Choosing to Change
In the book The Power of Habit, Charles Duhigg writes: "A habit is a choice that we deliberately make at some point, and then stop thinking about, but continue doing, often every day" (Duhigg 296). This means that at one point, when you carried out an action, you thought about doing it, you were deliberate and present. Then, as time moved on, and you repeated it over and over again, it became ingrained in your brain, and you started doing it automatically.
To implement a change to a habit, you must begin thinking about that habit again. Duhigg tells us to make a plan, and remember to do it. For example, if you know the cue of your habit occurs at a certain time of day, set a timer for around that time, and when it goes off, go through with your modified habit. It's OK if you fail every once-and-a-while, just keep going with your new habit, and eventually it will stick (Duhigg 297).
Remember to craft a routine that will satisfy your reward. I talked about this in one of my previous blog posts. For example, I figured out that the reward I craved was a break between school and homework. So, instead of eating and watching videos on YouTube, I picked up a book and read for twenty minutes after school.
Over the past five posts you have learned how habits work and how to change them. Hopefully you can apply this information to change your habits. What habits have you changed, or would like to change, using what I have taught you? How will you apply what you have learned in doing so?
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| My new habit, reading |
Works Cited
Duhigg, Charles. The Power
of Habit. New York, Random House, 2014.
Well Jonathan, I could try to start reading instead of messing about on the web but I might find myself spending more time not doing my homework. At least with the internet I can tell myself I am utterly wasting my time instead of thinking I am doing something mildly productive. Wish you best of luck though.
ReplyDelete-Rafe
Hey Johnathan,
ReplyDeleteI just wanted to say that your blogs were very well made and they built off of each other which made the process of getting rid of these bad habits and creating much new beneficial ones much easier.
I for one do have a problem with waiting to the last minute doing homework and things of that sort, but since reading your posts it as helped quite a bit.
Keep up the good work!