we are what we repeatedly do excellence then is not an act but a habit Aristotle if you want to change your life you need to first change your habits because we as humans are creatures of habit when you wake up in the morning you probably follow certain routine whether checking your email checking your cell phone drinking a glass of water or getting some coffee throughout the day you can count on other habits to occur as well even if you're not fully aware of them we think that we're making well-informed decisions but we're not most of the things that occur throughout the day happen automatically without much thought at all habits run your life and if you have bad habits your life is gonna suck so if you want to change your life you need to first change your habits fortunately once you understand how habits work you can change them with greater success that's what this article is about what habits are why and how they form and how to change them so what our habits and why do we have habitual tendencies basically our brains require a ton of energy about 20% of the entire body's Hall and our brains have become very good at conserving energy and becoming more efficient the brain isn't gonna waste energy on something you do all the time the cerebrum controls complex functions and this is the part of the brain that is utilized when we first learned something new when actions are performed repeatedly they are controlled by the cerebrum anymore because that's inefficient they're performed in another part of the brain called the basal ganglia these actions have become habits and I performed with very little mental activity when an activity makes it to the basal ganglia it becomes a reaction instead of something to think about once an action is in the basal ganglia it is difficult to dislodge and that's why it's hard to kick a bad habit and as Zig Ziglar says all bad habits start slowly and gradually and before you know you have the habit that habit has you sometimes we decide we're gonna make changes in our lifestyle and we do make well-thought-out decisions but they have trouble sticking because they're not habits when you want to make a real change in your life you have to make that behavior a habit first so how do you turn a behavior into a habit let's talk about the habit loop there are three components to the habit loop the cue the routine and the reward the cue is the trigger for example you drive by a certain restaurant this cue also known as a trigger put your brain into autopilot you follow a routine eating at the restaurant and order to give you the reward which is the tasty food that you love the queues can be feelings or thoughts or they can be external like the time of day or a picture the routine is the next part of the habit loop this is the behavior that you take once you've been triggered this is the behavior that will lead to a reward this can be emotional such as getting nervous before a test cognitive or physical like eating at the restaurant the reward is why we do that particular routine it can be physical such as chocolate or sugar it could be emotional feeling happy or it can be cognitive hey I learned something new if the activity is something worth doing will remember and it becomes a habit for an oversimplified habit loop think of a dog when I open a package and my dog recognizes the sound of a bag of treats he runs over to the kitchen and sits down in order to get his reward so now that you understand the habit loop itself it's time to talk about the thing that we need to make the habit stick which is a craving when we start anticipating the reward that's when the action will become a true habit it will become automatic once the cue elicits a craving then you'll be willing to do the routine in order to get the reward when you wake up and instantly crave coffee you'll be in that habit loop every morning think of some of your habit loops think about your pets do they have certain habits they follow so a really easy way to make some new habits is to tie it to an existing thing that you already do for example if you want to start drinking water every morning when you wake up make your cue simply waking up when you wake up that's your cue to go drink water the routine is drinking water the reward is to feel good and be hydrated I pretty much now do this on autopilot I don't even think about it when I wake up I just automatically go and get two glasses of water this is called anchoring a new routine to an existing queue tying your new habit to an existing thing you do will make it much much easier because you're building it into your existing daily routine if you want to exercise daily make it a habit to work out when you wake up in the morning or when you get home from work it'll be tough at first but if you keep doing it consistently it'll just become a habit and you won't you have to think about it you'll simply work out when you get home from work because it'll just be another habit so that's a simple way to start a new habit now changing old habits is a different story try and think of some of the bad habits that you have think of the cue the routine and then the reward in order to change the bad habits you have to replace the routine keep the same queueing reward but simply replace the routine this is the most effective way to change a habit this is why many smokers quit successfully by chewing nicorette gum the queue is the same but instead of smoking a cigarette they chew gum as their new routine the reward is still the same it's the nicotine you're simply inserting a new routine into an existing habit loop this can still be difficult which is why you need one more element in order to increase your chances for success you need to believe that change is possible you must believe that you can make the change and it'll be beneficial to your future consider using groups to help share experiences as well as make public commitments for example you're making a new habit to go to the gym your cue can be leaving work the routine is exercising and the reward is releasing those good endorphins throughout your body you want to try and make your reward something short-term because in the exercising example we all know the long-term benefits of exercising but it's really hard to stick to because there's no immediate results so when you think of a reward try and keep it a short-term one to help you build the momentum and make it a habit so try and use a short-term immediate reward as well as a long-term reward so to make this habit leap even more powerful believe that you can do it and also have a gym partner to hold you accountable and share experiences with and let me touch on Keystone habits real quick a Keystone habit has ripple effects across all your other activities in life take exercising for example when you make a habit to exercise you start changing your eating and sleeping habits without even thinking about it many studies have shown that changing this one keystone habit will help you eat healthier perform better at work etc identify the keystone habit with yourself if there's one habit that you could change that would impact the rest of your life what would it be if you really want to change your habits or create new ones you'll have to take a good hard look at yourself analyze your daily actions pay attention to your daily routines this is where journaling can help bringing awareness to your actions can be daunting but it's worth the effort so let's look at another example let's say someone wants to cut back on drinking they can ask themselves why do I drink well their response might be that they go to the bar to drink when they're stressed stress is the cue and going to the bar is the routine so what's the reward the reward is feeling relaxed and talking to friends okay so how can we tackle this the queueing the reward will be kept the same what changes is the routine instead of going to the bar when you're stressed find another way to get that reward meet your friends somewhere else to hang out and talk this is the secret behind AAA meetings and why it's been so successful the queue is different for each individual who drinks but the routine is going to a group meeting to discuss their experiences instead of drinking the reward is socialization and group support investigating habit loops will force you to do some self analyzing which is a good thing analyzing why you do things and questioning your actions can have big impacts on your life find out which habits are serving you and which ones need to change come up with a list of habits you want to change and make a plan and also on that note have a plan for your obstacles let's say you're trying to stop eating junk food so you can lose a couple pounds for the summer and then the next day you walk into work and see a nice tasty dessert come up with a plan on how you'll handle such cases instead of eating the tasty dessert have a healthy and tasty snack in your desk ready to go just in case or off to go for a walk instead it's tough at first but eventually it won't take as much to resist these treats that sabotage your plans for weight loss have a plan to handle pain stress and temptation ahead of time when you constantly use alternative plans they become automatic habits now that you understand how habits work you have the knowledge to change them so some additional tips start small and make it easy get some small wins under your belt to help build your momentum if you have a goal to workout just start with 10 minutes a day you don't have to start with an hour just start small use your willpower to install habits have a strong reason for why you want to start or change a habit a strong y will help you push through the tough times embrace the process of starting a new habit the first 20 days will be a little rough but stick with it and you won't be able to quit that new habit after 20 days get through this suck alright guys that's it go out there and start making some new habits
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