Habits. When you hear the word what do you think of? At best a neutral, everyday occurance that you probably don’t even think about, like putting your left sock on before your right, or turning the light on when you enter a dark room. At worst, something that actively hinders you, like waiting an extra ten minutes to actually get up, or leaving homework until the night before it’s due.
Habits affect our lives – for better or for worse. They make it easy to just wander through life without thinking. That’s just something that happens though, right? You can’t stop doing it, right?
With this article I want to challenge those thoughts. I want to show you that habits can change, that you have the power to make or break them – and that habits don’t have to control you. But that’s just click-bait mumbo-jumbo. Let’s talk science.
While I was researching habits I came across a person called James Clear, who has been researching habits since 2012. His website will be my main source, along with websites such as Healthline and The New Yorker.
The Four Stages of Habit
- Cue – A signal or trigger that tells your brain to initiate a behaviour. (Noticing the reward)
- Craving – The desire or motivational force behind responding to this cue. (Wanting the reward)
- Response – The actual habit, the action you perform. (Obtaining the reward)
- Reward – The end goal of a habit, the feelings of pleasure that tells your brain that the response was worthwhile.
| Cue | Craving | Response | Reward | |
| Brushing you teeth | You’re about to go to sleep | You want a clean mouth | You brush your teeth | You satisfy your craving. Cue becomes associated with the response and reward. |
| Turning on a light | You enter a dark room | You want to see the room | You switch the light on | You satisfy your craving. Cue becomes associated with the response and reward. |
| Buying a soft drink | You are thirsty | You want something sweet to drink | You buy a soft drink | You satisfy your craving. Cue becomes associated with the response and reward. |
| Checking your phone | Your phone buzzes | You want to know the contents of the notification | You pick up your phone and read the notification | You satisfy your craving. Cue becomes associated with the response and reward. |
The Habit Loop
Cues trigger cravings, which motivate responses, which are rewarded, which satisfies the cravings, which are then associated with the cues.
Making or Breaking Habits
A lot of the time, we start this cue-craving-response-reward cycle without realising it, but there is a way to consciously begin it, and a way to stop it.
Making a Good Habit
Cue – Make it obvious
Ask yourself: How can I make it obvious that I need to initiate this behaviour?
How will you go about this? Setting an alarm? Asking someone to remind you?
Craving – Make it attractive
Ask yourself: How can I make this behaviour seem attractive?
How will you go about this? Making a poster? A list of all the reasons that this habit is a good one?
Response – Make it easy
Ask yourself: How can I make this behaviour easy?
How will you go about this? Leave everything you need for this habit somewhere you can see it that’s easy to get to?
Reward – Make it satisfying
Ask yourself: How can I make completing this behaviour satisfying?
How will you go about this? Will you let yourself relax for a moment? Have a snack? Read a book? Do something that you love?
The inverse of this is how to break a bad habit.
Breaking a Bad Habit
Cue – Make it invisible
Ask yourself: How can I make sure that I don’t think about initiating this behaviour?
How will you go about this? Keeping anything that reminds you of this habit hidden? Distract yourself?
Craving – Make it unattractive
Ask yourself: How can I make this behaviour seem unattractive?
How will you go about this? Making a list of all the reasons that this habit is a bad one?
Response – Make it difficult
Ask yourself: How can I make this behaviour difficult?
How will you go about this? Hiding anything you need for it? Telling yourself that you can only do this habit at a certain time on a certain day and slowly making that time shorter and shorter?
Reward – Make it unsatisfying
Ask yourself: How can I make this reward unsatisfying?
How will you go about this? Make sure that you don’t reward yourself?
How long does it take?
You’ve probably heard the “21 days” myth at some point, maybe in regards to addiction, but it just isn’t true. As we are talking about people, everyone is different. Some people may be able to form or change a habit in three weeks, but on average it takes much longer. This came about due to a plastic surgeon called Dr. Maxwell Maltz. He observed that it would take his patients roughly twenty one days to start to accept that their nose was different, and noticed similar patterns in his own habits. In his book he wrote “These, and many other commonly observed phenomena tend to show that it requires a minimum of about 21 days for an old mental image to dissolve and a new one to jell”. Notice the word minimum. But, as his book soared in popularity, people began to misinterpret this to mean average or maximum, and he was misquoted in many self-help books.
So, what do scientists actually say about habits? Phillippa Lally (a health psychology researcher at the Univerdity College of London) took it upon herself (and her research team) to find out. Over a 12-week period, the study examined the habits of 96 people. Each person chose a habit and reported daily on whether or not they did it, and how automatic the behaviour felt. After the twelve weeks the scientists analysed all the data and determined how long it took each person to from starting a new habit to automatically doing it.
They found that it took more than two months – roughly 66 days – before a habit became automatic. Interestingly, “missing one opportunity to perform the behavior did not materially affect the habit formation process”. Taking anywhere between 18 days, and 254, it really depended on circumstance, the behaviour chosen, and the person.
To Summarise
Habits are made up of Cues, Cravings, Responses, and Rewards, and if you put your mind to it, you can make or break a habit.
At the end of the day, how long it takes doesn’t really matter if you put the work in. It might take you two months or eight for the habit you form to become automatic, but just focus on day one.
IF YOU WANT TO LEARN MORE ABOUT HABITS YOU CAN VISIT THE WEBSITES MENTIONED FURTHER UP IN THE ARTICLE