Recently I picked up the book The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg and I could not put it down. Duhigg has a way of writing that’s captivating and certainly motivated me to want to read on. I was intrigued by the way he connected some of the latest findings from neuroscience with our ability to habitualize, or automatize, our behaviors so that we don’t have to use as much energy thinking. In fact, deep within our basal ganglia we are storing habits even when the rest of our brain is asleep. Interesting.

You want to be intentional in your use of language because you know that it has the potential to positively impact the receiver. However, when you get in a tight spot, if you have not yet formed a habit of how you will intentionally respond, you’ll go back to old habits like telling someone what to do; maybe even micromanaging them. Later you may be thinking, “Why did I do that?”

Duhigg offers a three-step process to consider when those old habits begin to kick in and they aren’t the habits you want. He calls it The Habit Loop. You get a Cue (a feeling of something you want) and you move into a Routine (something you do without thinking) with the desire to receive a Reward (another feeling or result).

Say you’re really working to lose weight and yet when you walk by a cookie shop, you can’t resist. You go in and eat a cookie. The cue is the sight, or smell, of the cookie which triggers your routine of satisfying that urge by eating the cookie. Your reward is the feeling you get as you’re eating the cookie. It taste good, it reminds you of your childhood, etc.

The brain can’t tell the difference between good habits and bad habits. Once we get in the habit of sitting on the couch instead of exercising, eating late at night before we go to bed, or telling others what to do as our first mode of response – then it just becomes an automatic way of being.

Guess what? Your habits are not your destiny. You can ignore, change or replace them.  But, in order to do so, you have to break habits down into their components so that you can manipulate them for your own advantage.

Sparked an interest in reading more? Check out his book and tell us what you think.

Vicky Dearing, PCC