It is not always easy when it comes to creating a new habit. Particularly, everyone is different and we all have different lifestyles, behavior, and cravings.
I finished The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg last year, and I thought this book is really insightful. It personally has helped me create a new habit to exercise and meditate regularly. I hope this book will be on your reading list.
In this post, I’d like to share with you what I’ve learned from the book and I hope it will provide you some information about starting a new habit or reshaping your old habit. While the book may not be an all-in-one solution, but I think it provides great insight into how habit works, how it has been successfully applied in individuals and companies, and what are the important elements of successful habit change.
How habits form
The habit starts with a cue, a trigger that tells your brain to start a regular action, then followed by a routine, then the rewards come in, which is something that our brain likes and helps remember habits in the future. Then, the cycle begins again.
In his book, Charles Duhigg explains that the cue can be time, location, emotional state, other people, or immediately preceding actions.
This explains how Pepsodent toothpaste was introduced in America. You might be surprised that hardly Americans had toothpaste in their home in early 1900. A decade later, the habit had become a ritual for over 75% of Americans. Claude Hopkins, a well-known advertising executive, has cracked the cue and the reward.
Citric acid and doses of mint oil are put on the Pepsodent toothpaste, which has zero effect on cleanliness, yet it creates a cool and tingling sensation on a tongue and gum. The cue is simply waking up in the morning, the routine is brushing up the teeth, and the reward is a clean and tingling sensation in our mouth.
In my case, the cue is my emotional state. At work, there were times when I feel so frustrated for being stuck at a difficult problem. I will usually start craving sweet things after this.
So, I try to go to the gym instead, which is the new routine. And, the reward is the happy feeling from my brain’s dopamine which I start to crave when I feel stressed out.
Later on, I realized that shifting my purpose from losing weight or having awesome abs to reduce stress and anxiety is actually more effective to increase my gym attendance.
Keystone habits
The book describes how a young woman, Lisa Allen, has transformed almost every aspect of her life in four years. Before a huge improvement in her life, she was in debt, overweight, alcoholic, a smoker, and divorced. Her husband has left her for a younger and more attractive woman. Needless to say, she felt so depressed.
She decided to make a trip to Cairo to see the Pyramid, and during the trip, she realized she needed a goal – something to work on. She determined that she would replace cigarettes with jogging in the next six months.
Four years later, she is sitting in a laboratory with researchers and she looks like a completely different person. She has lost 60 pounds and she looks a decade younger. Moreover, she has bought a house, quit smoking, took a master’s program, and got engaged. She has changed her life in a relatively short period of time.
Scientists believe that it was not her trip to Cairo that changed her life, nor the divorce. But it happens because Lisa focused on changing one habit which is giving up smoking. This habit has transformed how she eats, works, saves money, and exercises. As scientists scrutinized her brain, they found that her old habits have been overridden by new patterns and more healthy and productive habits.
A keystone habit is basically a habit that points to many new good habits. Exercising is one of them. One thing that I’ve noticed after building this habit is I become more focused on getting things done. Also, I have a better mood throughout the day, therefore I become a better listener and I have better communication with my family and my coworkers.
In short, I feel things are a bit easier to handle when I am one of those days.
Write down/prepare the plan in details
Recovering from a hip or legs surgery is excruciating. A small shifting such as moving in bed can be really painful. However, patients need to start to exercise as soon as possible. Otherwise, the scar tissue will clog the joint and crush its flexibility.
Researches found that those who wrote if-then scenarios to exercise tend to recover faster than those who did not. For instance, patients who wanted to walk and meet his wife at a bus station wrote a specific path they would take, what clothes they would wear, which coat they would wear if it was raining, and what specific pills they would take if the pain is just too painful.
The same principle has been applied in Starbucks training as well. Starbucks provides specific plans and instructions that help their Baristas remain calm when handling angry customers. For instance, they prepared scripts and the Starbucks’s trainees will practice it over and over again so they will react to the predetermined script instead of their natural impulse.
To build the exercise habit easier, I have my running shoes ready and put clean clothes, toiletry kit, workout clothes, water bottle, iPod shuffle with my favorite playlist, and everything I need in a separate bag. So, I can just grab them easily when I want to go to the gym.
But that is the happy path. What if I really don’t want to work out? What I would do was I would tell myself that I am just gonna run for 10 minutes and I can watch a movie after work out (a bigger reward than the happy feeling). I started something super easy so I can’t say no. Usually, it works to trick my mind and I ended up running much longer than that.
At first, it does not matter how long I will be at the gym or how hard is my workout will be, the most important thing for me is to simply show up at the gym and let the new pattern is created in my brain’s basal ganglia.
Belief and support of community
According to the book, having a belief is a critical element to change a habit successfully.
Coming from a Christian background, I cannot agree more with this point. While having a detailed plan really helps us execute our goals, belief is what keeps us going when we hit a crisis.
Often, though, that belief emerges in the support of the community. As described in the book, these two elements are the main factors why Alcohol Anonymous (AA) program is so effective. The community allows their member to practice their faith that they can quit their drinking habit and suspend disbelief during moments of high stress.
Believe you can, and you are halfway there – Theodore Roosevelt
This idea can be applied to your goal too. Grab a buddy to be your accountability partner in achieving your goals. For instance, I have a friend who is also working towards his goals, and we will report to each other when we finish with our outcome goals.
Key point summary
- The habit loop consists of three elements: a cue, a routine, and a reward. An old habit can be changed by inserting a different routine. Check this framework by Charless Duhigg
- It is important to note that we should not focus on the result, but build the habit itself.
- Having a genuine purpose why you want to achieve your goals
- Write if-then scenario.
- Create a system or environment in such a way that you can easily execute your plans.
- Having a partner boost our commitment towards our goals.
- Community creates belief.
I hope it is informative and thanks for stopping by!
Vi, a software engineer with a keen interest in personal finance, had planned to retire once she reached her lean FI/RE (Financial Independence/Retire Early) goal. However, after achieving the goal, she took few months of a mini-retirement filled with travel and adventure and decided to continue her career.
For the past five years, Vi has been using Personal Capital (Empower), a free financial tool. Her favorite features include the dashboard for net worth, allocation, and planning, which help track her FI/RE goal and keep those investment fees in check.