Tools To Change Unwanted Behavior
D. S. Mitchell
Habits affect us in every aspect of our lives, home, school, work, church. It could be nail-biting, thumb-sucking, over eating, procrastination, avoidance. Each one of us has habits we wish we could break. How do we escape these unwanted behaviors, when often we do not understand the basis of the behavior?
New York Times reporter Charles Duhigg has written a book that examines the structure of habit, its underlying causes, and the impact of habit on our careers and our personal lives, entitled “The Power Of Habit: Why We Do What We Do In Life & Business.”
The first part of Duhigg’s book investigates the “habit loop.” The habit loop comprises the “cue” (the situation that stimulates the habitual behavior), the “routine” (the behavior or activity) and the “reward” (the emotional satisfaction resulting from engaging in the behavior).
The key to stopping an undesirable habit is to break down this self-perpetuating loop, according to Duhigg. Breaking down the loop is the key to altering behavior. If you don’t understand the “why” (the reason) for the action it is hard to escape the behavior itself. As Duhigg writes, “Once you break a habit into its components, you can fiddle with the gears.”
Duhigg also takes a look at the habits of successful organizations. As a business owner, the habits you instill in your staff go a long way in determining the success of the venture. He looks at organizations as big as Target and as intimate as the structure of NFL teams. It is the owner’s job to create positive habits in the staff. If as an owner, you notice a way to replace a bad operational habit with a good one, you have the ability to improve productivity and employee happiness.
Duhigg details four steps to changing any habit. 1.) Pinpoint the “routine” (the habit) 2.) Examine the “reward” that the behavior provides 3.) Isolate the situations that “cue” the unwanted behavior 4.) Develop a “plan” to change the behavior.
Lastly, Duhigg says, “You have to actually believe in your capacity to change for habits to permanently change.” With the tools and examples provided in “The Power Of Habit” you should be able to take control of habits you thought were unbreakable. In business and life the ability to change unwanted behaviors is a valuable asset.
Many years ago when I was taking a graduate psychology class I participated in a stop smoking study. The study was very simple. Each participant kept a “smoking journal.” We were required to make a note of the emotion experienced when we felt the desire to have a cigarette (the cue/trigger), the action itself (the behavior), and how we felt after the cigarette (the reward).
We were required to journal for six weeks. At the end of the six-week period we met with the study designer and talked about our experience, and designed a plan to stop smoking based solely on the journaling information. This all took place forty years ago, but even now I can remember how amazed I was with my reactions to the journaling experience. First, the journaling made me intently aware of the behavior. Second, I became aware for the first time the situations that triggered the habit. Third, I became aware of the reward. And, lastly, with the information I had learned about the behavior I was able to create a plan to change the undesirable activity.
If I had not participated in that study I may never have been able to quit smoking, but with the isolation of the “behavior loop” it was easy. In fact, by the end of the six weeks I had stopped smoking and have never smoked again. So, like Duhigg says, break the loop.
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