Old Ways Don’t Open New Doors: How to break old habits.
Imagine George, a 25 year-old man who works a full time job at a local law office. He has been intermittently going to the gym in college from the time he turned 21. But since he got a full time job, George hardly finds any time for himself. He finds waking up early a hassle.
He struggles to turn his alarm off and gets up right away at 6am in the morning. Most of the weekends, he prefers sleeping in until 9 am or 10 am. And when he wakes up, he reluctantly goes to the gym with little energy. George barely takes a walk now as he sits at the computer for most of his week. After all, who wants to expend so much energy after a long day of work? George feels that his energy is not stable throughout the day.
In spite of all the sleep-ins, he doesn’t feel any more energized. Something starts gnawing at him. George is determined to break this half-hearted, go-with-the-flow lifestyle. At all cost, he has to cultivate his discipline to live a better, healthier life.
Many of us have been through some of the stages George has been through. Adulthood is tough. Building your career and family can be overwhelming. We just let ourselves slide down the treacherous slope of doing whatever we feel like, going back to habits that are bad for our health in the long run. But if you, like George, are aware of your state and determined to reshape your habits and live a healthier lifestyle, read on! To reshape your habit(s), you must first understand how it works.
How habits are created.
According to Charles Duhigg in The Power of Habit, a habit consists of a cue, a routine, a reward. Habits exist to save energy for the brain to rationalize too much information. Think about the time you went to the gym at 7pm every day after work. That's what your brain tells you to go on automatic mode. The brain spikes at the beginning, when you identify which habit to engage in (cue), and at the end, when you are soaked in the pleasure of the habit (reward). Routine is the behavior that follows the cue.
How to break old habits.
To change a habit, simply keep the cue and reward, but change the routine. Say, if you want to wake up early and go right away for a 45 minute workout (a cue), choose a reward that consists of a feeling and a tangible entity, such as the endorphin that will rush through your bloodstream after an intense workout (feeling) and a fresh delicious smoothie (tangible). For me, I close my eyes and visualize how sweaty yet refreshed I am after a workout, walking on an empty street by myself, fresh air on my face, the aroma of coffee from a nearby shop, the dog barking, the stable energy throughout the day. And I reward myself with an Acai bowl after my gym workout (tangible). This is a tremendously effective way to change your routine.
Another tip to keep in mind when you start changing your habit is to start small and incrementally increase the resistance over time. I start out my yoga morning routine for just 7 days, and increase it to 14 days then 30 days. And now voila here I am - yoga every single morning at 6:30! It’s risky to aim for too high when you start forming a new habit, because you may get distracted and lose motivation. Consequently, the new habit hasn’t even embedded in your brain, it gets uprooted and erased.
The trick is to break it down. Try to stay in the moment and count your breath as you engage in a new habit. It’s amazing to stay in the present even for just one passing second. If you tell yourself you can do it for one second, you will be able to do it in 2 seconds, and so on… At the end of the day, you will add up those tiny precious seconds to hours! Surprised?
To build a new habit is exciting and challenging at the same time, you have to deliberately engage your brain and your mind into the task at hand. Make a promise to yourself everyday, write it down, stick it on the wall. And above all, reward yourself generously after a good routine. By slowly changing your old, unproductive ways of going about things, you will slowly make significant changes to your life.
Source: The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business by Charles Duhigg