HOW TO REPLACE BAD HABITS WITH GOOD HABITS

WHAT ARE HABITS?

Humans are creatures of habit. A habit is a routine of behavior that is repeated regularly and tends to occur subconsciously. Charles Duhigg, reporter for the New York Times and author of The Power Of Habit, said, “About 40 percent to 45 percent of what we do every day sort of feels like a decision, but it’s actually habit.” Even the smartest, most creative, most ruggedly individualistic of Homo sapiens are on autopilot much of the time, eating, working, and communicating with others through habit.

There are some good evolutionary reasons for this: habits save us time and mental energy in negotiating the world and free our minds to invent things like fire and computers. They also limit the size of our brains (and therefore our heads), making it easier for human mothers to survive giving birth. But our hardwired ability to form habits makes us vulnerable, quickly picking up self-destructive patterns, too.

The process by which new behaviors become automatic is called habit formation. Old habits are hard to break, and new habits are hard to form because the behavioral patterns we repeat are imprinted in our neural pathways. But it is possible to form new habits through repetition.

I don’t care who you are or what you have accomplished. We all have bad habits to some degree or another. Nobody is perfect. What we need to focus on, then, is analyzing ourselves daily to find bad habits and replace them with good habits.

HOW TO MAKE THE CHANGE

Many techniques exist for removing established habits like withdrawal of reinforcement by identifying and removing factors that trigger and reinforce the habit. Recognizing and eliminating bad habits as soon as possible is advised. Habit elimination becomes more difficult with age because repetitions reinforce habits cumulatively over a lifetime.

According to Charles Duhigg, there is a loop that includes a cue, a routine, and a reward for every habit. An example of a habit loop is this: when a TV program ends (cue), you go to the refrigerator (routine) and eat a snack (reward). The key to changing habits is to identify your cue and modify your routine and reward.

For whatever you consider a bad habit, there is a good habit that can replace it. I used to watch TV. I don’t like that it consumes a lot of my time, resulting in me being unproductive, and I definitely don’t like the way it makes me feel. After watching programs such as the news, SportsCenter, or even commercials, I would have worry, fear, anger, or even feelings of hate flowing through me, and those are feelings I want to avoid at all costs. This also goes with protecting your mind from anything harmful. I started replacing TV with books that enlighten my mind, body, and soul, thanks to my mentor Marlene who wouldn’t stop encouraging me to read, do some physical activity like exercising, or conversing with other people. Now I don’t watch TV except when the Los Angeles Rams are playing.

Identify the habits you want to change, then identify the cue and modify the routine and reward. And if you fail on your initial attempts, don’t give up. Figure out what went wrong and plan strategies to overcome that obstacle the next time. Keep your positive attitude and keep trying. You will get it eventually.