Our habits, from the simple ones to the more intricate ones are typically triggered by a cue or a craving. Many times these cues are not obvious, but they still trigger a response, causing us to take action in the hopes of achieving a reward.
I first heard about the habit loop in James Clears Atomic Habits.
He described a feedback loop made up of 4 components.
Cue. Craving. Response. Reward.
I came across this habit loop again in Charles Duhiggs The Power of Habit, and in his book, he appeared to merge the Cue and Craving or at least used them interchangeably. So:
Cue/Craving. Routine/Response. Reward (I’ll be referring to this model more)
A good place to start to diagnose and possibly change your habits, is to try breaking them down into these three components.
Cue/Craving - What is the trigger. What is your motivating factor. Cues are not always obvious and can be as innocuous as the scent of freshly baked Agege bread wafting through your car window as you drive through Ita Faji on your way to work.
Response/Routine - What actions do you take. This is the most obvious bit. The habit itself. You smell fresh bread, so naturally, you slow down and ask the nice lady standing in front of the bakery to kindly give you bread 50, butter 10.
Reward. What happens as a result of your action. The butter melts perfectly into the bread seeing as it is still quite warm and when you take a bite of this wonderfully made (and potentially bromate full) loaf, a party erupts in your mouth and afterwards, your belly is full and you are ready to face the day as a house officer in the busiest Children’s Hospital in Lagos.
And thus a habit is born.
Your brain can’t tell the difference between a good or bad habit. Your brain simply recognises a pattern. This cue leads to this action and this action produces this result. Ergo, if I want this result again then I need to carry out this same action and if I do not want this result then I will not carry out this same action next time.
Actions that produce a desired result are more likely to be repeated than those that do not.
If at some point you realise that your habit of eating agege bread every morning might be sabotaging the effort you put in at the gym every day, you may wish to discontinue this particular habit.
To do this, we can use the Habit Loop. Having already identified the different components of this habit, changes can be made at any point in the loop that could lead to a discontinuation of this habit.
For example, knowing that the smell of bread is the trigger, you might take a different route to avoid passing the bakery. If your desired reward is not to be hungry, then you can try an alternative (obviously less joyful) breakfast option.
It is not always this simple to recognise and isolate these components and sometimes a lot of experimenting with different cues, triggers and rewards is necessary, but having an understanding of how habits work is key to modifying them.
Habits are so powerful that even when we do not remember the experiences that create them, once lodged in the brain, they become hard to dislodge. This is why it is hard to break habits even when they are undesirable.
The good news is that with time and the requisite effort, any habit can be reshaped.
Take me for example. I like my alcohol. I always have. So much that at the beginning of my 75 Hard program last year, I mentioned it as what would be most challenging for me.
In the first few weeks, it hurt a little to not have a drink when I had guests. Thankfully (or not), we were in a quasi lockdown and this meant that I didn’t have as many opportunities as I would usually have to consume alcohol. This has also never stopped me in the past because I always have alcohol at home.
However I was determined (Craving) not to fall off and finish the challenge (Reward) and so I continued to pour drinks for my guests while chugging my water. At the end of the challenge I was excited to go back to drinking, however I made the decision to cut back on my alcohol consumption and limited myself to drinking only on weekends.
A few months ago, I had a little solo drinking session at home and when I woke up the next day I felt vaguely unwell, like something was off but nothing requiring medical attention. It occurred to me much later that I must have experienced a hangover, something very foreign to me and something which really didn’t feel good (Undesired Reward).
I don’t think I’ve had a drink since.
Now this is also helped by the fact that we have been in a National lockdown, I haven’t been on any holidays in over a year and I no longer live in Lagos. (Cues/Triggers). If any of these cues are presented, chances are I might have a drink, and probably enjoy it too. But I would also be mindful of the possibility of a hangover and (maybe, I’m not making any promises here) not drink as much.
Habits are not destiny. Habits are the shortcuts encoded into our brains by our repeated actions. We (and other factors in our environment sometimes) create our habits and If we understand how these habits are formed, then we can modify them to suit our desired outcomes.
You my friend, have power over your habits.
I had a really good weekend. Finally bought myself a pair of skates and I can not wait to learn so I can start disturbing my friends with skating videos. A skating salsero? Mad o.
This week I read
Normal People by Sally Rooney. I’ve been reading a lot of non-fiction lately but fiction is my true love and this was a good way to slide back over.
Here’s the link I meant to include in the last letter but somehow got missed.