How Habits Work

 After identifying all of your bad habits, it is natural for you to be eager to break them all quickly. But you need to be patient when breaking habits and forming new ones. No matter what anyone tells you, there is no quick fix for this. Some methods work faster than others do though. It will take time to break a habit and form a new one. The simplest way to define a habit is: “A pattern of behavior formed by regular repetition is an acquired mode of behavior.”
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Let’s dive a little deeper into this statement…

Pattern of Behavior
Habits are something that you do on autopilot but they all have patterns to them. A good habit is
driving a car safely. When you first learned to drive you had to pay attention to everything and it was probably pretty stressful for you. Once you learned to drive, you do everything automatically and  concentrate on the road.

But it is not automatic. You are just following patterns of behavior that you have learned and
perfected. It all happens quickly so you could be forgiven for thinking it is automatic. This is
important to understand because you can always break a habit.

Regular Repetition
This is a strong clue that it takes time to form a habit. You need to do it regularly and
repeat the process. This takes effort initially, and you will need to apply effort when.
you form new empowering habits.

Acquired Mode of Behavior
A bad (or good) habit didn’t just turn up in your life one day. You had to acquire it. You made a
conscious decision that you wanted to create the habit, and then you put time and effort into it. Every habit starts somewhere. You had to learn how to implement the habit. Some are easier to learn than others.

There  is no Singular Formula for Habit Formation
Everyone is different. If you are someone who is naturally active then going to the gym on a regular
basis will be an easier habit for you to form than someone who is not inclined to do this. If you have
led a sedentary lifestyle for a long time then it will be much more of a challenge for you to form a
“going to the gym” habit.

Different habits require different approaches. If you want to quit smoking for example, then this will require a very different approach to wanting to go to the gym three times a week. There is no single formula for habit formation. Don’t believe anyone that tells you that there is.

There is a Habit Framework
Please don’t think at this point that it is going to be too complicated for you to break bad habits and
form new good ones. There is a framework that you can use for new habits that will work every time for you. This framework has three parts that form a neurological loop in your mind. They are:

• Remind
• Routine
• Reward

Here is an interesting article that will explain the 3 R's of habit formation.

Your Habits Define You
Here is something that you must know – your habits define who you are. The routines that you operate every day of your life, are responsible for what you do and how productive you are and will be responsible for how you run your life and even your happiness.

So the key question is – are you controlling your habits, or do they control you? The answer to this is
“both”. You can always control your habits – this is what this article is all about. But remember that
habits are powerful, and once you establish them as part of your everyday routine then you will
execute them on autopilot.

Your habits become a part of you, and if you are not careful, they can control your life. If you have an alcohol or drug habit, then this can soon become an addiction that spirals your life out of control. Breaking a habit like this will take some serious commitment and effort.  But the good news is that it is possible.

You want Good Habits to Control you
If a habit is doing you good, you want it to control you. People often become anxious about
something controlling them but this is not always a bad thing. If you have a habit of exercising
regularly then it is good to be controlled by this.

The same goes for cleaning your home or your office, always finishing the things that you start, washing your hands regularly, and cleaning your teeth morning and night. There are some habits that you need to be happy about having control over you.

I will discuss planning a successful habit transition in this week's podcast. It will complement this article. You can find it here.

Thank you for reading, folks, continue becoming the best version of yourself. 

Richard Fontanie.

 

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