On Habits
Learning about habits.
— 3 min read
Table of Contents
Introduction
I've always been concerned about consistency and how one could achieve and maintain it. I think habits are the answer to this. Because honestly, when I try to think about what I need or want to do, I get overwhelmed and end up doing nothing.
In the past, I tried to schedule my day into blocks of time. I would have a block of time for studying, taking a break, eating, and so on. But ultimately, I would just end up not following the schedule. So I will try to do something a little different, but before that, let me talk about the three components of a habit.
Three Components of a Habit
Habits are made up of three components: cue, routine, and reward. The job of the cue is to trigger the routine. The routine is the action that you take. And the reward is the benefit that you get from the routine.
For example, let's say that you want to start a habit of journaling every day. The cue could be a time of day, like after you brush your teeth. The routine is the act of writing in your journal. And the reward could be the feeling of accomplishment that you get from writing.
Now, I've been trying to journal for the past couple of weeks and one thing that I've noticed that really bogs me down is anticipating the act of journaling. This really makes me not want to do it.
So, instead, I will identify a cue so that I don't have to consciously think about when to journal. This can be a simple alarm that goes off at a certain time of day or maybe a trigger that happens after I do something else.
Cues are just something that reminds you to do the routine. Furthermore, cues can come in many forms such as visual (a sticky note), auditory (an alarm), physical (setting your keys down in a certain place), or even environmental (stepping into a study room).
The reward is the benefit that you get from doing the routine. This can be a feeling of accomplishment, a nice meal, relaxing, or anything really that is rewarding. Just attach it to after you do the routine.
Conclusion
So, I guess with doing the block scheduling, I wasn't really creating the block schedule with the three components of a habit in mind. I was just trying to force myself to do something when the time came in my schedule.
Thus, when developing habits and block schedules, I will ensure that each block be composed of a cue, routine, and reward.
Some more advice I've learned:
- It's better to practice/study a little every day than a lot every once in a while.
- Study always in the same place and at the same time.
- If you live with others, let them know you will not be available during that time.
- Put your phone somewhere difficult to reach like in another room.
- Write a journal.
- Rest or sleep between demanding tasks.
- Let the rewards be dynamic, small, and simple like literally one piece of chocolate. The reward will change as you find the routine itself intrinsically rewarding.