Making a Habit of Making Great Habits
Your habits govern your life. Most of your behaviors are the results of habits. They are often involuntary, and you usually don’t recognize when they occur, but they still have an outsized influence on you (and the people around you). The quality of your life is primarily determined by your ability to make good habits and avoid bad ones. There is much good advice on creating and breaking habits, but most of it falls short because it often misses a few key nuances. However, a few recently published insights and some practical habit-enabling hacks can help you optimize your life by making a habit of making great habits.
Habits are similar to, but not the same thing as, routines. Routines are repetitive actions that often require intentionality. Habits are automatic shortcuts for thoughts, emotions, mindset, and behaviors we learn from experience. Rather than analyzing and making decisions on every event, habits significantly reduce cognitive load by providing automatic responses to cues. Habits typically emerge outside our consciousness. This is incredibly helpful because, without habits, we would quickly become overwhelmed and paralyzed by a need to decide on an extraordinary volume of often mundane things.
These habits are how you think and behave when you pay little attention to how you should think and behave. They are often responsible for quality sleep, eating healthy, making sound financial decisions, maintaining healthy relationships, thinking optimistically, and career success. But habits are also significant drivers behind substance abuse, social media addiction, negativity, and overall poor self-control.
Habit (noun): a settled tendency or usual manner of behavior; an acquired mode of behavior that has become nearly or completely involuntary
Self-control is usually viewed as willpower battling temptation. However, personal discipline may be a function of positive habits that leave less opportunity for temptation. Self-restraint is more effective when your habits keep you from situations where self-control can be tested.
Habits are More Important than Goals
For many, goals are the default measure of accomplishment. They are aspirational and, when achieved, are associated with success and happiness. Accomplishments are essential, but they are only highlights in a journey. In reality, there is evidence that we tend to overestimate the happiness that will follow in achieving a goal. Goals are a lagging measure of your performance. On the other hand, habits are about the “how” and often the “now.” Focusing on future goals generally requires delayed gratification, but focusing on current habits allows short-term satisfaction (and sustainability toward that goal). Winners and losers have the same goals, but winners are likelier to have adequate habits to get there.
How Habits Work
A habit is a behavior repeated and rewarded enough times to become automatic. The process is commonly called a “cue-behavior-reward” loop. A cue triggers a response, and a reward then reinforces the reaction. This is all fueled by a spike in dopamine, a.k.a. the “feel-good hormone.” While it would be intuitive to assume that the dopamine spike drives this process, that would only be partially correct. James Clear points out in Atomic Habits the subtle but critical insight that the anticipation of the reward can also create a dopamine spike[1]. In addition, the traditional cue-behavior-reward loop is missing a vital piece of the habit puzzle. For the cue to be effective, there is usually a craving. For example, we often feel great after a good workout. The anticipation of that feeling is the craving and a critical element in the habit loop [2]. Put this all together, and they are the four stages of habit.
A Framework for Influencing Habits
The good news is that your habits are malleable. Habits can be developed, changed, and molded. They are the outcome of a process repeated until a behavior (or other response) becomes automatic. Change the process, change the outcome. In other words, rather than focusing on what you want to achieve, the focus should be on the process that will accomplish the result.
The four laws of behavior change provide a helpful framework. If you want to establish a new habit, you should make the cue obvious, the craving attractive, the response easy, and the reward satisfying. If the goal is to stop an undesirable habit, make it invisible, unattractive, difficult, and unsatisfying. The more stages of the habit loop you address, the more likely you will be successful.
Seven Habit Hacks
Now that you understand the importance of habits, how they work, and have a framework for making the changes you want, it’s time for some practical tips. Here are seven you can apply immediately to get you on your desired path of great habits:
1. Focus on the craving — Consider the desired outcome, not the sacrifice. So, focus on the rested feeling you like in the morning while getting to bed early. Or, instead of battling the temptation of a convenient dessert, focus on how good you feel when you fit comfortably into your favorite dress or pants.
2. Prime the cue — Preparation can nudge you towards desired habits. For example, prepare healthy snacks the night before if you want to eat healthy snacks. Having all your exercise clothes laid out the night before will make exercising in the morning easier.
3. Think about your identity — Think about the type of person who would have the habit you want to create, the person you want to become, and frame an identity around that (new) you. If you identify as financially responsible, you are more likely to pause and question an expense than if you identify as a spendthrift.
4. Never break the chain — Also known as the Seinfeld Method, you can maintain momentum by never missing a day of your habit. While the ideal is to pursue perfect repetitions, sub-optimal is often better than nothing in the context of habits. For example, if you want the habit of exercising regularly, the priority is never to miss a workout. A less-than-perfect workout is usually preferable to no workout.
5. Use the power of proximity — We tend to imitate the behavior of the many, the powerful, and the close. Choose to be around the people where your desired habits are normal behavior. If you want to be a good student, associate with good students. If you want to avoid drinking alcohol, do not hang around people who drink frequently.
6. Begin each day with a tiny win — Write down and commit to a “tiny empowering action” each day that will improve your life in the next 24 hours. Perhaps the best explanation of the power of early wins each day can be found in Admiral William McRaven’s viral speech.
7. Use a habit tracker — habit trackers are both reminders and reward systems that provide visual evidence of your successes. Whether it’s a simple list, a spreadsheet, or an application, it’s essential to document your daily target habits. That green check after completing your daily habit is satisfying.
Don’t Wait to Begin Making Great Habits
Habits take time, and results take time. So, think about the person you aspire to be and commit to a single habit. Use the framework to think about how you will enable the habit at each process stage. While perfection is best, initially focus on repetition over perfection and know that incremental progress is the key. Prime it, and then associate with those who share similar aspirations. Start with a single habit, and it has been established to build on it with additional routines and habits. Today is the perfect day to start making a habit of making great habits.
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[1] James Clear uses the example of a gambler and notes that many, especially addicts, have a dopamine spike right before they place a bet. Clear, James (2018). Atomic Habits: Tiny Changes, Remarkable Results. Avery/Penguin Random House. https://a.co/d/7u7YuBX
[2] A study of exercise found that those who maintain fitness programs did so because it makes them feel good, and the craving for that feeling was vital. Duhigg, Charles (2014). The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do In Life and In Business. Random House. https://a.co/d/9YkOcON
