How I Conquered Bad Habits With Three Strategies
A great friend of mine asked me something that made me excited to write this piece:
“How can someone be so motivated at times, yet can’t escape their bad habits?”
Oh boy… let me tell you, I have been there.
I suffered with this for years.
The answer can be found in the question: Habits are a big part of it. You must change them. It’s necessary.
You can also look at it metaphorically like this: “Motivation is the charge… and discipline is the battery.”
Motivation is fleeting and can go away at a moments notice. Discipline is developed as a result of constant focus on positive habits, and doing them even if you don’t have the motivation to do so.
I wanted to discuss the importance of building positive habits to achieve discipline and three ways I was able to do so!
Habits Are the Key
We are a byproduct of the habits and decisions that we make.
When you learn a good or a bad habit and consistently do it for years… it’s incredibly difficult to disrupt the cycle.
This may make people disheartened… but all I said was that it was incredibly difficult.
It’s not impossible.
No matter what, our habits will always be the key to our overall happiness. The beautiful thing about this is that we can change or disrupt our bad habits and turn them into better ones.
Each and every one of us has the ability to live happier.
The Habit Influencers
There are three ways to influence habits:
- A life epiphany. One near-death experience or health issue as a result of your bad habits makes you realize that you can’t continue it anymore. It might just be life or death. You refuse to let it consume you.
- Small incremental steps. Taking small baby steps to new habits, or disrupting bad habits is how most habits can be changed or created. 1% growth every day.
- The environment. If your environment is filled with toxic vices or junk food that trigger bad responses, eliminate them completely in your home and workplace. Use barriers that force you to disrupt the pattern.
I don’t typically talk about number one, because that’s a personal decision that comes as a result of consistent bad habits that you refuse to change over the course of years.
I prefer to focus on numbers two and three because they assume that you are aware of the bad habits you want to eliminate, and they’re quite easy to utilize for learning or unlearning things.
Now that we understand that our focus is on the two habits, I want to give you three strategies you can utilize to make better habits.
In these examples, we are going to assume you are struggling with having better exercise and eating habits.
I. Cue, Routine, Reward: The Habit Loop
According to Charles Duhigg’s book, The Power of Habit, habits are formed as a result of something known as the habit loop. A habit loop is, quite simply, a loop developed by our brain (through repetition) that manages various habits that we have.
The loop consists of three components: a cue, a routine, and a reward.
I. Cue
The cue is our trigger: our habit starts as a result of this. For example, leaving your gym clothes out in an obvious spot (whether it’s on your bed or car) will make you realize you need to work out.
This is essentially a cue to ignite your habit.
II. Routine
The routine is the physical or mental task we do as a result of the desired cue. For example, we routinely brush our teeth in the morning (and before the bed) as soon as we head into our bathroom and grab the toothbrush.
Using our previous example, your gym clothes motivated you to take action to go to the gym or go for a run. As soon as you get in the gym or the park, your body (AND environment) signals it’s time to WORK!
This may seem like it would not work, but with techniques like Enclothed Cognition have been proven to work, you might as well use them to your advantage. Find what best triggers your positive habits and use them to your advantage.
III. Reward
The reward is the deciding factor as to whether or not this loop is worth it. For example, one way to influence a fitness habit is to introduce a satisfying post-workout shake as a reward… or even pose in the mirror (your muscles look a lot bigger than before your workout).
A great flavored protein powder mixed with fruits would be a great reward after an intense workout, as it helps our body feel nourished. This is also the perfect opportunity to introduce healthier food options during this meal, which really compounds overtime.
Now that we understand the Habit Loop, we can now apply it to both nutrition and exercise, starting with my favorite strategy: The Habit Sandwich.
II. The Habit Sandwich
According to the Power of Habit, familiarity is a habit strategy that can either create or change habits. The reason why it works is because we are creatures of habit: we dislike change.
Remember that our brains are against us when forming a new habit, so we have to “trick” it in a sense. How we do this is by modifying our “routine” in a specific habit loop.
For example, one way I was able to create healthy habits for myself is by implementing a metaphorical “habit sandwich”.
Let me explain by using nutrition as an example:
- The Habit Sandwich is when you take your previous bad habits and introducing better habits in between
- Metaphorical Slice of Bread — Another meal you typically eat.
- Metaphorical Cheese — A new, healthier food option/Meal
- Metaphorical Second Slice of Bread — Another meal you typically eat.
After you start with the 2 slices of bread and the cheese… you can add more toppings. Add a metaphorical slice of ham, introducing another healthy meal. A week or so later, introduce a metaphorical tomato slice, introducing another healthy meal.
You will keep adding toppings until you space your favorite junk foods or meals so far away from each other. As a result, you’re eating more nutrient-dense foods rather than high-calorie foods. If done right, this can introduce weight loss and/or a significant lifestyle change.
The reason why this strategy works is because of familiarity: you don’t change the cue. You essentially “trick” your brain’s habits by changing the habit loop’s “routine”.
THIS, is exactly how I changed my lifestyle when I started exercising. While I still am a fat kid at heart, I know that exercise and proper nutrition have brought me more happiness… even if I am not motivated to do them.
The long-term benefits over short-term laziness.
III. Compounding Habits
For some reason, exercise has been shown to psychologically improve/change other habits in our lives: we make better nutrition choices, we practice mindfulness, we introduce exercises like meditation, and more. It is the ultimate personal development and positive habit builder (if you choose to allow it to be).
One great example of this is a study that found that people who were more active tended to have a reduced-fat or calorie intake. This is a result of a variety of factors, but we can argue through experience that we prefer to eat better after a workout!
This is the compounding effect that we are talking about: exercising typically does a great job of replacing our negative habits with more positive ones.
Habit Stacks
To take this even further, habit stacking is another way to compound habits that you can use to your advantage as well.
As previously mentioned, habits typically are looped through a cue, routine, and reward. After you follow the routine and acquire your “reward”, use the reward as a cue to do another habit.
For example, your goal is to work out in the morning… however, it’s so hard to. I would propose something like the following steps:
- Place your gym clothes and car keys (car keys on top) on the floor by your bed, or on a drawer in your room before bed.
- Wake up, see your keys and gym clothes ready to go, telling you it’s time to drive to the gym or the nearby park.
- Grab your keys, change your clothes, and drive. Don’t look back.
Simple things like this can prime ourselves to move towards accomplishing our goals, by helping us take small incremental steps and modify our environment!
Habits Are There — For Better or For Worse
I used to stress eat a lot.
Now, I use exercise to eliminate stress the majority of the time. There are still bad days that occur, where I lose track or make a mistake. But most of my days are a lot better than what they used to be — all because I understand habits.
One thing you need to understand is that you should never give up. If you mess up once, it’s not the end of the world. Be aware of it, or write it down as a reminder.
If you failed to reduce the frequency of a bad habit, ask yourself why… and even write down your reasoning. This will help you build self-awareness in what you should do for next time.
Whenever I gave in to junk food, it was always because it was in my cupboard. When I decided to only have junk food by having to physically drive to a location to purchase only one snack size portion of junk food… it literally is not worth it 99% of the time.
My vice is food. Yours might be smoking, countless Netflix binging, and others.
Break the habits by using these strategies. You might see some changes.
Remember: small incremental steps and changing your environment. If you find yourself playing 10+ hour straight of video games instead of working on your business (like I used to)… get rid of the games. I did and never looked back. I’m even happier now.
Disclaimer: There’s nothing wrong with playing games or eating junk food in moderation. You just can’t let it control your life.
I really hope this helps you guys take a step in a positive direction.
Any questions or comments, throw them below!
Until next time everyone!
This was originally posted on our Mental Health for Men blog, Fullmetal Mind.
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