Two Simple Tricks for Building Better Habits

Are you trying to build better habits? These two simple tricks can help.

How habits work

Habits operate in a well-known cycle:

1. We pick up a CUE in our environment.
2. The cue triggers a CRAVING.
3. We RESPOND to that craving by a certain behavior.
4. Our action results in a REWARD of some kind. (Which reinforces the behavior.)

The first step in the cycle is the cue—something that triggers a specific response. For example, I smell popcorn and suddenly I am hungry for a snack.

This means that instead of building better habits by relying on will-power, we can make simple changes to our environment that will help us by providing triggers that spur positive behavior.

For example: I keep an exercise band on my dresser to remind me to do some simple PT exercises for my ankles before I put my shoes on in the morning. The visual cue of seeing the bright exercise band while I am getting dressed reminds me to do the exercises.

This simple concept works when we are trying to fight unhelpful habits too. We can alter the environment to remove cues that trigger habits we are trying to break.

In other words…

Make it difficult to do what you don’t want and easy to do what you do want.

More examples of controlling our environment to enable better habits:

• If you want to eat less junk food and more healthy snacks, put the junk food out of sight, (the more inconvenient it is to get it at, the better) and put healthy snacks in plain sight. I know that in this house, we eat a lot more fruit if it’s in sitting in a bowl on the counter than if I leave it in the fridge.
• You are trying to concentrate on work but you find yourself repeatedly distracted by your phone/in-box/desk toys/whatever. The next time you sit down for focused work, try putting all potential distractions out of sight. (Don’t forget about open tabs on the computer. Close all tabs but the one you need for the task at hand.)
• Want to get in the habit of going to the gym or out for a walk? The night before, set your packed gym bag or walking shoes right by the door. Seeing them will remind you to exercise and make it easier to start because the items you need are already at hand.

One more though on cues… We may not consciously notice the cues that trigger habitual responses. When fighting to overcome unwanted habits, we can’t always determine what in the environment is cueing the response. We may need to avoid some environments altogether to overcome the habits associated with them. (This could be as simple as moving to a different chair or room in order to practice better focus on a particular task.)

For an even higher chance of success, combine your environmental changes with this simple tip.

Name a specific time and place for accomplishing the task.

Studies show that we humans are more likely to accomplish a goal that has a specific time and place associated with it. In other words, a small change in the way I think about the task can lead to a big shift in the likelihood I will accomplish it.

For example, change a vague goal like: I am going to exercise tomorrow

to a specific goal like: Tomorrow I will go to the gym at 5:30. Or, I will walk the neighborhood from 12:30 to 1:00.

How simple it that?

Try it and see how adding a few simple details gives you a boost of motivation to complete the goal.