The Power In Being A Creature Of Habit

It’s not generally a compliment to be called ‘a creature of habit’. Most of us would rather be considered spontaneous or adventurous. Did you know, though, that you can harness the power of your habits to change your life?

Why Do We Have Habits?

Habits are a bit like autopilot or cruise control – they allow us to do some things almost without conscious effort because we’ve done them so many times before.

We all rely on habits to get us through the day, such as:

• cleaning teeth before bed,
• washing hands after using the bathroom or
• grabbing the keys before leaving the house.

Some habits contribute to your health and wellbeing while others – like opening a bottle of wine each night when you make dinner or eating a bag of chips whenever you watch TV – may undermine your health goals.  

Your habits matter. A whopping 43% of everyday actions are done habitually while you’re thinking about something else. As habits guru, James Clear states, “Your life today is essentially the sum of your habits.”  

How Are Habits Created?

Clear says there’s a 4-step process behind every habit: cue → craving → response → reward. Here is Clear’s example of what that may look like in practice.

Cue	Craving	Response	Reward
You are answering emails. You begin to feel stressed and overwhelmed by work.	You want to feel in control.	You bite your nails.	Biting your nails becomes associated with answering email.
You smell a donut shop as you walk down a street near your work.	You crave a doughnut.	You buy a doughnut and eat it.	You start to associate walking into work with buying a donut – and start to get one more often.

 

Harnessing The Power Of A Habit

Its easy to slip into bad habits but it sometimes takes a bit of effort to change your behaviour and create a good habit in its place.

As you’ve no doubt discovered by now, it’s not about willpower. Changing your mind or your attitude doesn’t really change your behaviour.

• We all know we should eat 5 serves of fruit and vegetables each day but many of us don’t.
• We all know we should go to bed on time but we still stay up too late.
• We all know we should exercise regularly but we often don’t move enough.

So, what’s the trick? How do you change?

Psychologist Dr Wendy Wood runs the Habit Lab at the University of Southern California. She says that, if you want to turn good intentions into changed behaviour, you need to change the context. To pick up on Clear’s ideas above, you need to change the cues you experience so that you experience different cravings, choose different responses and enjoy different rewards.

One of the most critical cues is your location. You associate a certain place with certain behaviour.

Maybe your walk to the train station takes you past a certain coffee shop each morning and you always get yourself an iced latte. It’s going to be hard to walk past that coffee shop and not get yourself a drink – you’ll receive the cue and experience the craving and it’ll take concerted effort to change your response.

It’ll be far easier to choose a different route to the train station so that you don’t even see the cafe. By removing the ‘buy an iced coffee’ cue, you’ve avoided the craving, meaning you don’t need even need to chose a different response. Your new habit – that new route to the station – has changed everything that usually comes next.  

Clear calls these ‘gateway habits’ – the easy way to start the habit you want to build. He recommends doing your new habit for just 2 minutes. Those 120 seconds are all you have to do – 2 minutes of guitar practice, 2 minutes of pilates, 2 minutes of tidying up. Once you start doing the right thing, it becomes much easier to do keep it going.

What Habits Could You Put Into Practice?

Maybe you intend to be more active but keep finding yourself vegging out on the sofa each night.

Change your location. Don’t go into your living room after dinner. Don’t let yourself see the sofa. Instead, walk to your shoe rack and put your trainers on then go for a short walk. It might be very short at the beginning – remember 2 minutes will do. Then do it again tomorrow night. You’ll gradually build momentum and walk further each night, realising your goal of being more active.

Take a few moments to think about one habit you’d like to change. What’s the cue that sets you down that path? What’s the gateway to a different habit – the key change that would create a different set of cues, cravings, responses and rewards? And how will you get started?

How Can Dr Lockie Help?

We provide a multidisciplinary approach to weight loss, which includes supporting you in behaviour change. Our whole team, which includes dietitians, psychologists and exercise physiologists, are here to help you make small changes that have a big impact on your health and wellbeing.  Book your free consultation session today.

Disclaimer:

All information is general and is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice. Dr Phil Lockie can consult with you to confirm if a particular treatment is right for you. Any surgical or invasive procedure carries risks.