Building New Habits

September 8, 2022

Even though it is hard to admit, we all have bad habits, and those bad habits are very hard to change. It takes a lot of will-power and determination to do something about them.

Habits are automatic behaviors that we do repeatedly on a regular basis. They are formed gradually and become second nature. Researchers, at Duke University in North Carolina, found that 45% of everyday behaviors are habits.

How are Habits Formed?

Behaviors that we acquire are shaped by observation and imitation. Habit formation involves three parts: a trigger, an action, and a reward.

In the morning, when you get up, you brush your teeth without much thought about doing it. You do it automatically and the tigger is waking up. The action is brushing, and the reward is fresh breath and clean teeth.

A habit stays with you because you have a high emotional connection with it. Long-lasting healthy habits come from the reward the body

gets from carrying out the action.

Repetition of this three-part loop creates neural pathways in the basal ganglia of your brain. Bad habits are hard to break because you must rewire the neural pathways into new habits.

Atomic Habits

I just finished reading James Clear’s Atomic Habits: An Easy and Proven Way to Build Good Habits and Break Bad Ones. Dive into his book, if you are interested in how atomic habits help establish good habits.

James Clear talks about ‘little habits that are a part of a larger system.’ He states that, rather than goals, little (or atomic) habits lead to powerful outcomes.

He also discusses how behavior change is identity change. For example, people who consider themselves to be a writer identify as being a writer rather than just claiming to write. A small difference, but a big step in forming a habit.

Have a notable day!