Habits

I'm weird. (Shocked? I didn't think so...) How am I weird this time, you ask? My reading habits. I often hear people comment on how they love cold, rainy days because they're perfect for curling up on the couch in their favorite blanket to read a wonderful book. While that sounds very nice and like it could be in a movie, that's not how I roll. I love reading when it's nice out. I love to lay on my couch without shoes or socks on, have the blinds up and the windows open, feel the slight breeze that comes through the windows, and hear the birds chirping outside. On particularly nice days, I'll grab a pair of sunglasses (the sun on the white pages of a book irritates my eyes...), sit on one of our chairs on the deck or the front porch and enjoy a book while enjoying the wonderful, warm, outside air. Why do I tell you this? The last couple of weeks have been full of perfect reading days.

I just finished reading The Power of Habit: Why we do what we do in life and business by Charles Duhigg. Loved it! The author points out that just about everything we do is a habit. When you get dressed, which shoe do you put on first? At some point in your life, it became habit to put on the right shoe first (or left). Three things I learned from this book that I will share with you: the habit loop, craving, and keystone habits. (This stuff is life-changing, trust me.) The habit loop consists of three parts: cue, routine, and reward. The cue is what initiates the habit to start, for instance the alarm clock. The routine is the actual habit itself: rolling out of bed, taking a shower, getting dressed, eating breakfast. The reward is, well, the reward. Perhaps your reward for waking up in the morning is watching your favorite television show before leaving for work. The important thing about the reward is how much you crave it. It's not just enough to know you get to watch television before work. The show you choose to watch has to become something you crave, something your mind thinks about as soon as the alarm clock goes off (whether you know it or not). Thus the importance of the craving. If you don't want it bad enough, you won't be motivated to start the routine once the cue occurs. Finally, keystone habits. These are the habits that have a trickle down effect, direct and indirect. For example, the habit of working out every day. You would enjoy the benefits of health, strength, and endurance. Those are expected and desired. However, there are other benefits one would not link directly to the habit of exercising daily. One of these indirect benefits could be a more productive workday. Here, we start seeing the trickle down effect. A more productive workday can lead to a better day at work which can lead to a better day at home which can lead to a happier spouse and kids which can lead to your kids having better grades in school which can lead to your kids getting into a prestigious university which can lead to your kids becoming the researchers who find a cure to cancer. (Sounds like one of those commercials about the effects of having cable...)

The point is, with this knowledge you can modify your habits. If there is a habit you're not particularly fond of, identify the cue, routine, and reward. Then find the craving that motivates the routine and find another equally effective way to satisfy the craving. Also, take a good, hard look at your habits and see what kind of trickle down effect they may be having. You might find one of your seemingly harmless habits has a negative effect somewhere down the chain.

Now comes the question: what have you got to lose? Are you willing to take the challenge and change your life? It's definitely easier said than done, but this information, if used, is absolutely life-changing.