Habit Formation: How to Build Positive Habits?

The Greek philosopher Aristotle once said, “We are what we repeatedly do.” In a nutshell, this is what a habit is. Habits develop when we perform certain actions repeatedly over a period of time to the point that they come automatically to us. Meaning, very minimal physical or mental effort goes into performing them. For instance, when you wake up every morning, you immediately go to brush your teeth. You do not focus too much on it; it just happens. This is because you have performed the same action repeatedly over a period of time.

While habit formation may seem very simple on the surface, understanding how habits are formed becomes key to developing healthy habits and breaking free from the negative ones.

There are four stages to habit formation. Once you understand these stages, you can build lasting, positive habits:

The First Stage:

The first stage is a cue. A cue is an indication that you are closer to a reward, which then facilitates a behavioral pattern that will lead you toward that reward.

The Second Stage:

The second stage is carving. Craving is the drive you need to perform an action. No craving, no action.

The Third Stage:

The third stage is response. Response is the action you perform - the real habit. Response must require little physical or mental effort and one that you must be able to perform. Otherwise, you do not perform the response.

The Final Stage:

The final stage is reward. Reward is what habit gives you; it is the reason why a cue triggers a behavioral pattern that leads to habit formation.

To explain it better with an everyday example - after a long and tiring day, you come home and automatically sit on the sofa and turn on the T.V. This becomes a habit. Why? The presence of T.V. right in front of your sofa is a cue for your tired mind that craves a bit of escapism. Turning on the remote is a response you are able to perform easily; it requires little to no physical or mental effort. Reward is what you get when you find something entertaining to watch on the T.V.

Once you have understood the stages of habit formation, the point is to build habits in a way that they come easily to you and do not feel effortful. Here is how you can achieve the same:

Set Specific Targets:

Set a specific target for a certain goal that you want to turn into a habit. Let us say exercising regularly. You need to have a target that will give you a head start. For instance, you can begin with - “I shall exercise every alternate day for 15 minutes.” This is more specific than saying, "I shall exercise regularly.”

Planning Needs to be Cue-Based:

Cues need to be present for your brain to notice that certain behaviors will lead to a reward. This is how habit formation begins. For instance, “I will exercise every alternate day for 15 minutes after I have had my juice.” So, the juice becomes your cue.

Make the Action Fun:

Sheer willpower and a cue cannot lead you toward a habit. Inject a bit of fun into the action so that your brain craves for it. For instance, the brain craves fun and games. So, instead of starting off on a treadmill all by yourself, you can make exercise fun by jogging every morning with your partner or a friend.

Try to be Flexible:

Following rigid patterns can deter you from performing actions repeatedly. So, a bit of flexibility is allowed. For instance, if you miss your exercise for one day, do not consider it a failure. Consider it a challenge, and motivate yourself for the next day.

Social Support:

Social support is often overlooked, but it is vital when it comes to cultivating healthy habits. Find those in your life who have cultivated healthy habits in their lives and can motivate you toward them as well. They can provide you with encouragement and support.

As per Phillippa Lally’s study on 96 participants over a twelve-week period, it was found that it takes 66 days for a new habit to become automatic. This is just a little over 2 months. However, habit forming behaviors vary from person to person, and the window is anywhere between 18 days to 254 days.

Regardless, the key is to start small, as small changes lead to bigger ones. Try incorporating one habit at a time, and this becomes the foundation for a lasting change in your life.

The four stages of habit formation are cue, craving, response, and reward. If any stage is missing, a habit will not develop. This is key to breaking unhealthy or negative habits.

Let us elaborate a bit. When you eliminate a cue, the behavioral pattern leading to a habit will never begin. Similarly, when you reduce or eliminate craving, there will be no drive to get the reward. Or, by making responses difficult, there is diminished reason to perform the behavior.

For instance, say you want to break the habit of eating unhealthy food while watching television in the evening. The cue here is television. Instead, if you lay your walking clothes beside your television, it becomes a cue for you to go for a quick walk outside.

To reduce craving, replace unhealthy foods with healthy snacks. These are some things you can munch on, but they are good for you. Then, you can start thinking of replacing it with something healthier. Let us say going out for a walk.

Next, to make the response difficult, remove all unhealthy (and delicious) foods from your vicinity. This will make it difficult for you to acquire them.

Now, reward can be something tricky to achieve immediately, but when you replace unhealthy foods with healthier options, you get something tasty to munch on while sticking to healthy options. Moreover, when you go for a walk, you can treat yourself to a healthy smoothie - not only is it healthy and tasty, but it serves as a reinforcement.

There are many tools and techniques you can use to build new, healthy habits . For instance, technology can enable you in this journey. For instance, you can download apps explicitly meant for habit-forming purposes. Consider Habitica. It is a game-type app wherein you can play as an avatar and make points by performing the habits you have set your mind to. Or, there is HabitShare, where you can even bring in your friends and family to support you in habit formation.

With new, healthy habits, you also need a strong social support system around you that can motivate and encourage you. For instance, you can have accountability partners who can enable you to stay committed to your habit formation goals. They inspire you, encourage you, and keep you on track.

In recovery from substance use disorders (SUDs), habit formation becomes crucial. You need to break the cycle of substance abuse and cultivate healthy habits in your life.

Identifying the Cues:

Cues are triggers connected with substance use. It can be your peers, a negative relationship/family environment, or everyday stress. You can avoid or alter (remove) these cues.

An Alternative Reward System:

Before recovery, substance use is the reward. Now, you will have to find alternative rewards that can induce craving. By establishing an alternative reward system, craving for something new, albeit healthy, can be introduced.

Planning Ahead:

Once the cues or triggers are identified and an alternative reward system has been established, the next step is to implement the plan of action. You begin by identifying the new cue, which then sets off the behavioral pattern that leads to new, healthy habits. For instance, when stressed, instead of drinking alcohol, you can try a hot bubble bath.