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Loading...4 Steps to Changing a Habit
- Megan, selected from Experience Life
- January 19, 2013
- 4:25 pm
- 117 comments
Step Three: Isolate the Cue
Cues are the triggers for our habitual behaviors. They are often the most difficult part of habits to identify, because there is so much information bombarding us as our behaviors unfold. Do you eat at a certain time of day because you are hungry? Or because the clock says 7:30? Or because your kids have started eating?
To identify a cue amid the noise, we can use the same system as researchers in the field: Identify categories of behavior ahead of time to scrutinize them for patterns. Experiments have shown that almost all habitual cues fall into one of five categories: location, time, emotional state, other people, immediately preceding action.
Write down the information for these five things the moment an urge hits. (These are my actual notes from when I was trying to diagnose my cookie habit):
- Where are you? (Sitting at my desk)
- What time is it? (3:36 p.m.)
- What’s your emotional state? (Bored)
- Who else is around? (No one)
- What action preceded the urge? (Answered an email)
I did this for three days, and it became pretty clear which cue was triggering my cookie habit: time. I felt an urge to snack around 3:30 each day. I had already figured out, in step two, that it wasn’t hunger driving my behavior. The reward I was seeking was temporary distraction — the kind that comes from gossiping with a friend.
My habit loop was completed.
Once you’ve identified your own habit loop, you can begin to shift the behavior. You can develop a better routine by planning for the cue and choosing a behavior that more constructively delivers the real rewards you are craving.
Read more: Addiction, Health, Self-Help, Spirit
By Charles Duhigg, From Experience Life
Megan, selected from Experience Life
Experience Life magazine is an award-winning health and fitness publication that aims to empower people to live their best, most authentic lives, and challenges the conventions of hype, gimmicks and superficiality in favor of a discerning, whole-person perspective. Visit experiencelife.com to learn more and to sign up for the Experience Life newsletter, or to subscribe to the print or digital version.
Disclaimer: The views expressed above are solely those of the author and may
not reflect those of
Care2, Inc., its employees or advertisers.
people are talking
Thaks!!!
you can also put them between filters for home AC and units, bound together, to keep debris off of t…
Thank you very much
Thanks for the info!
neat.
117 comments
+ add your ownThank you for the good tips
thanks. I just need a reason to end a habit, if it isn't harmful i let it be. If it is, I research how its harmful, and I quit
It really takes a lot of strong wills, and a lot of support from the loved ones around us.
Very good!!
thanks!
Thanks
thanks
Great article,
After reading this I decided to cultivate some good habits one by one and bring back my good habits I lost in the past.
And I've started this with Hab It! - Android motivation tool. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.savefon.habit
Good tips. Thank you.
Good post Megan,thanks
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