Have you ever curious of how you eat? When you tie your shoelace, which leg do you start? Why would you eat with the right hand? Even, how can you know the route you take to the office? Have you ever wondered how possible are these?
As a human being, we do a lot of activities in a day. Some people start their day by drinking coffee. Some of them start the day by journaling the things they need to do in that day. Some moslem people start their day by praying. There are so many morning routines that everybody does and it is done day by day.
Then, how human can remember all the little things just like how they know which hand they need to eat with. All of these answers are habit. Before we dive into more words of habits, let us be familiar with what habit is actually. Cited from Cambridge Dictionary, habit is the activity you do regularly and often; even you cannot realize that you do it often. Charles Duhigg, in his book titled “The Power of Habit”, told us that habit seems like a product of well-decision making, but actually it is not. It indeed contain the organizing thought about the little things we do without realizing, but they actually start when you want to form them. By this, it can be defined that habit makes us do the things unconsciously after we decide to instill it in our mind.
So, can we form a habit?
Of course, we can.
Charles Duhigg states that a habit is possible to form. The only thing we need to know is how to make it embed in our mind. After few researches, Charles clarifies that habit has a cycle so that it can be recorded in mind. The habit loop consist of three things called, cue, routine and reward. To form a habit, we need to investigate by dissecting the loop. Before that, let me explain to you the meaning of each loop. First, we call the “everything that trigger your brain to change into automatic mode” or shortly, we can say that cue is a trigger that alarm you to do something. This cue, then, lead us physically or mentally do something which is called as routine. Then, finally, after doing the routine, there is a reward to make your brain remember whether this loop is worth to remember or not.
Finally, the question is “How to apply that?”
Investigate the Cue—when we want to reduce our sugary intake, we need to find what trigger us to eat sweet food? Is it because we love to eat it? Or perhaps, does it just make us socialize with people while eating cheesecake in Starbucks? By realizing what triggers you, it will give you the illustration of how to change the routine of eating sugary food.
Observe the Routine—when you realize that your brain tell you to eat cheesecake, observe the routine you do. Do you go to Starbucks and then order the cheesecake while chatting with your college? Or do you consciously store the stock of chocolate in your drawer just to make you easily take it when you crave for sweets? After you observe the routine, you can identify what rewards that makes your brain form the habits.
Identify the Reward—when you trigger to eat the sweets, you go to the Starbucks in the first floor of your company building. You order the cheesecake and then meet your colleague. All of you then having a chitchat while you eat the cheesecake. If you make this routine, what is actually exciting you? Is it the cheesecake? Or the time you spend chitchatting with friends? If it is the cheesecake, try to change them with fruit or maybe another alternative cake that has less sugar. If it is the time you spend while chitchatting with friends, try to do it not in Starbuck but in the office. Maybe you can hit them in their desk a little time to just ask about the weather or discuss the difficult work. The important thing is you realize the reward that makes your brain record the routine. By doing this, you can form any habits you want—say for instance, reading a book, healthy lifestyle, exercising regularly, any else. It may takes a long time, but it does possible to form. So, are you ready to unlock them? PRS
