Want to change some bad habits and start some good ones? If so, this is a must read by Pulitzer Prize-winning business reporter Charles Duhigg. This New York Times Bestseller will give you a very simple formula to tackle those destructive patterns that have been “eating your lunch” for so long.
Duhigg outlines scientific discoveries that explain why habits exist and how you can change them. The key to losing weight, being more productive, exercising regularly, and being successful starts with understanding how habits work. The author says that 45% of the activities we do are related to habit.
Habits are something we decide to do deliberately at first and then we continue doing them subconsciously. Our brain has the instinct to make anything we do on a regular basis into a habit because its easy – our brain wants to conserve energy. When something becomes a habit we stop thinking.
If you gain an understanding of how bad habits operate in the “habit loop” you can change the behaviors that control you. The 3 steps of the “habit loop” (what individuals do without thinking), are as follows:
- The “Cue” – this is what propels you into the routine…it puts your brain into automatic pilot and tells your body what to do…
- The cue comes in 4 flavors:
- Time of day – “I have the afternoon munchies”
- Particular place – “I walk in the mall and then I overspend”
- Presence of certain other people – “I always have a beer when I’m with Jim”
- Preceding behavior that’s become a ritual – “I have a cup of coffee before going into a meeting… I brush my teeth after getting out of the shower”
- The cue comes in 4 flavors:
- The “Routine” – this is the behavior that leads to a reward…the ensuing habit
- Your brain can’t determine whether the new habit is good for you or not
- This explains why you struggle with hard-to-break habits
- The “Reward” – just what it sounds like….the payoff for your habit
- Teaches your brain whether the loop in question is worth remembering in the future
Take exercise for example. Exercising as a virtue is not powerful enough to engage many individuals. So if you like chocolate, reward yourself with a piece of chocolate after you’ve exercised. The key is to pick something that you really enjoy and reward yourself with that item once you’ve completed the routine. Research shows that people who rewarded themselves with a piece of chocolate after a workout exercised more than those who didn’t.
A very important concept in Duhigg’s book is that of developing “keystone habits“. A keystone habit is one that can have a “disproportionate impact on an individual or organization.” It is a habit that sets off a chain reaction that brings added benefits, or leads to additional good habits. For example, your keystone habit may be to eat half portions at all meals. If you eat smaller portions you have more energy…more energy leads to more productivity…more productivity leads to a feeling of accomplishment…a feeling of accomplishment can lead you to tackling a workout at the gym.
Duhigg says that organizations have habits as well and cites great examples by sharing stories about Alcoa, an NFL football team, Alcoholics Anonymous, and Starbucks. With Starbucks the keystone habit they have adopted for their employees is the concept of “willpower” – being cheerful no matter what comes up in their work shift. They refer to their keystone habit as “the LATTE method”. The steps are:
- L isten
- A knowledge
- T ake action
- T hank
- E xplain
The bottom line: Learn how not to respond to a bad habit’s cue and reward by simply thinking about what the cue is for your particular habit. Once you master willpower, you need to keep it in shape by exercising it. Destructive habits can be changed and new ones adopted by managing the cue, routine, reward loop.
Pass the chocolate please!
Bill Edmonds is an “Outside-Insider” (an Executive Coach and Consultant), who works with leaders to help them reach their full potential by specializing in areas of organizational and personal development. He spent 24 years with Merrill Lynch until his retirement in 2014, where he led a $100+ million per year revenue wealth management business unit as a Director with the firm.
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