Understanding habits

There are times when my habits serve me well and are aligned with what I value (eating healthy, exercising, spending time with family and friends, etc.) and other times when I get derailed and off track.  This is a common theme for me and many of my clients.  I recently read Charles Duhigg’s book, The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business, and wanted to share some highlights about his framework for understanding and redesigning habits.  

According to Duhigg, our brains are designed for efficiency and are always looking for ways to save effort.  There is a part of the brain called the basal ganglia that will chunk and convert sequences of actions into automatic routines.  For example, have you ever driven to work and once you arrive you realize your brain was on “auto-pilot” and you didn’t even have to think about driving there?

Habits are powerful and can emerge outside our consciousness, or they can be deliberately designed.  Duhigg identified a three step process he calls the habit loop.  By learning to observe the cues and rewards, we can change the routines. Let’s take a look at his framework from the book:

• Identify the routine

• Experiment with Rewards

• Isolate the cue

Step One:  Identify the routine.  Duhigg used the “cookie scenario” as an example to help understand the process.  The routine is the most obvious aspect: it’s the behavior you want to change.  Every afternoon, he found himself going to the cafeteria to buy a chocolate chip cookie and then eat it while chatting with friends.

Step Two:  Experiment with Rewards.  Rewards satisfy cravings, but we’re often not conscious of the cravings that drive our behaviors.  Duhigg suggests approaching this part of the process as an experiment and test out different rewards in order to identify patterns.  He questioned things like, is he hungry (in which case an apple would suffice), is he looking for energy (maybe coffee would work), is he looking for a reason to socialize  (he could just take a break and talk to someone for 10 minutes).  By experimenting with different rewards, you can isolate what you are actually craving which is essential in redesigning the habit.

Step Three:  Isolate the cue.  Psychologists have identified categories of behavior that help us see patterns.  Studies have shown that almost all habitual cues fit into one of five categories: location, time, emotional state, other people, immediately preceding action.  So, if you’re trying to figure out the cue for going to get a chocolate chip cookie, you write down the five things the moment the urge hits. (Where are you? - sitting at my desk); (What time is it? - 3:36 PM), (What’s your emotional state? - bored); (Who else is around? - no one); (What action preceded the urge? - answered an e-mail).  He went through this process each day for a few days and by looking at all of his answers, it became clear that between 3:00 and 4:00 PM he was seeking a temporary distraction - the kind that comes from chatting with a friend.

Have a plan.  Once you’ve identified the reward driving your behavior, the cue triggering it and the routine itself-you can make a plan to shift the behavior. Duhigg wrote a plan that looked like this:  “At 3:30 every day, I will walk to a friend’s desk and talk for 10 minutes.” To make sure he remembered to do this, he set an alarm. 

Step Four:  Have a plan.  Once you’ve identified the reward driving your behavior, the cue triggering it and the routine itself-you can begin to shift the behavior.  You do this through planning for the cue and choosing a behavior that delivers the reward you are craving.  Duhigg wrote a plan that looked like this:  “At 3:30, every day, I will walk to a friend’s desk and talk for 10 minutes.” To make sure he remembered to do this, he set an alarm for 3:30.  It didn’t always work at first, but after a few weeks, he hardly thought about the new routine anymore and on the days he couldn’t find anyone to chat with, he went to the cafeteria and bought a cup of tea and drank it with friends.

Obviously, changing some habits can be more difficult than others, but this framework gives us a place to start.  “Sometimes change takes a long time.  Sometimes it requires repeated experiments and failures.  But once you understand how a habit operates - once you diagnose the cue, the routine and the reward - you gain power over it” (Duhigg, P. 298).  Let me know if there’s a habit you’d like to redesign.  Reach out to me and we can work through the habit loop together! 

Reflection: What habits have emerged outside of your consciousness that are keeping you from moving in a valued direction? (i.e. unhealthy eating, not exercising, watching too much TV, etc).

Action: Identify one habit this month you’d like to replace with a more value focused one using the habit loop framework.

Tool:  Watch this 2 minute video explaining the Habit Loop Framework or read The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg.