Habit Change

The Golden Rule of Habit Change: You can’t extinguish bad habit, you can only change it.

“Use the same cue. Provide the same reward. Change the routine.”¹

Old #habits are never forgotten nor can be extinguish altogether. We can only replace the routine within our habit loop, keeping the same cue and delivering the same cravings for the reward. It has been proven through and through by science, that even intercepting the neurological cravings with technology close to our basal ganglia would not suffice to suppress the targeted habit. It can only suppress long enough while the old habits ready to pounce once the cue is triggered.

One of the most respected football coaches of all time, Tony Dungy popularized the habit change when he turn the fate of Tampa Bay Buccaneers, one of the worst team in NFL at the time, on November 17, 1996. Dungy drilled basic routines into his team over old habits instead of memorizing hundreds of plays, as he believed instant automatic reaction far outweighed complicated plays that renders player to hesitate, wasting away precious split seconds.

Alcoholics anonymous (AA), started by Bill Wilson, a chronic alcoholic, has been criticized by researchers for many years for their unscientific methods and their famous credo, The 12-Steps of AA, which are seemingly random or written on a whim, nonetheless effective that changed millions of lives of addicts. AA meetings does not have a curriculum nor does it host a professional to direct the exchange of stories every meeting. However, it changes the routine of some of the addicts that attend the meeting whenever they feel the cravings. Most alcoholics rarely crave for the physical effects of alcohol, rather they are after the relaxation, companionship, or escape drinking provides them which the AA also provides through its regular meetings and sponsorship.

Resources

The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg - Chapter 3: The Golden Rule of Habit Change
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2021-07-27

#The Framework for Changing Habits
- The tricky thing about #Habit Change is that there is no single blanket formula that can change any habit we want to change. We are all slaves to our habits, if its easy to break free, then this framework would not have existed and therefore my interest in creating this entry.
#Are We Responsible For Our Habits?
- Once we are aware of our habits, we are responsible for our habitual actions, good or bad. There are ways to deal with even the most irresistible habit, but it is up to us whether to capitulate to our urges or to #fight our most primal instinct.
#The Power of Crisis
- Some #Organizational Habits are so ingrained into the culture that the only way for a reform is through a crisis. Any good leaders know that a crisis is the best way to create habits that can #replace the existing ones. In 2000, Rhode Island Hospital cultivates destructive organizational habits where it harbors enmity between its doctors and nurses. Nurses where treated unfairly and without respect by some doctors which caused series of grave operational accidents. One doctor insisted to proceed with the skull surgery for blood cloth, disregarding the nurse’s insistence for confirmation with furious reprimand for his authority, the doctor committed the location of the blood cloth to memory and ended up operating on the wrong side that later caused the patients death. Not long after, similar incident happended with a child being operated on the wrong part of the child’s mouth during a cleft palate surgery. Another report from the hospital was a drill bit was left inside a man’s head.¹
  1. The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg - Chapter 6: The Power of a Crisis
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#Willpower
- However, willpower, just as Belief, crumbles in the face of adversity. No matter how much willpower a person has, at an inflection point–a highly stressful or provoking event–they freeze or loose their composure. A salesperson who studied and memorized the products he/she is selling, memorized the script, and trained to respond to certain cues, would freeze as soon as he/she encounter an angry customer. The solution to this, as the book, The Power of Habit suggests, is to envision yourself going through the inflection point and write down the specific details you would do come the event. Also, willpower is required when #changing a habit and to establish Keystone Habits.
#Belief
- Often times, #replacing existing habits with an alternative routine isn’t enough to permanently change your behavior. As proven countless of times, under duress, we are likely to relapse to our old habits and all our progressive efforts to change will all be for nothing.

Step Four: Have a Plan
- The hardest part of #habit change, even equipped with the knowledge of your cue, is making the conscious effort to steer away from doing your routine. Sometimes you forget and sometimes you just don’t have the willpower to defy your urges. Hence, study after study concluded that having a plan is the easiest way to accomplish something. Not just having a plan in mind–it’s as if writing in water–but having it in a piece of paper is more powerful.
Step Two: Experiment With Rewards
- Another way is to experiment with different routines to see if an alternative satisfies your urge. This is ideal because #you cannot just force your habit aside as you will almost always likely result in a disappointing relapse. For instance, when feel like getting up from your desk to grab a snack, try to pick up something else, like fruits instead. Then on the next day, instead of eating, talk to a friend for a few minutes before going back to your desk. Or next time, just step outside for a quick walk around the building to get some air.
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