Watch my short video on Habit Loops here.
Yesterday I talked about mindset and how it can shift your habit. If you’re trying to make the most out of your habit change journey, you have to start with the foundation.
Today I want to talk a little more about the “Habit Loop” and how it applies to creating habits that stick.
The way I think about habits is a habit is when it becomes HARDER to not do something than it is to do something.
Think about brushing your teeth, it’s much harder to not brush your teeth than it is to get up and brush them as soon as you wake up.
The habit loop is broken up into three very important parts. I’ll be talking about them more in depth in the up coming days but wanted to break them down for you in an easy to understand way.
Trigger – What causes the habit loop to start (walking by the bar if you want to quit drinking for example.) It can be an internal or external feeling like time of day, location, etc.
Action – The habit or the action you want to change or reinforce. “I want to stop smoking”
Reward – The thing that makes you feel good about continuing the action it can be either intrinsic or extrinsic, internal or external. “I went for a run today and I feel great.”
Most people when trying to change their habits don’t have a system or solid approach to reaching their goals, which often sets them up for failure.
Now that you understand the basics of the habit loop, we can get into the fun stuff.
Tomorrow I’ll be talking more about how to change your triggers.
See you tomorrow.
-Maneesh Sethi
Founder of Pavlok