Using habits to reshape your life
I am so excited to be sharing my thoughts on healthy living. The idea of starting a blog has been percolating around my mind for the last few years and I believe the timing to do so could not be any better. There are so many topics I would like to dive into that I had some trouble deciding on where to begin.
One of the first health topics I addressed in my own life was smoking, a habit that had completely taken control of my life. After numerous attempts of quitting without success, I tried a new process that finally worked to stop smoking for good. Eventually, this thought process would change many other bad habits I had acquired and steer my life back onto a healthy path.
WHAT ARE HABITS
Think of habits as rituals a person completes, on a repeated basis, throughout any given period of time. Addressing them this way allows us to see patterns that makeup habits. By recognizing the patterns we can modify them to change our habits over time.
The brain uses habits to be more efficient. The stronger the habit, the less energy the brain will require to complete. This energy is also referred to as our willpower. Some of the habits in our life are good; making the bed and letting the dog outside. While some of these habits are not; smoking cigarettes or unhealthy food choices.
RECOGNIZING AND REPLACING BAD RITUALS
The habit of smoking is one that can become deeply ingrained into a daily routine, therefore, changing the entire habit at once would require more willpower than most people have. This is why it is important to break down the habit into rituals.
To quit the habit of smoking, we will start with the first ritual of a cigarette during our day. For example; my morning routine would always consist of taking my dog outside, then smoking my morning cigarette. Quitting smoking does not mean that my dog will not have to go outside anymore, Princess Leia would be very upset with me, so instead, I used a replacement for the morning cigarette; a glass of lemon water.
For the next few weeks, the main goal of quitting cigarettes was changed to replacing the morning cigarette with a glass of lemon water. As the days passed, my willpower stayed strong, and the morning cravings began to go away. It was naturally becoming easier to wake up and complete my routine without a cigarette, in fact, I was looking forward to the glass of lemon water.
SMALL STEPS MAKE A BIG DIFFERENCE
Consistency is essential, which is why small steps work. They allow us to focus our willpower on a specific task, without becoming overwhelmed, until that task is becoming a habit. At which point it is important to begin working on the next step.
Our brain is incredible at learning new behaviors. Through the process of repeating tasks, or practicing them, the brain becomes more efficient and requires less willpower to finish the task.
In the Marine Corps, Sergeants would force us to repeat things repeatedly so that everything; from responses to commands, standing at attention, and holding a rifle, would become automatic. This is an important concept to understand as we modify our rituals to become more aligned with our long-term goals. Habits help us by making everyday tasks require less willpower, allowing us to focus that energy towards new tasks.
ADDING TO THE NEW ROUTINE
The first few days of the new routine will most likely feel unnatural, or forced, and require a lot of willpower. As the brain begins to adopt this change, it will gradually become more efficient. The time required to get to this feeling of comfort with the new routine will vary depending on habit being modified and the situation surrounding it. For myself, this feeling of comfort seems to happen around 10-14 days after beginning the new routine. At this point, the new task is not yet a habit, but it is good to begin adding to the routine to reinforce it.
The success from the first change in ritual offers motivation to continue forward. This is the point to add to your new routine by modifying the next ritual of the habit you are trying to replace. Remember that the goal is to change the entire habit, and we do that by changing one ritual at a time. Quitting the morning cigarette was just one small step towards the larger goal of quitting all cigarettes.
WRAPPING THINGS UP
After seeing success from starting small, I was excited to tackle the next smoking ritual. For me, this was smoking cigarettes in the car. I continued to pick apart areas in life where smoking was most common. Eventually cutting smoking out of so many places that I was down to just a few cigarettes a day. With of these new rituals in place, cutting the final few cigarettes from life was a much easier task.
The same changes do not work for everyone, but the process of modifying your rituals one at a time does. Take things slow and remember that major change does not happen overnight.
Believe that you can and you will.
