You may have heard of the saying before that your life today is the sum of your habits or as the author of Atomic Habits, James Clear writes:
“Habits are the compound interest of self-improvement. The same way that money multiplies through compound interest; the effects of your habits multiply as you repeat them.”
What you repeatedly do (being what you spend time thinking about and doing each day) forms the person you are, including the things you believe.
But what if you want to form new habits? How would you go about it?
Firstly, it’s important to understand how habits are formed and the four-step pattern of every habit, as your brain runs through these steps in the same order each time: cue, craving, response, and reward.
How Habits Are Formed
Time
1.Cue | 2.Craving | 3. Response | 4.Reward
James Clear in his book Atomic Habits go through this in detail but I have summarised below how this four-step cycle works:
1. It begins with the Cues which triggers a craving. The cues can be very specific such as a feeling, location, sound, person or activity. For example, your habit can be cued by experiences such as the smell of coffee or a donut, turning on your mobile phone, or the sound of your morning alarm clock. Cues act as the first indication that you’re close to a reward, hence it leads to a craving.
2. Cravings are the second step of the habit loop, as they are the motivational force behind every habit. Without you craving a change, there is no reason for you to act. Note though that what you crave is not the habit itself but the change in state it delivers. E.g. You do not crave/ are motivated by brushing your teeth but the feeling of a clean mouth afterwards.
3. The third step is the response which is the actual habit you perform, in the form of a thought or an action. It is now about getting the reward.
4. The response delivers a reward and rewards are the end goal of every habit (because they satisfy you).
The Habit Loop
1.Cue 2.Craving
4.Reward 3. Response
In summary, the cue triggers a craving, which motivates a response, which provides a reward, which satisfies the craving and, ultimately, becomes associated with the cue. Together, these four steps form a neurological feedback loop (cue, craving, response, reward; cue, craving, response, reward) and essentially leads you to create automatic habits.
First Step: Map & Observe Your Habits
The first step is to map and observe your habits without judgement and notice your behaviours. Here are two examples:
Forming New Habits/ Eliminating Bad Habits
Here is a fantastic framework for designing new habits. To change your behaviour, you can ask yourself:
1. How can I make the cue obvious?
2. How can I make the habit attractive?
3. How can I make the habit easy?
4. How can I make the habit satisfying?
If you want to break a bad habit, you can invert the above. You can ask yourself:
1. How can I make the cue invisible?
2. How can I make the habit unattractive?
3. How can I make the habit difficult?
4. How can I make the habit unsatisfying?
I would love to hear how you go with applying the above laws of behaviour change. You can drop me a line here to share your experience or to take a deeper dive into designing some awesome new habits or eliminating bad ones to achieve your goals this year.
Much Love,
Natalie
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