Create a good habit loop

We all have bad habits, some of us more than others. It may be a coffee and donut on the way to work, or the 3 hours of television every night of the week. Habits are an interesting necessity that at some point probably kept us alive from an evolutionary perspective. Unfortunately, the habits we’ve formed over the last 50 years are for the most part contributing to our early demise.

As far as psychologists can determine, habit loops are formed neurologically to entice us to repeat a pattern. Consider an early cave man or woman looking for food during a time of scarcity. If they went out early enough, chances are they would find food sooner than those who went out later. If they found food, they would be able to eat, and as a result survive longer; perpetuating their genetic material while those that got up later probably were less likely to survive. This is essentially a "survival of the fittest" (or smartest) strategy that allowed us to be here today.

In that case, getting up early is the “cue”, as psychologists would term it. Searching for food is considered the “routine”, while finding food and eating is called the “reward”. If this sequence occurs even once, it is more likely that the person would repeat it to get the same reward.

Fast forward to today and you have the person who feels tired and sluggish in the morning (probably from lack of sleep disturbed by too many stimulants the night before) which acts as a cue, they take a predictable route to work and gets in line with all the other drivers and gets their coffee and donut creating a routine, followed by the caffeine in the coffee and the sugar and fat in the donut flooding the body with a stimulating combination of neuro-chemical rewards.  

For de-constructing a habit loop, we need to disrupt it.  We can change the cue or the routine, or change the reward. In the modern example given, we could simply take a different route to work to avoid the drive-through. This simple complication to the routine will prevent most people from taking advantage of the convenience afforded by the drive-through.

As for creating a better habit, we have to follow these simple steps (in this example to lose 10 pounds):

1. First identify the cue to get things started. This could be something positive, for example a picture of a realistic physique you aspire to work towards. Alternatively (or additionally), you can use a negative cue such as looking at an unflattering picture of yourself to bring to mind what you want to change. 
2. Secondly, identify the routine you will need to achieve this goal. While attention to diet is imperative, let’s just focus on exercise for the sake of brevity. The routine could be going to the gym 3 days per week, for 45 minutes. 
3. Identify the reward you want. Ask yourself something easy to achieve. For example “I want to feel better at the end of my workout than I did at the beginning”. This is almost guaranteed, so it is a good, positive statement to use. 
4. If you use this habit loop consistently, you are much more likely to create and maintain a habit that will support your goal of losing 10 lbs.

Take some time to consider the habits you have and which serve you well and which don’t. Think about the cues, routines and rewards you get from both good and bad habits and start to reprogram what you do and how you do it to get more of what you want and less of what you don’t.