Habits are a tricky thing. It feels like it is impossible to create the habits we want and even harder to break the ones we don’t. And how many times do we think we have a new habit, only to later find ourselves slipping back into our old routines? For roughly three months straight I worked out six days a week. I took a holiday weekend off, extended it a few extra days, and now it’s six years later and I’m still trying to get back into the habit of working out six days a week.
I want to create the habit of working out in the morning before heading to work. In reading the book The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg, I learned that habits are a loop that are broken down into three components: cue, routine, and reward.
Cue
The cue is what triggers the habit loop to begin. Since I want to work out first thing in the morning, my cue would be my alarm clock going off. Other examples of cues are the time of day or the day of the week. Cues can also be emotions. How many of us are emotional eaters? Anything that triggers the routine can be a cue. Can you think of what the cues are for your current habits?
It’s also important to point out that the cue not only triggers the routine but also a craving for the reward for completing the routine. When I’m sad it triggers me to eat. Eating makes me feel better. Obviously when I feel sad, I am going to “crave” feeling better. It’s the same with exercise. Most people who work out regularly crave the feeling they get from the endorphins released. That’s where the term “runner’s high” comes from.
Routine
Now to the routine. The routine is what we think of as the habit. Habits can be created subconsciously or deliberately. Have you ever driven somewhere only to arrive and not really recall the trip? That is a subconscious habit. You didn’t set out to create the habit, but your mind did it anyways. Our minds are designed to create habits to make us more efficient and to free up our thinking for more important tasks. Think about brushing your teeth or tying your shoes. You probably don’t have to put a lot of considerable thought into completing these tasks. Your mind created a habit loop to make you more efficient. Deliberately creating habits is more difficult. These are normally tasks that maybe we really don’t want to do, i.e. getting up at 5am to workout. This is where willpower comes into play.
Willpower
We use willpower every day. Forcing ourselves out of bed in the morning, walking past the box of donuts at work, biting our tongues when we want to snap at someone. All these things drain our willpower. Charles Duhigg describes willpower like a muscle. As the day goes along and you are constantly using your willpower, it will become exhausted.
One way to combat this, is to come up with a strategy for how you will deal with the things that test your willpower before they happen. I have a playlist of songs that I turn to when I’m lacking willpower to get going in the morning. If there are donuts at work, I only have one if it is from the best bakery and I split it with someone. I take a walk around the building when I’m frustrated with coworkers. By having a game plan for how to deal with things that deplete your willpower, you will be able to conserve it longer. It will also strengthen it. The best part is that when you are strengthening your willpower in one aspect of your life, it begins to spill over into other areas. Willpower gets easier the more you practice it.
Reward
Now the last and most important part; the reward. This is why we do it. It can be anything that you desire as long as it is enough to make you want to repeat the habit. I don’t know about you, but I definitely don’t want to get up at 5am to work out if I’m not getting something out of it. One reward is that I will feel better during the day and be more productive. It could also help me reach my fitness goals. For me, a 5am workout has the potential to be a keystone habit.
A keystone habit is a habit, that over time, starts to trickle into other aspects of your life and creates changes there as well. Exercise is a good example of a keystone habit. It can lead to higher productivity, less stress, and better sleep. They provide a bigger pay off for the effort.
Creating the Loop
So now it’s time to put it all together. Think about the habit that you want to create. What does the routine look like? What is the reward for completing it? Will the reward happen naturally, or will you have to reward yourself? Let’s say you want to start working out three days a week. That is your routine. Your reward could be that you will feel better. Or maybe the reward is that if you work out three days a week for a month you get a new pair of shoes. Either of these will work, it just depends on your willpower.
You can also start with the reward before deciding the routine. Losing weight could be the reward. Then you have to decide the routine that will help you achieve it. Maybe it’s through changing your diet, working out, or a combination of both.
Once you know the routine and reward you just have to decide on the cue. Is it going to be time of day, day of week, or something else? It’s all about what works for you and what you can sustain.
With this understanding of how habits work and their components, you can work on changing your bad habits. You essentially keep the same cue and reward but change the routine. For example, let’s say that in the middle of the afternoon I lose energy and raid my coworker’s candy dish (strictly hypothetical) to get enough energy to make it to quitting time. The cue is my sudden lack of energy, the routine is raiding the candy dish, and the reward is the energy I get from the sugar rush. I am trying to not eat so much sugar, so I need a new routine that still delivers on energy. The plan will be to start bringing a healthier afternoon snack to get me through the slump. Same cue. Same reward. Different routine.
Habits can be powerful tools. I hope that this helps you look at habits in a different way and that you begin making positive changes by using them. Start small. With one good habit, you can change your life.
