Let me break it to you. You can't. Every habit is different, there is not cookie cutter 'Chage-My-Life-O-Rama' method that you can apply to every single habit to change the way you act. As Charles Duhigg puts it in his book, The Power of Habit, "It's not that the formulas don't exist. The problem is that there isn't one formula for changing habits. There are thousands. Individuals and habits are all different, and so the specifics of diagnosing and changing the patterns in our lives differ from person to person and behavior to behavior" (Duhigg 287). There is however, a general framework to reshaping habits.
Step 1 - Identify the Routine
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| An average day after school |
Step 2 - Find the Right Reward
Habits are so hard to change because of cravings. As a habit is developed, a craving is developed along with it. According to Duhigg, during a habit our brain begins to expect a reward and feel rewarded -even before the actual reward is presented. If these cravings aren't satisfied, then we become dejected and unhappy (Duhigg 48). This is why it is important to experiment with the reward, to find the right craving to satisfy. Changing the habit of eating food and watching YouTube after school wont work if your trying to satisfy a hunger craving instead of an entertainment craving.
To figure out what the reward is of your habit, experiment. Don't try to positively improve your habit at first. Just try alternatives. In my scenario, I might try reading the newspaper after school, or I might eat a snack, but get to work on homework right away. Fifteen minutes (set a timer) after trying your alternative routine, ask yourself, "do I still want that after-school snack?" If you feel that you are able to continue your day, and not go back to that habit, then you have found what craving you need to satisfy. On the other hand, if you feel the need to return to your habit, then you haven't fulfilled the craving that comes from your habit.
In my next blog post I will build off of these Ideas here to continue changing a habit. In the mean time, Think of a habit that you want to change. What is it's routine? What are some of the possible rewards you are getting from this habit. What are some alternative actions you could do to achieve the same reward?
Works Cited
Duhigg,
Charles. The Power of Habit. New
York, Random House, 2014.
Hi Jonathan,
ReplyDeleteI really like your post. It’s very helpful for bad habits and I’ve been trying to change some of my habits, but I could never figure out how to permanently change them because sometimes my routine will only last for a little bit but then I’m right back to where I started from. It is very frustrating but I find that your idea on how to change habits is very insightful.
Typically, I will do homework at night because that is when I feel like I do my best work, but I always get distracted by my phone or just get bored from doing an assignment. Therefore, an assignment that should have taken me only thirty minutes to do becomes an hour and a half long process. After reading your post I think that some ways I can encourage myself to stay focused on assignments is by telling myself I have to stay focused for a solid thirty minutes and be productive and then I can take a break and either watch videos on my phone or grab a little snack. I think that this technique will be great and very helpful for staying on task.
In addition, I was wondering if you know how to keep the new routine to stay permanent rather than have the old one come back. Since I have experienced this before I would like to know how I could improve my behaviors before I go back to my old habits. I know you said that giving yourself rewards helps, but what are other things that I can do to help me stay focused?
Thank you for the advice
Hey Hannah!
DeleteI'm glad that you liked my post. I sometimes have the same problem doing homework, I get distracted as well. To deliberately change a habit, you must first identify the cue, I talked about this in my next blog post (https://goo.gl/Ka5mmu), but basically, try to become aware of what causes your habit. Is it that you see a notification on your phone? Or just that you get bored of homework?
Once you identify the cue, you can anticipate it, and implement your new habit. Giving yourself a break is an excellent idea. In this case, the reward that you may be craving is a break from homework.
To do this, I would suggest buying a simple kitchen timer, so that you don't use one on your phone. Set a timer for thirty minutes, and do homework during that time. When the timer goes off, set another for ten minutes, and take a break for that time. Repeat these two timers until you are done with your homework. You can experiment with the timings, and if you feel like you can work for longer, then work longer.
You could also look into productivity apps for your phone. I heard about one that locks you out of your phone for a set amount of time so you can't get distracted by it. Or you could just go the old fashioned rout and put your phone in another room. Sometimes not having the distraction on you is enough to keep you focused.
In terms of maintaining this habit, the best advice I can give you is to stay persistent and motivated. Remember that failure is OK, and that you can try again. In fact, the book I read talked about this. The author noted that repeatedly failing helps us become more aware of that habit. We can see what worked and what hasn't. Studies show that smokers fail to quit smoking seven times before finally giving up the pipe for good.
Lastly, if you have been trying for a while, and haven't made any headway, it may be because you aren't satisfying your craving right. In this case, go back to experimenting with different rewards, and you may find one that sticks.
Good luck and keep at it!
-Jonathan