We depend on our habits for so many things in our lives.  Brushing our teeth, driving the car, tying our shoes…each of these things are habits.  And because they’re habits, we don’t need to focus on them.  They happen automatically.

Habits let us multi-task.  They give us the ability to walk AND talk at the same time.  They are literally hardwired into our brain.  They are directly connected to our “decision making” apparatus, and our “motor control” apparatus.  And because of that, we are able to unconsciously perform complex tasks…without even thinking about them.

And that is exciting because you can literally hardwire your brain for success…simply by creating habits.

Lets talk about some of the fundamentals of habits. 

• A habit is a “set” of actions.  This can include both thoughts and physical actions.
• Habits are ‘hardwired’ in your brain.  Your brain is literally programmed to know the ‘beginning’ and the ‘end’ of the habit, and everything in between.
• Habits are triggered. 
• When a habit is triggered, your brain gets a shot of dopamine.  Dopamine makes you feel good.  That is why addictions are a kind of a habit.  This is also interesting, because your brain gets the dopamine “reward” at the beginning of the habit, and it continues to act out the habit to completion, despite the lack of further rewards.
• Instead of removing a habit, it can be more effective to replace it.  That is because it is difficult to remove the ‘wiring’ in your brain altogether.  So instead of removing the habit, you should create a new ‘hardwired’ pathway to replace the old habit.
• “Awareness” of the habit while it is occuring can disrupt the habit.

If you want to control your habits, you need to control what triggers them.  Triggers are the literal ‘on/off’ switch for your habits.  Remove the trigger, and the habit won’t ’start.’  This is also useful to think about in reverse….you can choose a trigger for a new habit that you want to develop.  Or you can choose to change an old habit by focusing on what triggers it.

For example, I am currently changing how I interact with computers.  It is very easy to sit down at the computer and get lost in it for hours, without knowing what the heck happened.  Here is how I am changing my computer use habit:  When I sit down at the computer, I write down what I am going to do on it.

This works for three primary reason.  One, I am focusing my efforts on the trigger for the old habit (sitting down at the computer).  Second, I am creating a new habit to replace the old habit.  This is very important…because my brain needs a new “neural pathway,” or it will keep using the old one, and the old habit.  Third, I am making myself conscious of what I am doing, by writing it down, which literally disprupts the habit.

In short, here is how to create a new habit:

1. Choose the habit. 
2. Decide what will trigger it.
3. Whenever you encounter the trigger, perform the habit. (Placing physical reminders can help.)  It can take around 21 days for a habit to ’set it.’