Are you keeping the well-meant resolutions you made for the new year? Well done if you are. No shame if you’re not. Polling in America suggests half of our New Year’s resolutions are gone by the end of March.
According to The Economist, habitual behaviour emerges in response to dopamine, a chemical associated with pleasure produced by a specific action.
Two brain systems are involved: the basal ganglia (a set of structures in the brain’s interior), which respond automatically and predictably to certain stimuli. For example, your alarm activates your habit of getting up, activating your sub-habits of drinking coffee, showering and driving to the office.
The other brain system is directed at completing goals and is located in the brain’s outer cortex layer. It’s dopamine reward stems from a deliberate action being successfully completed.
This arrangement of routine and override works well for one-off modification of habits. Still, permanent change requires weakening the stimulus-driven system to reduce the reliance on old stimuli and strengthening the goal-directed one to increase that of new ones.
Understanding the science of habits
Dr Adarsh K Gupta describes the habit cycle in four steps:
- Trigger: A specific cue that initiates the habit (e.g. stress triggers emotional eating).
- Craving: The psychological urge that creates anticipation (e.g. craving comfort when stressed).
- Action: The habitual behaviour itself (e.g. eating junk food).
- Reward: The outcome that satisfies the craving (e.g. temporary stress relief).
In his book, The Science of Habits, he says: “To break a bad habit, you must disrupt this cycle. To build a good habit, you must reinforce a new cycle that supports positive behaviour.”
How to break them
Dr Gupta suggests these steps to break bad habits:
- Identify your triggers
Recognising the trigger is vital in the journey to breaking bad habits. Ask yourself: when does it happen, what are the accompanying feelings, who shares this moment etc. Example: If you’re scrolling your socials late at night, the trigger might be boredom.
- Replace the routine, don’t just eliminate it
Trying to eliminate a bad habit without putting another in its place might create a void. Replace it with a healthy behaviour. Example: instead of scrolling your socials, read a book until bedtime.
- Make it harder to engage in the bad habit
Reduce friction for good habits and increase friction for bad ones. Example: keep your phone in a separate bedroom, or downstairs/upstairs to make it harder to reach.
- Use the “If-Then” Strategy
Create an “If-Then” plan to counteract triggers. Example: If I reach for my phone before bed time, then I will read 10 pages of a book instead.
- Leverage accountability
Share your habit-breaking journey to make it more difficult to stop. Example: tell a friend about it, or utilise a habit-tracking app to track or block your phone usage before bed time. Or, reward yourself in the morning if you were successful the previous night.
Remember: Habits don’t exist on a personal level only. Forming new habits at the office and in the workplace, makes way for best practice and optimised ways of working, ensuring success for an executive assistant and their executive.
So, start small and gradually expand your new habit and don’t forget to celebrate even the smallest of wins.
