Breaking a Habit
We all have tried to break habits, and if you are like me, many times with little avail.
When I belonged to a club, I used to hate Januarys because the ‘resolutions crew’ would flood the gym, and all the machines would be taken. By February the machines would open again partially because of those who believed that they would see a major difference in 21 days. They did not enjoy the hard work or early morning routine, and their expectations of results were not met – Limbic Friction. Neuroscience shows that that it can take between 18 and 254 days to break a habit. The average is mid 60’s.
A habit is simply a form of learning—a change of behavior with a reinforced experience. An automatic response to a specific situation, it also includes behaviors, thoughts, and attitudes. Generally, habits do not require our conscious attention which also makes them very difficult to break as extended conscious attention to change them is difficult.
Habits are experienced through beliefs and a trained, triggered, or cued nervous systems. Its signals tell us to act in a certain way. Up to 70% of our waking behavior is made up of habitual behavior.
Our ‘new habit building’ follow through is determined by the amount of Limbic Friction (resistance and pushback to the activity in the Limbic System which supports a variety of functions including emotion, behavior, and long-term memory).
Changing your habits:
Repetition: With each repetition small changes happen to procedural memory.
Changing your mindset – visualization – 5R’s.
Task bracketing – not overextending capabilities.
Day Part: Divide tasks into three-day parts: after waking - 0-8 hours – 9-15 hours - 16-24 hours. Give brain consistency in times of day.
Habit formations are either — Physiological or Psychological.
The physiological basis is related to our nervous system. When an act is repeated several times, a clear nervous connection is formed, leading to a pathway.
The psychological habits are acquired dispositions. They are part of the learning process or experience gained and are repeated and firmly retained. This ability to retain strengthened and becomes a habit.
Changing habits is difficult. I have found the best avenue is through Mindfulness-Meditation. Want to find out how to break a habit?
