It’s a typical weekday morning; cold, dark, and quiet. 5:30 AM. The alarm rings, you push snooze immediately. 5:45 AM, the alarm disrupts your slumber yet again. This time is different; you punch the clock, pull off the sheets, grumble some explicits and shuffle 22 steps to the kitchen. Three scoops of coffee and two big cups of water later, you tie your shoes; right, then left, you fix your shirt, start the car and begin your commute into work. You drown out the din of coworkers catching up on their bowling leagues, barbeques, and kids’ sports games. You clock in, and begin the workday. You’ve done all of this without a single thought.
Your mind has recognized the patterns of your morning routines, whichever that may be, and has streamlined the process for you. The completion of this pattern over and over again has allowed your brain to make these behaviors autonomous with time. This phenomenon is more commonly recognized as a habit. Habits form in each and every one of us and can range from healthy behaviors, think buckling your seatbelt, to less than healthy ones, such as that post-dinner cigarette. If we can better understand why we do these things, we can begin to rewire our brains and create a healthier, better life.
When it comes to habit forming, our brains work in three simple steps. First is the stimulus; this can be anything in our lives that cues a feeling or emotion. The second step would be our response or action to said cue. The third step is the reward! The reward provides our brains with the feeling that something went well or made us feel better. Re- read the intro and break it down: the cue is our alarm clock. Incessant beeping early in the morning promotes a reaction to push snooze, which then leads us to the reward, 15 extra minutes of peace and quiet.
Now that we know a little bit about the habit forming process, how can we get the blueprints of the wiring to try and change old routines or create new ones? This takes a little conscious effort. In order to change an old habit, we need to associate a different reaction and reward to an existing cue. In our cigarette example, the cue is finishing dinner, the reaction would be to go outside and smoke a cigarette, the response would be the effects of the cigarette on our body. We can change this routine by not going outside. By filling that gap with a reason to not go outside, we won’t have the cigarette and, over time, the chain is broken by a different pattern of autonomous behavior. The same goes with positive behavior. If we want to create a new chain, we follow a cue with a positive response and positive reward. For example, if I don’t feel confident (the cue), then I write three positive things about myself (the response), and afterwards I feel happy (the reward).
Much of the information presented here is available in depth from a book called “The Power of Habit” By Charles Duhigg. It’s a $10 purchase if you’d like to read more into the topic. Regardless of your current standing, I’d like to issue a challenge to everyone reading; January is a popular time for reflection on your actions over the past year. Over the next few weeks, take a look at some of your routines, habits and patterns- is there anything that you’d like to change? Perhaps kick a bad habit or form a healthier morning routine? Take this time as an opportunity to take control and become the better version of yourself. #strongereveryday
By Matt Rhodes, M.S., C-EP