride a bike. Were these simply useless failures, or were these part of the learning process? When things go wrong, take this opportunity to analyze why, and look for patterns. Maybe during a certain time window it’s really hard for you to control your eating. Learn from your failures so that you aren’t doomed to repeat them.

Focus on one thing at a time

Another common failure is the desire to do too much all at once. Rather than focus on a single bad habit, people focus on trying to change a whole host of habits at the same time. This lack of focus often can make the entire process unsuccessful – instead, dedicate yourself to the one habit you most want to change. Often, this ends up being a “keystone habit” that can, by itself, drive other habit changes, but you should always focus on the one habit you really care about.