You have run this race the same way over and over. You get into your starting position; you hear the bang of the starter’s gun, your heart races with the rush of adrenaline. You are already craving the reward: gratification of crossing the finish line, or better yet, the euphoria of a win! That excitement causes you to engage in the same routine every time. You hold your breath; you look up at the track ahead, impulsively raising your head. You get off to a shaky start.
This time you intend to run it differently. The change is small such as to breathe in through your nose when the ref says ‘set’ and breathe out your mouth at ‘go’. The cue is the same: starter’s gun or ‘go’. The reward is the same: crossing the finish line. You are making one change only: shifting the routine; you replace a shaky start with a steady start.
You know that the habit loop consists of cue → routine → reward. Exposure to the cue (starter’s gun) creates anticipation of the reward (crossing the finish line). An urge or craving is created. Charles Duhigg says, “We often don’t really understand the cravings that drive our behaviors until we look for them.” It is absolutely essential to become aware of what triggers our habit.
When habit (repetitive behavior) emerges, decision making goes dormant. Since habit resides in the basal ganglia (center of the brain) it bypasses decision making which is in the frontal lobe (front of the brain). You unthinkingly act out the familiar routine (getting a shaky start).
To overcome an undesirable habit, the goal is not to create a new habit. The Golden Rule of Habit Change according to Duhigg is, “Keep the old cue, deliver the old reward and insert a new routine”. Keep the beginning (cue) and the end (reward) the same. Change only the middle (routine). The familiarity of a known cue and reward makes you more inclined to shift the behavior in between. Keeping two variables constant makes it non-threatening. Repeating the changed routine several times will move it into the habit region of the brain. Your steady start will no longer need deliberate decision making. It will happen organically, naturally and routinely. You will have transformed your habit.