the writer's black

17
May 2020

Habits ( why they are so vital)

Habits, in contrast, require very little energy. As Duhigg, author of The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business says, “Any behavior that can be reduced to a routine is one less behavior that we must spend time and energy consciously thinking about and deciding upon”. With the cognitive economy and performance efficiency of habits, the brain can conserve self-regulatory strength to focus on the important decisions in life , and free us to engage in thoughtful activities, such as reflecting on the past and planning for the future.

Habits are powerful. With about 40% of our everyday behavior repeated in the form of habits, they shape our very existence, and ultimately, our future. Habits, in fact, are key to wellness. For better or worse, habits very much influence health, well-being, and quality of life. If you are striving to improve these, you need to think about habits, because if you change your habits for the better, you change your life for the better.

Technically, a habit is “a behavior that is recurrent, is cued by a specific context, often happens without much awareness or conscious intent, and is acquired through frequent repetition” . It can be regarded as a formula (or “habit loop”) that the brain automatically follows: “When I see cue, I will do routine in order to get a reward”. Studies indicate that once formed, habits become encoded in brain structures and can never truly be eradicated — only replaced with stronger habits. That’s why they are so difficult to change. It’s not just a matter of will-power it’s a matter of rewiring the brain. To change a habit, you need to create new routines: Keep the old cue, and deliver the old reward, but insert a new routine.

Inserting new routines is not easy. Despite knowing what’s good for us and best intentions, habits tend to keep us doing what we always do. They are difficult to change — any of us can attest to this. But we can maximize the probabilities for success with 2 essentials: self-awareness and strategies. Both are indispensable to successful habit formation .

Give infinite thanks….. Stay well, my beautiful people……

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1 comment

Tanya

My thoughts on your excerpt on Habits..yes I flow with this..guilty actually..it is hard to change habits..very hard..but incorporating new ones as you said helps us..agreed. Growth 🌟 Thank u for sharing..

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