Habit Breaker
James Clear, author of the best-selling book Atomic Habits, says, “The habits you repeat (or don’t repeat) every day largely determine your, health, wealth, and happiness.” Changing habits that are not serving you requires rewiring your brain which can rewire your life!
Habits are generally of service to us – automating solutions to repetitive problems, but some habits can be of disservice – smoking, overeating or lack of sleep. Clear identifies four components of our habit loops: cue, a craving, a response and a reward. Using the example of trying to lose weight: Cue - you walk to the refrigerator/pantry; a Craving – you open the doors and stare inside; a Response – you pick out ice cream/snack; a Reward - you eat it. You can apply this to any one of your habits. A ding from your email or mail being delivered can also be Cues.
It is the disservice habits that we should examine from our habit loops:
ID your cues – what is the first thing that draws you to an action? How’s it working for you?
ID the craving behind the cue. In our example, is it hunger, boredom, emotion, stress or something else?
Consider your Response. Our reactions are generally automatic; our responses hold choice! I.E. We can choose to react to a comment or consider (present tense) what might change the temperature, tone or emotions that were brought to a heighted level when we heard the comment.
Consider your Reward. Ask questions: Is this beneficial? Is it productive? Is it a habit? Is it serving me or is it a disservice?
How long does it take to break a habit? Most of what we heard is the myth of 21 days to make or break a habit. The idea likely originated in Dr. Maxwell Maltz's 1960 book, Psycho-Cybernetics regarding how long it took to accept a new look from plastic surgery.
Neuroscientist Caroline Leaf indicates it takes 63 days on average. Another study at University College London showed it took 66 days on average by practicing daily to develop a new habit which varied from 18-254 days. The point is that the individual’s effort, methods, motivation and mindset make a huge difference in how long it takes. However, because of Maltz’s comment, many people stop trying to change after 21 days rather than examining their effort, methods, motivation and mindset.
Many times, habits are created or certainly influenced by our limiting beliefs which sabotage our efforts and mindset to change without our even knowing it. Contact us to find out how to discover if limiting beliefs are the issue.
