Have you ever wanted to change a habit? Have you ever sought help? Or read a book on habits?
There are dozens of books on the subject, including the classic by William James published over a hundred years ago.
Books about habits are written from a variety of perspectives. But they generally fall into one of two categories: either they provide advice on how to deal with habits (break, change, or build them) or they provide advice on which habits we should have. Sometimes they attempt to do both.
These books (and approaches) appeal to the majority of people who are trying to fix themselves because they provide blueprints. Just follow the blueprint, and you will get the result you think you want.
Or not.
Habits Are Us
The brain uses 20% of the body’s energy. It creates habits with (sometimes) or without (most of the time) our conscious participation in order to operate more efficiently. Habits are an energy-saving device. Good habits and bad habits are all the same to the brain. It doesn’t care about our opinions of our habits; all it cares about is being efficient.
Continual repetition of behaviors and thoughts results in highly reinforced neural connections, which are experienced as habits. —Steve Stosny, Ph.D.
The neural connections that result in habitual behavior are difficult to change. Trying to exert willpower, make a different choice, use positive thinking, engage in soul searching, or look for the underlying cause are all fruitless endeavors. Once a habit takes hold, it’s initiated by the basal ganglia, and we can’t have a heart-to-heart with our basal ganglia.
That doesn’t mean habits are impossible to change.
The Art and Science of Habit Change
Successful behavior change—or any kind of change—includes both art and science. The science involves a basic understanding of what a habit is and what the brain does once a habit is triggered.
If you’re operating a vehicle, you need to know what to do to increase or decrease speed, shift gears, and operate your windshield wipers. That’s the science. You also need to know where you are going—or want to go. What are you using the vehicle for? That’s the art.
In The Power of Habit, Charles Duhigg does a masterful job of describing the science of how habits work in plain language. I recommend this book all the time and refer to it frequently because he describes a highly effective process—not a blueprint.
But there is no one-size-fits-all set of habits, so no book can tell you which habits you should have. That’s the art part of habit change. You want to develop the habits that will support your endeavors, which means you have to know what you want and where you’re headed. You’re the only one who can make that determination.
Trying to develop or change habits in a vacuum based on someone else’s blueprint is a major exercise in futility and likely failure. Habits are extremely powerfulbecause they run automatically and free your conscious attention for other mental activities. Once you determine what you want to do or where you want to go, pay attention to your habits and identify the ones that help move you in that direction and the ones that get in your way.
Then focus on changing the ones that get in your way.