introduction
Daily behaviors are determined by our habits, whether it be our morning routine, our workday, how we consume food, or even our leisure time. Many struggle to create positive behaviors and break free from negative behaviors because they do not know how to properly develop their own habitual behavior patterns.
It is more than just having motivation and willpower; habitual behavior patterns develop in our brain’s neural networks. Through research on behavioral science, we have learned that actions that are repeated will eventually form a pattern in our brain, which will become an automatic response at some point. This understanding provides insight into how to build a positive habitual behavior and how to effectively replace unhealthy habitual behavior with healthy ones.
With a firm comprehension of how habits function, we are able to create a sustainable lifestyle, thus enhancing the overall quality of life.
What Is a Habit Loop
The premise of a habitual cycle is to demonstrate how an action or a series of actions (doing something repetitive) will result in being perceived as a habit by the brain and how to break the cycle of habit. Every human being has triggers or events (cues) that trigger certain behaviors (routines).
These cues lead to an individual’s habitual responses, followed by the reward that is derived from completing the action successfully. Once this has been established in a person’s life and becomes ingrained, the reward is often a source of pride and satisfaction for that person.
Therefore, once this habitual cycle has been established, an individual needs to identify the triggers (cues) and the rewards that result in developing positive behaviors (habits). It is much more effective to change the routine (the action taken in response Cue–Routine–Reward).
Cue–Routine–Reward
The cue-routine-reward cycle is the fundamental way to understand how we ultimately develop habits and how our behaviors become automatic over time. The cue is the thing that triggers you into creating a habit in your brain to respond to, typically determined by something. For instance, it may be a certain time of day, how you feel emotionally at that time, where you are located at the time, or even the presence of other people around at the moment.
The routine would be the actual behavior itself—what you are doing in response to the cue. For example, it can be relatively simple, like brushing your teeth, or more elaborate, like always going on social media when you feel really bored. The reward is the positive outcome of the behavior, in other words, the feeling of relaxation, satisfaction, or accomplishment.
Once the cue consistently leads to a routine that results in a reward, the brain becomes conditioned to perform the behavior automatically, almost in a reflexive manner without even thinking about it. After time, this habitual behavior is able to be remembered readily and carried out without conscious effort in order for a person to consistently continue performing it and make it harder to break.
When an individual understands all three components of this process, they can consciously change their routines and/or rewards as applicable, all while keeping the same cue. By replacing unhealthy habits with positive ones, a person can improve their productivity, health, and ability to control their behaviors on a day-to-day basis.
Breaking Bad Habits
The main reason breaking a bad habit is hard is due to the habitual nature of our brain and the routines associated with it.
Therefore, we should first identify the habit and have a good understanding of what is motivating us (triggers) to continue this particular behavior and then what reward we are receiving from doing it. Once we have established the trigger and reward for the habit, we can then think about how we can change the routine associated with that habit.
Instead of trying to completely eliminate the habit, we can replace it with a behavior that is healthier and still satisfies the same need. For example, if you are snacking when you are feeling stressed, you could try deep breathing or taking a short walk after feeling stressed, rather than snacking. Gradual change and consistency are very important. If you attempt to eliminate your bad habit completely and then go back to it, you will feel frustrated and most likely relapse to your old ways.
Therefore, when setting goals to change a habit, establishing how you will track your progress is very important, and celebrating small milestones will help to reinforce your new habit. Additionally, by changing the environment to minimize exposure to triggers. Seeking social support and practicing self-discipline makes it easier to break a bad habit.
Therefore, by understanding the science behind the formation of habitual behaviors (habit loops) and implementing practical strategies, individuals can take control of their behaviors and replace unhealthy behaviors with productive or constructive behaviors, thus enabling them to achieve long-term success in their personal growth and well-being.
Building Good Habits
Creating good habits is an essential part of personal development and long-term success; therefore, understanding how habits develop along with consistent practice is necessary. To build a habit, select a single behavior to start with. Examples of behaviors include drinking more water, doing exercise for ten minutes daily, and reading daily. It will be easier to continue to follow a behavior that is small and achievable because it can become an automated response over time.
Create an identifiable cue (time of day, place, or existing routine) that is connected to your new behavior. A cue helps to build a strong connection between your new behavior and your brain. Rewarding yourself with something positive once you complete your new behavior, even if it is just something small, reinforces the behavior in your brain, thus encouraging you to repeat it.
You can monitor your progress while celebrating any small successes along the way. Eventually, over time, the habit will become a part of your life, and you will not have to consciously think about doing it. In addition, creating good habits is much more important than trying to perfect a habit’s behavior; therefore, it is perfectly normal to occasionally have slips, but it should not discourage you from progressing with your goals of improvement. Once you complete multiple small behaviors, they will build on one another, and you will see significant progress in your overall health and productivity, as well as in your well-being.
By learning about how habits are created and by utilizing these different techniques to help support the creation of good habits, you will have the best opportunity to establish a solid base for creating a more satisfactory quality of life for yourself and your family.
Consistency Psychology
The psychology of consistency explains that people prefer to repeat actions and engage in activities that fit within familiar patterns. Thus, the brain has an easier time keeping repetitive actions as habits than other forms of behavior. As a repeated action continues to occur, the brain identifies the activity as automatic or part of a routine, making it an action performed without thinking.
Therefore, the importance of consistency when creating new habits is generally more significant than how intense or vigorous a person’s efforts were at creating that habit. Individuals who consistently employ small daily repetitive actions will develop stronger long-term habits than those who are only using occasional very large intensity efforts. The brain naturally seeks to create stability; thus, maintaining a consistent pattern improves the brain’s ability to handle less mental and physical stress when maintaining the repetitive habits associated with that pattern.
Furthermore, when the individual is rewarded for completing their routine habit, this positive reinforcement will strengthen their associations with pleasure and consistency. Inconsistent behaviors will harm an individual’s ability to create habits and make it more challenging to meet their personal development and growth goals.
Understanding the principles of consistency psychology will assist individuals in determining how to arrange and structure their daily routines so that they can create new habits in a regular, consistent, structured manner. By employing small actions every day to achieve consistency, individuals can develop healthy habits and break unhealthy ones while growing and improving as people over time.
Conclusion
In summary, it is critical to understand how habits are created, as well as have an understanding of how humans will create and grow together as a community and how they will develop into a loyal habit. Habits are created through a cue, routine, and reward cycle, and creating habits will require time, dedication, and a strong commitment to using the same behavior every single day until it becomes second nature.
If a person has a bad habit, they will need to recognize what motivates them (trigger) and reward them. To build new positive habits, a person should start off small, set achievable goals (cue), and reinforce the behavioral change (reward) to ensure it sticks. According to the psychology of consistency, the greater the frequency of an action, the more successful that action will be.
A person will be more successful if they do the same thing every day, as opposed to not doing the same thing multiple times during a week. With determination and persistence, anyone has the potential to create healthier, more productive, and more fulfilling lives through their habits. Having knowledge about the creation and management of habits gives one the tools necessary to overcome obstacles, stay motivated, and successfully reach long-term goals.
Although effort and motivation are important, success is achieved when one intelligently develops a methodical and scientific way in which to create new habits, to remain consistent with those habits, and to use mindfulness to encourage growth of these habits through positive reinforcement.
