We all have habits. We all desire to change habits. Sometimes it is daunting. However if we pause and think through the steps, we can change habits, which can change our character and our lives. Last month I read the Book: The Power of Habit. Charles Duhigg provides several examples to illustrate the science of habit formation and analyzes how to break or reform and create new habits. His examples are convincing and valuable. He picked examples from individuals as well as from companies and organizations. I highly recommend this book for anyone interested in having a healthier and happier life – which means for everyone!
In a simple sense, habit consists of simple repetition of routines which are triggered by cues that can result in pre-understood rewards. For example, I used to drink a lot of cups of tea day. I never understood why except that I used to do it habitually. I drank tea in the morning right after waking up. I drank tea before going to work. I drank tea at work in the morning, afternoon, and evening before departure. I drank tea at home after coming back. The tea was always a perfect brew made in the traditional English fashion with cream and sugar. It took me a while to figure out what was causing me to be bloated, wanting to drink more cups of water etc. Then after reading I discovered that it is the cream and the sugar that was causing issues. My reward was the ‘sugar’ in the tea and the occasional conversations with colleagues in the kitchen. I tried going complete cold turkey with no cups of tea – that did not work well. Now I had retrained myself to have about two cups of tea … by understanding the habit and altering the habit.
Charles Duhigg talks about three important principles required for habit change and of these the most important one is belief or faith that all will be well when we have changed our habit. He also mindfully recommends that do not expect immediate miracles, but to work on a habit change incrementally. Small changes made one step at a time are far more stickier than a sudden administration of change.
In one of my remote teams that I ran two years back, there was an enthusiastic champion for exercises; let us call him Joe. The team of 10 people as a whole had choppy exercise rhythm. Joe wanted to have others experience the fun of exercise. His verbal suggestions went nowhere :). Then he altered course. He set a goal of having the team complete 1000 pushups together. Willingly 5 members joined in. Human minds are driven by goals. They thought it may take about 2-3 months to get this goal achieved. They got started with 10 pushups a person per day. Some people struggled at the start. Within a week, everyone was able to get past the 10 pushups. And given that it is now a team sport, they did it together and went out to have their cup of water (not any sugary drink) after teh pushups. And to their surprise by end of the 3rd week, they reached teh goal of 1000 pushups together. And guess what, it was almost 21 days since the start of this new routine. Now everyone craved to do the pushups every day. Even when a member of two went on vacation they continued the pushups. Now each team member had a new habit, thanks to Joe. Again one small step along with the goal, transformed what each person can accomplish.
So why are you waiting? Get started on adding or changing to a new habit!
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