We’ll go back to the theory you just saw to explain how your habits work. Charles Duhigg, the investigative journalist we talked about earlier, in his book “The Power of Habit,” he defines the process of forming habits as a three-step loop.
First, you get a signal, a trigger that tells your brain to switch to automatic mode. These signals can range from a visual trigger like a candy store or a TV show to a particular place, time of day, emotion, a set of thoughts, or the company of certain people.
Then comes the routine that occurs physically, mentally, or emotionally. They can be complex or simple in nature.
Finally, there is the reward that helps your brain figure out if this particular habit is worth remembering for the future. Rewards can range from food, drugs that cause physical sensations, to emotional rewards such as feelings of pride, happiness, … They cause your dopamine levels to rise, which is addictive. The more attractive your reward is, the more likely it is to become addictive.
We’ll give a concrete example:
Over time, this three-step loop becomes more and more automated. The signal and the reward become intertwined until a powerful sense of desire emerges. This is the motivating force behind any habit. Without some measure of motivation or desire, you’re not going to reach for your habit anytime soon.
Habits never completely disappear. They are encoded in the structures of your brain and that has its advantages because it would be terrible if you had to learn to drive again after every vacation. But the problem is that your brain can’t tell the difference between bad and good habits. Therefore, in the following pages, we give you an exercise and some tips to create good habits and break bad habits.
