HOW TO MANAGE YOUR HABITS
HOW TO MANAGE YOUR HABITS
A SHORT STORY OF CHAOS THE FAMOUS DUHHIG’S HABIT CYCLE FAILS TO DELIVER RESULTS BUILDING BETTER HABITS AND THE STEPS YOU NEED TO TAKE LET’S BRING IT ALL TOGETHER
A SHORT STORY OF CHAOS I was 19 years old, out of high school, and working on my Bachelor of Economics. A typical week in college looked like this: getting up at 7 a.m., attending lectures, getting home and preparing myself a chicken casserole with salad on the side, training Jui Jitsu, reading a book, preparing for upcoming lectures, and finishing the day with sleep at 10 p.m. Perhaps that’s what I should have done. In reality, I was staying up until 2 p.m., sleeping till 11 a.m., skipping classes, eating ramen-noodles with green peas, wasting money on alcohol and cigarettes, watching every episode of Two and a Half Man, Family Guy, and How I met your Mother. Managing my habits more effectevely, was the way out of chaos. As you might have guessed, it wasn’t easy. After many failed experiments, a method stood out, which keeps proving its effectiveness.
3
THE FAMOUS DUHHIG’S HABIT CYCLE FAILS TO DELIVER RESULTS For a while, habits didn’t get the attention they deserved, as if people weren’t aware of its existence, not writing about it in their blogs, not talking about it in their podcasts. One day, a book about the power of habit appeared, namely Charles Duhhig’s The Power of Habit, changing the dialog about habits. It describes how we can change our lives with the help of a cycle, consisting of a cue, triggering the behavior, consisting of a routine, performing the behavior itself, consisting of a reward, gaining the benefits.
To illustrate the functioning of this cycle, let’s take a simple example of flossing your teeth, a task that many of us constantly fail to do. You start with a cue, anything initiating the behavior, like going to the bathroom before bedtime. Next, you’re executing the behavior: flossing your teeth. Lastly, enjoy the reward of healthy teeth and a fresh breath, like gaining confidence, as you’re talking to people. If you repeat the cycle often enough, you have formed a habit of flossing your teeth before bed. The previous example was about developing habits, what if we want to change our habits? Supposedly it’s harder than you might think, because you are hooked to cues, which are part of your everyday life, like being hungry, like being angry, like being lonely, like being sad, like being tired, you name it. Changing them is close to impossible, but changing the routine is possible. For example, you’re hungry (cue), you are trying to satisfy it(reward), either by eating something healthy or consuming junk food (routine). Knowing why you’re seeking a specific reward, is crucial for identifying the cue, and changing the routine. Sounds confusing? To be honest, I think so too, also the cycle is a little misleading, suggesting you can change all the elements. It seems to me 4
that there should be a center, ideally the reward or the reason why you’re practicing a habit, helping you identify the cue and change the routine. I suggest this version:
Why am I talking about Charles Duhigg’s The Power of Habit? Although it has its flaws, thanks to this book, people started to take habits more seriously, revisiting theories from the past, developing new and better ways to tackle them. After experimenting with numerous theories, and relying on the best concepts, I composed my own tool for better habits.
5
BUILDING BETTER HABITS AND THE STEPS YOU NEED TO TAKE Step
nr.
1 Manage
your energy, and managing time takes care of itself
Believe it or not, to effectively practice or change your habits, you need minimal time management skills, apparently the heavy lifting is done by your energy levels. Habits like exercising in the morning, reading once a day, watching online courses, or even having sex with your partner, all of them need different amount of energy, dictating the time when you’re able to do them. To master your energy levels, you need to do the following things: Determine when you’re the sharpest. Develop rituals that boost your energy. Determine when you’re the sharpest As I mentioned before, some habits demand more energy than others. So the first thing to do, is to analyze your daily energy levels, determining when you feel the sharpest. Usually it’s after waking up, but some people tend to function better in the evening, but rarely at night. If you can’t put your finger on your most energized time of the day, then try implementing the results of Dan Ariely’s productivity study: “it turns out that most people are productive in the first two hours of the morning. Not immediately after waking, but if you get up at 7 a.m. you’ll be most productive from around from 8-10:30 a.m.”
6
A SHORT STORY OF CHAOS THE FAMOUS DUHHIG’S HABIT CYCLE FAILS TO DELIVER RESULTS BUILDING BETTER HABITS AND THE STEPS YOU NEED TO TAKE LET’S BRING IT ALL TOGETHER
A SHORT STORY OF CHAOS I was 19 years old, out of high school, and working on my Bachelor of Economics. A typical week in college looked like this: getting up at 7 a.m., attending lectures, getting home and preparing myself a chicken casserole with salad on the side, training Jui Jitsu, reading a book, preparing for upcoming lectures, and finishing the day with sleep at 10 p.m. Perhaps that’s what I should have done. In reality, I was staying up until 2 p.m., sleeping till 11 a.m., skipping classes, eating ramen-noodles with green peas, wasting money on alcohol and cigarettes, watching every episode of Two and a Half Man, Family Guy, and How I met your Mother. Managing my habits more effectevely, was the way out of chaos. As you might have guessed, it wasn’t easy. After many failed experiments, a method stood out, which keeps proving its effectiveness.
3
THE FAMOUS DUHHIG’S HABIT CYCLE FAILS TO DELIVER RESULTS For a while, habits didn’t get the attention they deserved, as if people weren’t aware of its existence, not writing about it in their blogs, not talking about it in their podcasts. One day, a book about the power of habit appeared, namely Charles Duhhig’s The Power of Habit, changing the dialog about habits. It describes how we can change our lives with the help of a cycle, consisting of a cue, triggering the behavior, consisting of a routine, performing the behavior itself, consisting of a reward, gaining the benefits.
To illustrate the functioning of this cycle, let’s take a simple example of flossing your teeth, a task that many of us constantly fail to do. You start with a cue, anything initiating the behavior, like going to the bathroom before bedtime. Next, you’re executing the behavior: flossing your teeth. Lastly, enjoy the reward of healthy teeth and a fresh breath, like gaining confidence, as you’re talking to people. If you repeat the cycle often enough, you have formed a habit of flossing your teeth before bed. The previous example was about developing habits, what if we want to change our habits? Supposedly it’s harder than you might think, because you are hooked to cues, which are part of your everyday life, like being hungry, like being angry, like being lonely, like being sad, like being tired, you name it. Changing them is close to impossible, but changing the routine is possible. For example, you’re hungry (cue), you are trying to satisfy it(reward), either by eating something healthy or consuming junk food (routine). Knowing why you’re seeking a specific reward, is crucial for identifying the cue, and changing the routine. Sounds confusing? To be honest, I think so too, also the cycle is a little misleading, suggesting you can change all the elements. It seems to me 4
that there should be a center, ideally the reward or the reason why you’re practicing a habit, helping you identify the cue and change the routine. I suggest this version:
Why am I talking about Charles Duhigg’s The Power of Habit? Although it has its flaws, thanks to this book, people started to take habits more seriously, revisiting theories from the past, developing new and better ways to tackle them. After experimenting with numerous theories, and relying on the best concepts, I composed my own tool for better habits.
5
BUILDING BETTER HABITS AND THE STEPS YOU NEED TO TAKE Step
nr.
1 Manage
your energy, and managing time takes care of itself
Believe it or not, to effectively practice or change your habits, you need minimal time management skills, apparently the heavy lifting is done by your energy levels. Habits like exercising in the morning, reading once a day, watching online courses, or even having sex with your partner, all of them need different amount of energy, dictating the time when you’re able to do them. To master your energy levels, you need to do the following things: Determine when you’re the sharpest. Develop rituals that boost your energy. Determine when you’re the sharpest As I mentioned before, some habits demand more energy than others. So the first thing to do, is to analyze your daily energy levels, determining when you feel the sharpest. Usually it’s after waking up, but some people tend to function better in the evening, but rarely at night. If you can’t put your finger on your most energized time of the day, then try implementing the results of Dan Ariely’s productivity study: “it turns out that most people are productive in the first two hours of the morning. Not immediately after waking, but if you get up at 7 a.m. you’ll be most productive from around from 8-10:30 a.m.”
6
