What Are Your Habit Loops?

Before we talk about “habit loops”, let’s make sure we are on the same page around habits.

 

What Are Habits?

Habits –

  • “are routines of behavior that are repeated regularly and tend to occur subconsciously” – according to Wikipedia
  • “a behavior pattern acquired by frequent repetition or physiologic exposure that shows itself in regularity or increased facility of performance”Meriam-Webster Dictionary
  • “a recurrent, often unconscious pattern of behavior that is acquired through frequent repetition”the Free Dictionary
  • “something that you do often or regularly, often without thinking about it”MacMillan Dictionary

Now we are on the same page about habits, let discuss habit loops!

 

What Are Habit Loops?

Behavioural teachers, coaches and psychologists call the structures behind habits, “habit loops”. In the book, The Power of Habit, Charles Duhigg shares discusses that habit loops consist of three main parts.

  • First there is a trigger or cue (e.g. location, time of day, emotional state, thought, belief, other people or a pattern of behaviour)…
  • which then triggers a routine (i.e. ask yourself what triggers the behaviour itself), and
  • then you get the reward you want (e.g. identify what reward is driving your habit – maybe what are you craving or averting?).

When this pattern of “cue, routine, reward” gets repeated it becomes more and more automated. Some of these “habit loops” are conscious and some of them are unconscious or occur automatically without awareness. By developing awareness of the habit loop, we can start to transform draining habits in to empowering habits for wellbeing.

 

What Are Your Habit Loops?

Do you have any habits that are draining your time and energy and are having an impact on your happiness and wellbeing? If so, you may like to use the following framework that Duhigg discusses in The Power of Habit. The framework is –

  • Identify the routine,
  • Experiment with rewards,
  • Isolate the cue, and
  • Have a plan.

Let’ start with Identifying the Routine…

1. Identifying the Routine –

Remember the habit loop consists of the cue, routine and rewards loop. To understand your own habits, you have to identify the components of the loops. Once you have identified the habit loop of a behaviour, you can look for ways to transform old routines with new routines as the key to transforming habits is changing the routine in the cue, routine, reward loop.

Some questions you may like to ask yourself include –

  • What is the behaviour I want to change (i.e. the routine)?
  • What is the cue for this routine? Is it the location, time, thoughts you are having, emotional state, people around you of a preceding event?
  • What is the reward your habit sought to satisfy? Is it a change of scenery, socialising, temporary distraction, sudden burst of energy or ?? To figure out the reward, you might need to do some experimentation.

2. Experiment with Rewards –

Rewards satisfy cravings, so we need to identify the cravings that drive behaviours. This could take a day, a week, a month or a little longer – the most important things is to identity the craving. What could this look like?

The routine – going to the canteen to buy a cookie.

When you feel the urge to go to the canteen to buy chocolate, adjust the routine so it delivers a different reward (e.g. go for a walk around the block and go back to your desk without eating anything). What you choose to do instead of buying the chocolate is not important, the point is to identify which craving is driving the behaviour. Is it the chocolate you are craving or is it a break from work?

If it is the chocolate, is it because you are hungry? Or is it the burst of energy the chocolate provides? Or are you going to the canteen to socialise? As you test the different rewards, write down the three things (i.e. emotions, thoughts, reflection on how you are feeling or just three words) that come to your mind.

Then once you have identified those three things, set an alarm on your watch or computer for fifteen minutes. When it goes off, ask yourself if you still feel the urge for the chocolate!

3. Isolate the Trigger –

Research has shown that almost all habitual trigger / cue fit in to one of the five categories. These five categories are (including corresponding questions) –

  1. Location – where are you?
  2. Time – what time is it?
  3. Emotional state – what is your emotional state?
  4. Other people – who else is around you?
  5. Immediately preceding action – what action preceded this urge?

4. Have a Plan –

After you have identified your habit loop (i.e. the reward driving the behaviour, the routine and the cue triggering it), you can begin to shift the behaviour by writing a plan. You can use the cue, routine and reward framework to write your plan.

Changing habits can be challenging sometimes, however hopefully this article has helped and remember every behaviour involves a choice.

 

If you are ready to reclaim your courage and take the next step towards freedom and living with your whole heart, why not join our Toolkit?

 

Reference –

Duhigg, C. (2012). The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business. USA: Random House.

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