Step Three: Isolate The Cue

After #figuring out the "why" (reward) to your habit, it is time to find the what or the cue to your persisting habit.

Most of the time, the cue to our habit is very simple but is often overlooked. Our brain processes multiple inputs simultaneously from our basic senses.

We see through our eyes, hear through our ears, or feel with our skin. We make sense of the world with our basic survival skills. But often times, it is also an impediment to our learning. A psychologist at the University of Western Ontario came up with a solution as to why some eyewitnesses remembered better than others¹. After watching overwhelming amount of questioning footages, she figured out a pattern by focusing on few important elements at a time: the questioner’s tone, the facial expression of the witness, how close the questioner and the witness were sitting to each other.

To isolate the questioner’s tone, she turned down the volume until all she can hear was the tone of their voices. To focus on the facial expression of the witness, she taped the questioners face. To measure their distance, she used a tape measure onto the screen.

Later on, it came to her that most eyewitnesses who were questioned by cops in a gentle manner tend to misremember what happened to the incident. “In other words, when environmental cue said ‘we are friends’–a gentle tone, smiling face– . . . Subconsciously those friendship cues triggered a habit to please the questioner.”

The takeaway from the questioner-eyewitness experiment is to separate the important elements from the rest to figure out the underlying pattern. We can apply this by isolating only the key elements that may cause our habit to be triggered. Experiments have shown that almost all habitual cues fit into one of five categories:

• Location
• Time
• Emotional State
• Other people
• Immediately preceding action

There are many indicators that can help identify the cause of a habit. However, these categories are exceptional indicators. For example, a habit of eating at a fast-food restaurant every time you hop in your car. Your notes may look like:

Location:                     Driving home on the free way
Time:                         3:36pm (after work)
Emotional State:              Lethargic
Other People:                 None
Immediately preceding action: Getting in the car

Next day:

Location:                     Driving home on the free way
Time:                         3:46pm (after work)
Emotional State:              Stressed
Other People:                 None
Immediately preceding action: Getting in the car

After working out:

Location:                     Driving home from the gym
Time:                         5:33pm
Emotional State:              Burned out
Other People:                 None
Immediately preceding action: Getting in the car

And so on . . .

These reports may indicate that you are likely cued by fatigue or stress and possibly being tempted by the smell from the outside of fast-food restaurants as you drive by. Or, the feeling of loneliness encourages you to eat unhealthy foods.

Once you have enough information to ascertain that a pattern emerge–like driving home after a stressful activity–, you are one step closer to changing your habit. Figuring out your habit’s routine, reward, and cue is of no trivial feat and that you should be proud of yourself. However, there is one final, and probably the most important step: Step Four: Have a Plan#

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