If you’re just tuning in, here’s the rundown: Our journey began with learning how to leverage habits to achieve personal goals. We then explored the interplay between our intentions and behaviors and their role in successful habit conditioning. In our third article, we examined the mechanics of habit formation. Most recently, we discussed strategies to integrate these habits within our routine (or vice versa).

In this last piece, we examine how environments impact our habits. From breakfast in your kitchen to how you unwind at a park, every setting has the potential to either foster or hinder your progress. Since you spend a considerable amount of time at home or work/school, inspecting these environments can alter the landscape of your daily habits.

What is “environment,” and how does it affect our actions?

As you’ve learned, a habit is an automatic behavior that engages via a stable cue. One of our ongoing examples has been of entering the bathroom in the evening and immediately brushing your teeth. Entering the bathroom is the cue to initiate the action. The bathroom is the environment, and guess what? You won’t brush your teeth if you don’t enter the bathroom. Habits depend on these environmental contexts, which are the stage for our subconscious firings. Therefore, knowing and understanding your environment is a big deal. 

When I say environment, you probably think of your home, neighborhood, or city. You may think of the nature that rests out your front door or even consider other consistent locations such as work or school. Your environment is any physical space you occupy. Environment locations are determined by a range of needs and factors, from emotional to financial. They are homes, cities, countries, jobs, neighborhoods, grocery stores, parks, family homes, and travel. 

However, your environment is not just about the physical spaces you inhabit, but also the things within these spaces. Your clothes, technology, and the books surrounding you all contribute to your environment, reflecting your tastes and interests. Even the size of your dishes or car (or if you have a car) can influence your daily environment and how you feel in that environment. It’s not just the places, but also the people and things that make these spaces uniquely yours.

These spaces can be drastically different from one person to another. In obvious ways, those with fewer financial means have a drastically different daily environmental experience than those with more economic means. Other countries, cultures, temperatures, or access to food or facilities will create a different daily ecological experience.

Because of these varying environmental factors, we should understand how a neighborhood can encourage walking or support physical activity. Or, how a lack of a stable and supportive environment can be a barrier, just as having social support in your environment can assist desired behaviors. In this series, we’re diving into how habits can support your health behaviors, and a key piece of that puzzle is our environment.

Let’s get a little deeper into why. 

Navigating the terrain of choice architecture, nudging, and stimulus control

Research in behavioral economics and psychology frequently involves observing or manipulating environments to study choice architecture — how the organization and presentation of options and our environment influence decisions. Everyday examples include grocery stores eliminating plastic bags to encourage the use of reusable ones, thereby reducing waste, or putting stairs with footprints to encourage more stair use. In nutrition, there have been attempts at informing consumers about the amount of calories or portions for customer awareness. 

Choice architecture refers to shaping a person’s environment, including how options are presented and organized. Nudging is a concept within choice architecture that subtly guides people toward a particular choice without restricting their options. Choice architecture acknowledges that people often rely on automatic decision-making (habit and process routines) that account for human cognitive biases and shortcuts. Therefore, choice architecture aims to nudge people toward more beneficial behaviors. 

To clarify our discussion, I want to differentiate between choice architecture and stimulus control. Choice architecture concerns how options are arranged and presented, influencing decisions through the structure of choice itself. On the other hand, stimulus control involves modifying the external cues of existing habitual behaviors. 

To illustrate the difference, let’s consider this example of buying fruit in a grocery store.

Researchers might place fruit at the end of every aisle when applying choice architecture. The strategy here is to increase the visibility of fruit and hope that greater exposure prompts more impulse purchases, regardless of existing shopper habits. Conversely, when focusing on stimulus control, the approach starts with understanding shoppers’ habitual behaviors — such as tendencies to make impulse purchases in certain store areas. Now that researchers know their shoppers’ habits, fruit could be strategically positioned in these areas to leverage existing habits, enhancing the likelihood of fruit purchases. 

Both methods aim to influence behavior, but choice architecture manipulates the decision-making environment without assuming pre-existing habits. In contrast, stimulus control directly targets and utilizes existing habits for desired outcomes.

As with other aspects of behavior research (like we discussed with habits and routines), definition lines can bleed, and some researchers use one term when it’d be more technically correct to use another. As we go along, I’ll note the differences if needed, but my point is not to get too caught up with the word usage details or even the overall effect outcomes. Ultimately, these articles aim to funnel advice so that you can set up environments (home, work, routes, etc.) to have better outcomes and glean lessons about your habit conditioning.  

A systematic review by Landais et al aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of micro-environmental choice architecture interventions that encouraged physical activity or discouraged sedentary behavior in adults. Out of 9609 records, 88 studies met the inclusion criteria, with a predominant focus on interventions designed to increase physical activity, particularly stair use. The outcome showed that 68% of these studies reported a positive effect when the interventions were active. However, the effectiveness dropped to 47% post-intervention, highlighting the need for continual environmental cues. Meaning we always need to consider our environment and the role it plays, especially regarding habits.

In analyzing a broad range of nudges, we find that default nudges — such as automatically enrolling employees in retirement plans or organ donation registries — tend to be pretty effective. However, the effectiveness of reminder nudges, like vaccination reminders, can be inconsistent. Therefore, it’s important to consider your specific needs and what will most benefit your environment and lifestyle when implementing these strategies.

Take home? There is decent evidence to suggest that manipulating an environment can influence outcomes. However, the details matter: the type of nudge and its continual presence are important in determining how effective the environmental change will be.

Beyond the obvious: Environmental influences on decisions and habits 

In a later section, I cover what I think are the more “obvious” factors of choice architecture. For now, let’s look at a few complex angles of how our environment influences our decision-making to (perhaps) make you think differently about what makes up the “environment.”

We start with a study that questions conventional advice you might have heard about hunger states in shopping environments. You’ve likely listened to the advice not to shop when you’re hungry, as it’s believed you’ll buy too much or opt for unhealthy, calorie-rich foods. But is it really that simple? Cheung et al delved into this question, examining whether hunger and the cues we encounter lead to poorer nutritional decisions. 

Two different studies were included in the experiment, and both looked at how participants chose food while indicating their hunger level. The first study showed that people who felt hungrier also felt less able to control their actions. However, the decrease in self-control did not necessarily lead to the selection of less healthy food options. Essentially, just being hungry did not automatically make people pick unhealthy foods. 

The second study found that hungry participants were likelier to choose less healthy foods than those who were not hungry. Now, the first study was conducted via online shopping. The second study was conducted in an in-person environment in a cafeteria. In the first study, the participants did not have a high hunger rating; in the second, they had higher hunger ratings. Additionally, when the hungry participants of the second study were given information about what others preferred (social proof heuristic), they were just as likely to choose healthy foods as those who weren’t hungry. 

Why is this interesting? Well, for a few reasons. One, it suggests that while yes, “unhealthy” food selections can be made when hungry, it might be more correct to say that we seek vetted or easier selections of food when our resources are low. The outcome suggests that in states of hunger or tiredness, our priority might not be indulgence but rather the convenience of decision-making. These findings align with the depletion model of self-control, highlighting our preference for easy choices when our cognitive resources are low.

Other studies have shown similar things (here and here). So, while it’s still possible that you could buy “worse” items while shopping when hungry, chances are it’s the “easier” items you’ll lean toward. How can you use this knowledge? If you anticipate a busy weekend, consider preparing a meal in advance or buying healthy pre-made frozen meals that can be easily reheated when you’re exhausted, avoiding temptations that might throw you off your plans. Essentially, establish a system within your environment, whether at home or elsewhere, that supports your choices when your willpower is at its lowest.

Lastly, this study could also suggest something about the importance of the people in our environment. Having social support makes it easier to make choices that align with our health and goals. And while we might not always think of people as part of our environment, they fill the spaces of our daily lives. Where possible, surround yourself with people who support your habit goals. 

What’s easier to control: Our emotions or our environment? 

To change, we should have intentions and a solid foundation of who we want to be and what we want from life. However, one of the reasons I like habits (and why I specifically focus on the environment) is that even with the best intentions and desires, we can still fail to launch. Therefore, if we engineer our environment, we can improve our odds. 

A two-week study by Elliston et al, conducted with 61 adults, examined the complex reasons for eating behaviors, particularly snacking. The researchers wanted to see how situational cues, social eating events, emotions, or distance to shops affected people’s snacking behavior. What I liked about this study is that the researchers focused on the natural environments of the participants’ lives and gained insight into how they responded to their familiar and known circumstances.

The study’s findings revealed that immediate physical and social environments impacted participants’ snacking habits most, outweighing personal motivations or intentions. When examining the factors that influenced snacking, negative affect (emotions), proximity to snacks, and the presence of others eating emerged as the most influential. 

You might look at these graphs and think, “Gee, maybe we should be working on emotions?” However, that is kind of my point. Emotions are going to come. You will face situational experiences where you want to eat because you are bored, happy, sad, annoyed, or simply craving hedonistic pleasure. It would take far more than a five-article series to discuss why you’d want to eat emotionally, let alone help you fight against it. And who knows, maybe that will be a 10-part series someday. For now, we can control our environment. Focusing on adjusting the environment — like reducing snack access — is a more direct and simplistic approach than dealing with the much more complex reasons why we comfort eat in the first place.

Additionally, while the negative affect was linked to an increased likelihood of snacking, the availability of snacks played a crucial role in the type of snacks consumed. Low-energy snacks (such as fruits and vegetables) seemed to slightly decrease the response to snacking compared to high-energy options. Meaning that if snacks are present, opting for lower-calorie options could be more beneficial.

Do these things apply across the board with other types of behavior outcomes? Well, we’ve seen that having habits in place to support or aid physical activity is important, even without the presence of intentions. Because, again, while intentions to do something are great, we are more likely to be consistent if we have helpful habits in place. To encourage activity, researchers have tested putting footprints on staircases to encourage stair usage and using music or art to create environmental prompts.

Can we manipulate our environment to “prompt” us enough to help our desired habits? More so, can these prompts break existing habits?

One study by Gardner et al aimed to make people more aware of their sitting environment by sending workers a prompt to reduce sitting. Every 45 minutes, the workers were encouraged to take a break from sitting. The “active prompt” allowed participants to ignore prompts, while the “passive prompt” only allowed postponing the break. The study found minor reductions in self-report measures of “lack of awareness” and “lack of control” in sitting automaticity. Therefore, as the participants became more aware of their sitting, they gained more control over getting up from sitting. 

The rate of decline in sitting awareness reinforces much of what we know about the difficulties in breaking existing habits. While they technically succeeded in increasing sitting awareness (decreasing automaticity), it didn’t come fast or easy. 

5 ways to apply choice architecture research to our goals and habits

So, we’ve seen a few studies examining how our environment can affect our behaviors and habits. We also learned that our environment is more than just spaces; it can be objects, technology, or social dynamics. Let’s close this article out with five tips for applying what we’ve learned.

#1 Remove counterproductive cues and general temptations

In my first obvious bit of advice, remember that your environment and objects in your environment are part of the cue. Therefore, removing yourself or particular objects from a cue context environment can (quite literally) stop the trigger of undesired habits.

Obviously, I’m not advising that you remove the kitchen from your home if you have a late-night snacking problem. But you can remove the snacks or place them in a harder-to-reach place that would require more conscious thought. You could also buy lower-calorie snacks or ensure you have food that needs to be prepared before serving (raw meats, frozen vegetables, uncooked rice, etc.). 

For a few more examples, let’s say you’re trying to walk more, but you tend to watch too much TV in the evening. You can avoid entering your “lounge zone” until you’ve hit your activity goals, or you could even remove the TV altogether until you’ve solidified the habit (this also ties in with #4).

With counterproductive or undesired habits, focus on avoiding the cue from initiating in the first place. Avoiding cues can involve changing your routines, setting personal boundaries, or even temporarily changing your physical environment. As we’ve seen, momentum is difficult to halt, so one of your best weapons is not letting it start.

#2 Give as much support to the cue you’re trying to condition (or break)

The consistency of our environment and the stability of cues drive habit formation. With habits, we aim to create a setting where our routines and behaviors have a strong chance of automaticity. Small acts, such as maintaining a clean living space or ensuring you have the right foods, can lay the groundwork for building stability. If trying to train a nutrition habit, eating meals in the same place without distractions (such as TV) helps reinforce and focus the habit conditioning. 

Supporting habit formation goes beyond the basics and often requires small and significant personal investments to overcome barriers. For instance, investing in meal prep containers can foster the habit of preparing healthy meals in advance, directly countering the allure of fast food. On a larger scale, committing to a gym membership or purchasing home exercise equipment can be a significant step toward regular physical activity. 

For support, consider things that directly affect your habits. For example, if you want to stop eating fast food for lunch, buy meal prep containers or lunchboxes to support that specific habit. If you’re trying to exercise more, this could mean purchasing a walking pad if you find going outdoors a continual barrier.

The goal is to pinpoint the factors that hinder or facilitate your habit formation and then take intentional actions to support your habits. Whether a minor purchase or a more substantial change, the aim is to eliminate barriers and provide the necessary support for success where possible.

#3 Make use of constructive prompts

Prompts can be visual, auditory, or even sensory. For example, a fitness watch might have a function that tells you to move after a period of stillness, or a water bottle might have measurements that let you know how much you have left to drink in a day. You can create visual cues that prompt exercise, such as placing a pair of running shoes by the door or laying out your gym clothes. Similarly, keeping healthy snacks at eye level in the fridge encourages nutritious eating habits by making healthy choices more visible and accessible.

What you’re looking to do is create reminders (and ideally repeating ones) of the habits you’re looking to nurture and condition. Even in your workplace, you can make small changes to alert yourself to your goals. For example, having a health journal on your desk or even decorative items that encourage a certain kind of lifestyle you want to lead can all be subconscious reminders of the habits you’re trying to achieve.

Lastly, apps or alarms are popular prompts you can engage with to support your habits. They often come in reminders, timers, notifications, or other “push” style services, sometimes called digital nudges. 

#4 Eliminating choices can help narrow your focus

Essentially, choice elimination is creating an environment where there are so few options that the default wins. For example, you could remove all liquid calories from your home to support your habit of drinking more water. If you’re trying to achieve more physical activity, you could briefly remove one of your favorite seats and put a recumbent bike in its place. Another example is walking to get somewhere instead of driving.

Utilizing the default choice can be a little more intensive but can work well for people attempting to jump-start new habits. It should go without saying that they should be done in a healthy and supportive manner. In my own life, I’ll often walk instead of driving. However, I do so in areas that are safe to walk. It’s a great way to get steps in by default.

The point is that it’s perfectly fine to engage in more intensive default choices; just do so with your well-being in mind. 

#5 Take extra note of your daily routes and patterns

While this tip intersects with supporting or removing counterproductive cues, I wanted to highlight the importance of our daily routes. Remember, habits are “triggered” by entering environments. When you physically enter an environment (say, the bathroom in the morning or your office break room), you start a chain reaction of subconscious responses. With route awareness, we want to have a heightened awareness of our surroundings and how our surroundings affect us.

How you move around a grocery store, if you take roads past pretty parks, or even how your kitchen is set up for cooking can influence the subconscious support or hindrance of your habit goals. I’m not advising you to overthink every movement, but consider your day and how your physical routes and patterns can be tweaked in your favor. For example, if you go out for lunch every workday, maybe you can instead eat at a park sometimes or meet up with a friend who is encouraging your new habits. These seemingly minor adjustments can lead to transformations in your day-to-day life, propelling you closer to your habit goals.

Wrapping up the habit series

If you’ve followed along with the entire series, you’ve taken in almost 25,000 words of research-supported advice on how to form and support your habits, goals, and optimal lifestyle. Let’s take a minute to remind ourselves of what we’ve covered thus far and condense it into some key moments. 

1. Our habits work automatically to assist us in finding more direct and less cognitively demanding actions for our routines and behaviors. However, that automaticity can work for or against our desired goals. Ideally, we work on conditioning our habits to work for us and decreasing those working against us. 
2. Once we’ve decided to address our habits, we must delve into the underlying behavioral changes necessary to make habits a reality. We should examine our intentions, understand our motivations, and devise if-then plans to bridge the gap between our intentions and actual actions, increasing our chances of success.
3. Next, we learned how the technical mechanics of habits are formed – information that is needed when creating new constructive habits or breaking existing habits that are counterproductive to our goals. Chiefly, among the essential aspects of the technique is identifying specific cues and, if desired, keeping those cues stable over extended periods. 
4. Because habits require time to form, we must develop consistent and stable routines. New habits should be coupled with existing ones whenever possible to leverage their established patterns and enhance the likelihood of their formation.
5. Lastly, we’ve learned that our environment’s role in habits is more than a stable place for cue context or execution. Environments can serve as a canvas on which our daily routines are painted, offering opportunities to lend additional assistance for our habits via prompts or ease of opportunity. 

Homework assignment: closing out our case studies 

We’ve reached the end of Casey and Riley’s case studies, but there’s still a little more work to do. For our final look, let’s apply the lessons learned about crafting a supportive environment to their current habit goals. 

Case study 1: Increase physical activity via walking after dinner

Casey is a 44-year-old freelance graphic designer who works from home and wants to counteract a sedentary lifestyle by incorporating more physical activity into their daily routine. Their objective is to add a 30-minute walk after dinner each day.

List three ways you can alter your environment to support your goals:

• I don’t always enjoy walking in my neighborhood, but I love a nearby park, so sometimes I’ll take the extra 2 minutes to drive there and walk around. 
• My treadmill can become a coat rack, so I’ll ensure that the area is always clean and ready.
• I think I’d use my treadmill more if I had a TV or gaming system in the room, so I will work on making the room more inviting.

Case study 2: Eliminate high-calorie snacking while watching TV/streaming

Riley is a 30-year-old account manager who tends to snack on high-calorie food while watching TV or streaming movies. Riley’s goal is to eliminate this snacking habit, hoping it will also help meet their goal of losing 20 pounds of fat. 

List three ways you can alter your environment to support your goals:

• I will ensure the house does not have tempting and high-calorie items. If these snacks aren’t in the house, I won’t eat them.
• I’ll organize my refrigerator and pantry to present my healthier and lower-calorie snacks in the front to find them easier.
• On the weekends, I will leave my home environment and try new places, creating new rewards with my extra calories.

Your assignment:

At the end of each article, take a moment to document each insight lesson for your journey. For this article, try to answer the assignment questions that are also asked of our case study participants. Meaning, how can you improve your environment to make it more stable for your habits? Is there a way you can make your environment more supportive of your habits, even if not directly related to your cued actions?

Through this entire article series, I hope that looking at Casey and Riley’s habit goals has given you ideas for navigating similar goals. These case studies aimed to provide you with applicable and actionable advice rather than inundate you with theory only. 

The post Crafting Environments to Support Your New Habits  appeared first on MacroFactor.

Our second piece highlighted the importance of aligning our intentions with our habits. Many factors influence this alignment, ranging from childhood experiences to our financial means and personal lives. Essentially, we must know why we are trying to achieve our goals and what value these goals hold. 

In the third article, we delved into the mechanics behind habit formation and uncovered the technical aspects of how habits form. It showed that not only do our intentions and desires matter, but also their specificity, order, and stability.

Now, our penultimate article in the series examines structuring our daily routines to support our desired habits. This involves understanding the specificity of our routines, optimizing them, and providing tips for embedding habits into our daily lives.

Let’s get into it!

Routines, habits, and the frameworks that help us succeed

Although intertwined, routines and habits are distinct. Routines are sequences of deliberate, conscious actions performed throughout the day or during specific, recurring events (e.g., weekends or holidays). For example, a morning routine might include exercising, showering, and eating breakfast. Each step is deliberately chosen and requires active participation to complete. Even if a routine becomes familiar over time or has habits within it, it still necessitates a conscious decision to follow through each day.

A habit, such as brushing your teeth the moment you enter the bathroom in the evening, unfolds with minimal conscious effort. Over time, this behavior becomes so embedded that it demands little to no deliberate intent to execute. Habits are automatic responses initiated by environmental or emotional cues, functioning mainly outside conscious awareness.

While the definitions of habits and routines draw obvious distinctions between the two (habits are automatic and subconscious, whereas routines are conscious and deliberate), the line separating habits and routines is hazier in practice. As mentioned previously, habits can be embedded within routines. So, your morning routine almost assuredly has multiple habits embedded within it. You consciously choose to get out of bed and walk into the bathroom, but washing your face and brushing your teeth may be completely habitual once you enter the bathroom. You make several conscious choices when selecting your outfit for the day, but the specific steps you take to put on your socks and shoes may be completely habitual. Driving to the office (hopefully) involves some conscious thought and awareness. Still, opening your car door, putting your coffee in a cupholder, starting the car, and shifting into reverse to begin your commute may be fully automatic and habitual. You get the point.

The line between “conscious” and “subconscious” can also be hazy for specific actions. Commuting is an excellent example. If you walk or drive the same route to work every day, I’m sure you’ve had the experience of walking out the door of your house or apartment, walking into the office, and not really being fully aware of much that happened between those two moments. You certainly weren’t acting wholly out of habit, with no conscious awareness or decision-making; otherwise, you’d bump into other pedestrians or hit another car. But you also weren’t fully locked in, aware, and consciously engaged with the world around you. Driving to work requires enough conscious awareness to be categorized as a routine. Still, it may require focus and conscious thought closer to a habit than, for example, filling out a challenging crossword puzzle. 

Conversely, a habitual action doesn’t always have to be done subconsciously and with full automaticity. We’ve used tooth brushing as a frequent example of habitual action, but you probably have at least some conscious awareness of squeezing out the right amount of toothpaste, brushing each tooth well, etc. On some days, you may even be more mentally engaged with the process of brushing your teeth than the process of driving to work.

This is a long-winded way of illustrating that the boundary between habits and routines is hazier than the academic writing might suggest. Conscious awareness and automaticity of behavior aren’t strictly binary, with clear delineations between conscious/subconscious and automatic/non-automatic. Keep that in mind when you’re digesting and engaging with the content of this article. Suppose you catch yourself fretting over categorizing something as a habit versus a conscious routine to help support a habit. In that case, I’d simply encourage you not to get too hung up on the distinction since habits and routines can (and do) frequently bleed into each other.

With that out of the way, I want to first look at the important frameworks for using routines to build habits.

1) Accept the routines (and work) that come with building habits

When we try to condition a habit purposefully, we do so hoping that the new habit will support our goals and lifestyle. But what happens if you desire a habit without necessarily enjoying the routine that accompanies it? With routines, dichotomies can form when you want the outcome associated with a certain life, but you don’t actually enjoy  living that life. Meaning, if you’re dreaming about having a weightlifter’s body, lifting weights will need to become a regular part of your life. You might run into trouble if you realize you don’t actually enjoy lifting weights. 

We must accept that sometimes our dreams come with more hard work than we wanted.Reaching goals takes consistent effort. To be fair, some goals or habits come more naturally for certain people and are more baked into their lifestyle, family, friendships, or careers. That said, we can use our routines to develop more natural transitions to help our goals.

Therefore, the first and most important aspect of developing a solid routine is to understand (see: accept) that a lot of your routine might feel like working for the things that don’t happen naturally. This period can be challenging, but that’s precisely why these articles matter. It’s also why making tiny shifts rather than drastic overhauls can be helpful. Your efforts do not have to be all-encompassing or happen all at once, but we should adjust to the fact that some changes need to take place. Instead of resenting or huffing at them, embrace the process. 

2) Give your routines and habits time (lots of it)

Researchers examining habits usually measure habit strength using a combination of self-report questionnaires and behavioral observations. Self-report instruments include scales such as the Self-Report Habit Index (SRHI), which assess the frequency and automaticity of behavior, i.e., how often and how automatically an individual engages in a particular behavior. They will then use the score to chart a path.

These graphs depict different patterns of habit formation: a negative asymptotic curve for non-successful habits, a quadratic curve for discontinuous progress, and a positive asymptotic curve for successful habits. These patterns illustrate the varying levels of automaticity over a period, with successful habits steadily increasing toward automaticity, plateauing as the behavior becomes a strong habit.

As you can see from the graph example, habit formation takes time. That amount of time also varies. The myth of developing habits in 21 days was born from a 1960 study that, at least in pop culture media, won’t go away. In the seminal study looking at habit formation, Lally et al found it took 18 to 245 days to create strong automaticity. In the Watson study we looked at in article 3, automaticity was achieved as early as six weeks. And in the Keller et al study, it took a median of 59 days for participants to reach peak automaticity. 

To give you a better real-world example of an automaticity measure, the 2017 study by Fournier et al investigated the impact of time of day on health habit development. The study tracked 48 students for 90 days, requiring them to perform a psoas stretch daily, in the morning or evening. Based on the rate of habit strength improvement over those 90 days, further modeling projected that the morning group would achieve automaticity after an average of 105 days, while the evening group would achieve automaticity after an average of 154 days. 

I will revisit this study when discussing optimal routines, but the main takeaway for now is that the time required for habit formation can vary –– not just among different habits, but also within the same habit. Purposefully conditioning a constructive habit is already impressive, so don’t get hung up on how fast you achieve automaticity. Instead focus on allowing sufficient time for the habit to become automatic and continually assessing whether automaticity has occurred. You shouldn’t beat yourself up if a new habit hasn’t become automatic within a month. It usually takes several months to condition a new habit. So, approach new habits with that expectation and a dash of patience. 

3) Use routines to assist cue stability and supportive context

In our earlier article on habit formation, we explored stability and specificity through the example of brushing your teeth as soon as you enter the bathroom in the evening. The bathroom serves as the environmental cue, and entering the bathroom acts as an action cue. Additionally, the time of day may also function as an environmental cue. The habit cue was in a fixed environment, which is straightforward and easily repeated. This scenario represents an ideal stable cue, likely to succeed when coupled with strong intentions and desire.

However, cues are not always straightforward, and not all desired actions or habits are easy to execute. This is where routines can be crucial in supporting habit formation at a different level. Routines — sequences of actions we regularly follow — can bridge the gap. They provide structure and predictability, helping integrate new habits into our daily lives. For example, to incorporate exercise into your daily routine, you can set a specific time and sequence of actions to build habit strength. This could involve preparing your workout clothes the night before or having a post-workout meal waiting for you after your training. These small preparatory actions reinforce the intention to exercise, making the transition from routine to cue to action more seamless.. 

Routines also provide flexibility in changing environments when stable cues are absent. This means that even when the established environment shifts, our actions can stay the same, ensuring continuity in the actions we hope to be part of habits. For example, maintaining a walking routine after dinner (even if there isn’t the same cue stability) can be effective for action stability, whether at home or on vacation.

The takeaway is to view routines as opportunities to support the habits you’re working to establish rather than trying to develop a habit in isolation. By creating a supportive system, you significantly enhance your chances of success.

Are there optimal routines or styles of building habits?

Now that we’ve established a fundamental understanding of routines, let’s delve into optimization. Is there a difference between time-based and routine-based habit formation? Is it better to stack or nudge? While these questions might sound a bit like clickbait, these are the very questions researchers themselves attempt to examine.

The way we condition habits — how, when, and where — plays a crucial role, especially concerning cue context. Specificity is key. Studies explore various strategies for habit formation to determine if there’s an optimal method, such as:

1. Time-based habits: Anchor habits to specific times or times of day.
2. Routine-based habits: Establish a fixed sequence of actions for consistent habit development.
3. Sequence-based habits: Stack new habits onto established ones for optimized growth.
4. Reward-based habits: A focus on using rewards to reinforce behavior and habit formation. 

One could argue that all these strategies could be employed simultaneously and that habit research should be stacked for a super meta approach. Without delving too deeply into the nuances, let’s see if we glean something to apply to the real world.

Let’s start by examining a randomized controlled trial by Keller et al that looked at the difference between anchoring nutrition habits around routine-based or time-based cues. It selected a group of 192 adults ranging from 18 to 77 years old. Upon enrollment, participants were randomized into two groups: one that used routine-based cue planning and another that used time-based cue planning. Participants selected a nutrition-related behavior they wanted to integrate into their daily routines or schedules at specific times. For instance, some drank a glass of water or ate a portion of fruit at a fixed time each day (e.g., at 12:00 pm), while others consumed their selected food item in conjunction with a daily routine, such as having a tablespoon of linseed oil at breakfast.

The follow-up period was 84 days, based on daily self-reporting scores on enactment of their selected nutrition behavior and evaluation of automaticity. Automaticity was achieved after a median time of 59 days. 

From this study, we can see that both of these approaches worked to form their habits. You could argue that routine-based strategies had a slight edge over time-based, but not dramatically. In contrast, the study mentioned earlier by Fournier et al examined the impact of stretching in the morning versus the evening. It found a notable difference of nearly 50 days in achieving automaticity between morning and evening stretchers (but remember those were modeled results).

Recall from the third article in our series that the Judah study looked at incorporating flossing after an established habit, versus introducing a new habit without the foundation of an existing habit (habit stacking).  

From all of this, is it possible to advocate for the best approach?

The evidence also suggests that forming certain habits when well-rested may be more effective than attempting them later in the evening. Stacking a new habit with an existing one also seems logical. However, the success of this approach depends on a variety of factors, from the complexity of the habit to, ultimately, the individual. Like diet studies, where debates continue over low carb versus low fat or the optimal number of daily meals, I’m skeptical that a one-size-fits-all solution exists for habit formation. 

Anecdotally, I find that the timing of my self-improvement efforts varies based on the activity and how it fits into my routine. Mentally intensive tasks are off the table after 10 p.m., but I can engage in physical recovery, food prep, or practice familiar music on an instrument. For physically demanding activities, I perform best earlier in the day. And so on. 

It boils down to knowing your routines and understanding the habit formation techniques. It all returns to setting intentions and thoughtful planning. It’s about analyzing your routine and committing to integrating a new daily habit. There’s no universally perfect time of day for this; the key is to begin and keep moving forward.

With that said, I believe in the momentum of meshing routine with habits and then habits with other habits, leading us to a deeper conversation and tips about habit stacking. 

Tips for integrating new habits or actions with other habits (habit stacking)

Adopting new habits should involve a logical approach and assessment of your current life situation. It’s important to consider your goals and if your current routine can accommodate them. There have been periods in my life when my schedule was so packed that adding anything brand new would have been unrealistic. However, those times did offer opportunities to optimize existing elements. For example, could I enhance my sleep hygiene or bulk prepare my weekly meals? Could I take fewer shopping trips?

While pursuing new or more ambitious goals (e.g., training for a marathon) might not always be feasible, there’s usually room to improve something. My approach to habit stacking and formation focuses on optimizing lifestyle rather than randomly adding new elements just to see what sticks.

1) Start small. It really does help 

We’ve all made the mistake of drafting grand plans and life changes when starting with smaller steps would have been more practical. At its core, this approach is about paying attention to the smallest details of your goals and seizing opportunities for incremental victories. For example, aiming to lose 30 pounds quickly might not be realistic. A better start could be aiming for 5 pounds over a longer period. Even more simply, it could involve tracking your eating habits and focusing on a month of successful maintenance.

Ideally, you should aim for small goals accompanied by habits that support those goals. This can differ slightly from strict habit stacking (which I’ll discuss below) because this supportive system can occur at any time of day or week, within any routine, and contribute toward singular or multiple goals. 

Supportive habits or routines, even when formed for separate occasions, can also aid in achieving your primary goal. For instance, developing a habit of taking a walk during lunch can enhance your overall well-being. If it also supports your goal of losing weight, it’s a bonus. 

The point is to collect tiny wins where possible and have little habits contributing to the greater whole. 

2) Stack rewards and support where possible

We’ve established that a routine needs to be logical, simple, and supportive of your goals. Equally important is incorporating rewards within your routine. Put simply, we’re less inclined to continue activities if we don’t enjoy them or recognize their value. Whether the rewards are external or intrinsic, the path becomes easier if the benefits are apparent. For instance, new shoes for meeting step goals or pride in improved test results from your doctor can be rewards.

However, sometimes navigating the realm of rewards can be complex, especially when the benefits aren’t immediately obvious. Some habits, routines, or goals bear more obvious wins. Take improving a performance-based activity, like cooking, as an example. The rewards are easy to see: not only does one’s skill and competency increase but there’s also the pleasure of enjoying delicious meals. Overcoming the initial learning curve in activities like cooking offers continuous, inherent rewards that can motivate ongoing effort.

But what if the reward isn’t so immediately apparent?

A study by Klib and Labudek examined the participants’ perceptions of habit strength when adding vegetables to their meals. The study acknowledged the reward of having a positive feeling about making healthy choices and identified context stability and consistent performance as the key factors in habit formation. However, diary entries revealed that despite the rewarding feeling, participants found it challenging to maintain enthusiasm for eating vegetables after having them the previous day. They felt, more or less, that they had fulfilled their vegetable quota. Despite that feeling, the participants still persisted due to the stable context cue and their routine, therefore continuing to include vegetables in their meals. They just weren’t always so happy about it. 

This study shows that sometimes, the reward aspect can be more complicated. The “reward” might sometimes make you resentful or bored. While seeking rewards from our habits is important, examining our intention moderators and understanding the deeper reasons behind our habit-building efforts is equally crucial. More importantly, this study shows that even when the reward doesn’t feel as satisfying, maintaining consistency in our cues and routines is essential to building the habit, especially when desire and motivation wane.

Therefore, reward where you can, but develop a consistent routine that can keep you on track despite how you might feel in the moment.  

3) Reduce friction by stacking supportive actions or habits for the main habit

One hiccup in habit formation is determining the most effective following action. You can think of habit stacking a lot like trying to balance items: stacking flat, straight objects is simpler than balancing round or irregularly shaped ones. For example, it might not be practical to stack a study habit immediately after a bedtime meditation. Bedtime meditation aims to create a calming and relaxed pre-bed state of mind, not one that is open, awake, and ready to absorb new material. Therefore, those two stacks would make for an odd and likely ineffective pairing. Routines and habits should seamlessly transition from one to the next, creating a harmonious flow. Ideally, they should stack from one to the next in a lovely sequence of events that make an efficient whole.

This study from Lee et al explores the interplay between conscious intentions and unconscious exercise habits. It highlights the impact of pre-exercise preparations, like setting out exercise clothes, on the transition from intention to actual physical activity. The study suggests these preparation actions strengthen the link between intending to exercise and then executing the action.

Taking multiple actions to support a single habit goal clarifies your pursuit of the goal. These actions can be small and simple, not necessarily requiring a significant effort. Some actions might evolve into habits, such as leaving shoes and an umbrella by the door. In contrast, others could be a one-time supportive measure, like purchasing appropriate footwear and clothing for walking in various weather conditions. This is particularly relevant if, as mentioned in our second article, weather is identified as a potential obstacle. Such preparation enables effective if-then planning, allowing for adjustments like, “If it rains, then I’ll use my new umbrella and waterproof boots to get in my post-dinner walk.”

All three of these tips aim to reduce friction and create opportunities to support your habits and routines and, ultimately, your overall goals. 

Monitoring progress to achieve automatic habits

The final aspect of our routine article highlights the importance of measuring progress or conducting check-ins. It might seem challenging to track the progress of habits we aim to perform subconsciously. After all, we are working intensively to map out behaviors that work on our behalf subconsciously. How do we check that?

Fortunately, habit strength research often relies on self-reporting methods. Researchers typically use various tools, such as the Self-Report Habit Index (SRHI), to assess frequency, automaticity, and identity through questionnaires. These aim to determine whether an action is performed automatically, providing insight into effective self-monitoring techniques.

Despite potential concerns over subjectivity and self-awareness, there is good consistency in responses to this research. Much like with other studies that involve trying to monitor people (via self-monitoring) in the real world, we may quibble over the preciseness, but it remains a practical starting point for assessing real-world outcomes.

Below, I’ve included typical questions from these questionnaires to help guide your self-evaluation during the habit formation process.

These questions serve as examples to answer one ultimate question: has this action become automatic?

Various tracking methods are available for logging, from traditional pen and paper to digital apps, and are suitable for monitoring the success of a habit you’re working on. Your system should complement the goal and habit you’re focusing on. For instance, if your objective is to reduce body fat and cease mindless snacking, an app like MacroFactor could be ideal. It tracks macros and includes sections for habits and notes, allowing for daily reflections on successes and challenges.

Additionally, habit journals and goal-specific diaries (e.g., a sleep journal) can guide your progress. Other systems, like pill dispensers labeled for each day, can visually demonstrate adherence to a habit; the absence of a pill indicates that the routine was followed. And so on.

Take home

The structure of your daily life is pretty important for habit success. Your actions throughout the day, the rooms you visit in your home when you do things, and even your driving routes all play a part in achieving your goals and forming your habits. 

It’s important not to go overboard in transforming every moment into a habit or routine, but aligning our daily movements with our goals can be beneficial. Ultimately, consistency and repeatability in our schedules are key to having subconscious actions working in our favor (remember, they can undoubtedly work antagonistically). Establishing these routines can be challenging, but we have found breaking them to be far more difficult. Thus, I encourage you to evaluate your weekday and weekend schedules to identify opportunities for creating new habits and optimizing your routine to help make your habits stick.

Homework assignment: stacking toward our habit goal

Thus far, in our homework series, we’ve covered how to identify constructive and counterproductive goals, how to find our “why” for the habits we desire to build, and the importance of specific cue identification and integration for our habit goal design. 

Now, we will examine Casey and Riley’s days and optimize each movement to support it.

Case study 1: Increase physical activity via walking after dinner

Casey is a 44-year-old freelance graphic designer who works from home and wants to counteract a sedentary lifestyle by incorporating more physical activity into their daily routine. Their objective is to add a 30-minute walk after dinner each day.

List 4 supportive and reward actions (in routine or habits) for your overall goal 

• I will buy a nice umbrella and waterproof shoes because I hate being uncomfortable when I walk. 
• I found a new game that has step gamification. I won’t feel guilty about buying and using it during my walks. 
• I will keep my kitchen clean, so I don’t feel guilty about walking first.  
• I will drive to new places to walk sometimes so I don’t get bored of seeing the same things.

When will you know it’s automatic?: “When I put my plate in the kitchen and go for a walk without thinking about it.” 

Case study 2: Eliminate high-calorie snacking while watching TV/streaming

Riley is a 30-year-old account manager who tends to snack on high-calorie food while watching TV or streaming movies. Riley’s goal is to eliminate this habit, hoping it will also help meet their goal of losing 20 pounds of fat. 

List 4 supportive and reward actions (in routine or habits) for your overall goal 

• I will not feel guilty about multiple trips to the store if I run out of fresh items to snack on. 
• I’ve wanted this nice air fryer and will get it to make alternatives for my more high-calorie snacks.  
• I will prepare snack bags on the weekend when I have more time to make better weekday choices. 
• I will incorporate more protein in my snacks, like low-fat cheese sticks or edamame, rather than just carb snacks. 

When will you know it’s automatic? “When I don’t grab a snack at all, or if I do, it is lower in calories.”

Your assignment:

At the end of each article, take a moment to document each insight lesson for your journey. For this article, try to answer the assignment questions that are also asked of our case study participants. 

In this instance, how can you stack your actions and habits to support your overall goal? Can you see places where you can have more overt and fun rewards, not just intrinsic ones? What else can you consider putting into your routine to help you complete your habit goals?

The post Daily Routines for Successful Habits appeared first on MacroFactor.

Next, we examined the interplay between habit development and behavioral adjustments. The keys to transforming or creating new habits are clear goals, self-reflection, and being prepared to nurture or adjust our actions for success. Commitment to habit formation and behavioral change is important, especially for complex habits. We learned the more complicated the habits – such as those related to physical activity or weight loss – the more our intentions and beliefs must be aligned. 

Now, we enter the practical heart of our series – the “how it’s made” segment – where we will unravel the mechanisms and nuances of habit formation. This installment offers a comprehensive, step-by-step guide drawing from the best of current research findings.

Let’s grab some stale theater popcorn and get to it! 

An in-depth habit formation loop 

Let’s start by reviewing a detailed process loop (below) that guides you from setting a goal to the formation of a habit. This loop stands out as one of the most specific and research-backed flowcharts on habit formation. We have all the players here: Wood, Gardner, Lally, and Verplanken are the who’s who of habit research. 

Our aim here is to peel back the layers and learn how habits tick. We’ll break it down in a way that’s technical enough to satisfy your curiosity but friendly enough not to overwhelm. Once we’ve got a solid grip on the basics, we’re going to bring it to life with a couple of examples that are tied directly to the goals of our ongoing case studies, making sure we see theory in action.

Steps for habit formation 

1. Goal identification: Setting a specific goal to achieve via habit formation.
2. Motivation: The driving force behind achieving a habit.
3. Intention: Making a conscious choice to steer your actions toward a new habit.
4. Cue identification: Recognizing the trigger, event, or environment setup that initiates the action behavior.
5. Behavior execution / Repetition: The repeat performance of the action behavior set off by the cue.
   • Cue context: The stable and consistent trigger, environment, or event where the action occurs.
   • Cue response: The action that follows the cue.
6. Result: The outcome of the action behavior.
   • No: Revisit goal setting and re-analyze your motivation and intention.
   • Yes: Continue habit strengthening. 
7. Repeat, reinforce, and strengthen: The process of reinforcing the action through repetition.
   • Maintain specificity: Maintaining the same cue context and response.
   • Continue cue exposure: Continually expose oneself to the cues that drive the behavior.
8. Habit formation: The successful automaticity and strengthening of the habit.
9. Reflection: Introspection on the habit formation journey and evaluation of possible new goals.

Goal identification, motivation, and intention 

We dug into these crucial aspects of habit formation in our second article and touched on them in other pieces on the MacroFactor website. If you haven’t read those yet, I suggest you do. They serve as valuable complements to this series and offer a broader understanding to the discussion here.

While teaching you each element of habit formation, I’m selecting a pretty simple goal of “brushing your teeth before bed.” It’s straightforward and a great way to see habit formation in action. For motivation, we’re leaning on something we all appreciate: the value of good dental hygiene. And though I’ll bring in examples involving exercise and nutrition later on, starting with this basic habit helps make the process more approachable.

• Goal identification: “Brushing my teeth nightly before bed.”
• Motivation: “To achieve healthier dental hygiene.”
• Intention: “My intention is to brush my teeth before bed every night.”

Cue Identification

The role of the cue is paramount. The cue is the trigger that sets the process into action. It’s the whistle that starts the game. Pinpointing the cue is critical to initiating the habit-formation process. 

Many people make the mistake of focusing on a habit’s action rather than the cue that is actually triggering the habit. The cue initiates the sequence supporting the habit action. Understanding the cue is the key to unlocking the subconscious. In our example of brushing your teeth before bed, the cue is not “brushing my teeth” – that’s the action. 

The cue begins the action. In this case, we want the environment to serve as a cue to prompt the action. And more than that, we want to be really specific about the precise environmental factors. Research in habit formation tells us being vague is not so great for habit conditioning. A clear and specific set of circumstances significantly enhances habit conditioning. A statement like, “I want to brush my teeth every day” is too vague and could create obstacles. A better cue statement would be: “When I walk into the bathroom at night, I will brush my teeth before doing anything else.” This eliminates ambiguity. The specificity cuts through the noise and creates the right atmosphere for habit conditioning. The moment you enter the bathroom, the cue initiates the subsequent events that follow. This principle will become increasingly important as we explore routines and habit stacking in the fourth article.

Sometimes, perceived failures in habit actions are actually due to poorly chosen cues that don’t suit one’s specific circumstances. Identifying an appropriate cue is a challenge. It’s common for the initial cue to be imperfect; refining it is a part of the process. This aspect of habit formation is particularly tricky. Even if the desired actions themselves are straightforward, selecting the right context for them can require trial and error. Here is a short chart to help you understand the difference between vague and specific cues.

Selecting the right cue is key, especially for complex habits. You can’t set up a cue for “losing body fat.” Instead, it requires breaking down the goal into smaller, actionable steps, starting with specific behaviors. For instance, a habit like “avoiding liquid calories” could be a good starting point. Once this becomes ingrained, you can sequentially tackle each subsequent habit that leads you closer to your ultimate goal. This approach may present challenges for those who find it difficult to shift between detailed and broader perspectives. But if you can get good at specific cue selection, it’s a big win for your habits.

Last, choose triggers that seamlessly integrate into your home, lifestyle, or work environments. Your cues need to be in convenient locations, and they need to be consistent and identifiable. We’ll delve deeper into this topic in the final article of our series. But, for now, the takeaway is to set yourself up for success by choosing easy and specific cues.

• Cue identification: “The action of walking into my bathroom in the evening, before bedtime, will serve as the immediate trigger for brushing my teeth.”

Behavior execution and repetition

This stage is where the action part of your habit materializes. To caveat, behavior execution also interacts with the cue context and response. Although we’re examining each component separately, it’s important to recognize that these elements often intertwine quickly. As a result, some of this might sound familiar, or sound like the same idea phrased in a slightly different way. However, it’s important to examine the small differences in order to better understand the nuance of your habits. 

With that caveat, we are now in the action phase of habit formation. To understand the significance of cue context and response, let’s examine the definition of a habit provided by Orbell and Verplanken: “Action repetition in a consistent cue context slowly results in the formation of a cue-response association in memory.” 

Remember, our example goal is tooth-brushing. The cue is entering the bathroom in the evening. Using the definition: 

Action repetition (brushing your teeth every night immediately upon entering the bathroom) in a consistent cue context (entering the bathroom in the evening) slowly results in the formation of a cue-response association in memory (over time, without thinking, you brush your teeth the moment you enter the bathroom in the evening). 

In habit formation, cue-contextuality means how, where, and when you attempt to condition the habit matters, and it matters a lot. Inconsistency in habit training or attempting a complex goal rather than a habit complicates the development of automatic responses. The specifics, the order, and the routine all matter to successful habit formation.

For example, in 2012, Judah et al explored the mechanisms behind the habit formation of dental flossing. They conducted a study with 50 participants, each randomly assigned to incorporate flossing into their dental hygiene routine before or after brushing their teeth. Over eight months, the study monitored how often participants flossed and the strength of their flossing habit. Those instructed to floss after brushing did so more frequently and scored higher on habit strength than those who flossed before brushing.

The key insight from this research is not merely the timing of flossing within the dental hygiene routine, but also the role played by the presence of an already established habit and cue. Tooth-brushing is an established routine for most people, so it can serve as a powerful and reliable cue to trigger another behavior (like flossing). The success of this timing likely stems not from a random preference for flossing after brushing, but from brushing serving as a strong cue for flossing. Aligning new habits with existing ones is a powerful tool. We will cover this more in the next article when we talk about routines and habit stacking. 

The flossing study does not specify the time of day or order that is needed to execute a behavior, but there is likely a correct order or timing for your routine and pre-existing habits.

• Action repetition: I will brush my teeth every night immediately upon entering the bathroom.
• Cue context: The act of entering the bathroom in the evening will serve as my trigger.
• Cue response and memory association: Gradually, entering the bathroom in the evening will automatically prompt me to brush my teeth without the need for conscious thought.

Desired results 

The result is the outcome of your attempt to form a habit, but it doesn’t mean that you have achieved complete success in habit formation quite yet. It’s more of a middle assessment. Has your cue been firing your desired habit action? If you successfully carry out the cue/action in sequence, you can progress toward making the behavior a habit. 

For instance, if you consistently brush your teeth immediately upon entering the bathroom each evening, this indicates the process is working. Therefore, you should proceed to reinforce this behavior with repeated action.However, let’s say you didn’t achieve the cue/action. This is a great time to restart the process and pinpoint the failure point. Was the goal too vague? Was your motivation too low, or was the satisfaction gained from the outcome insufficient? Is the habit too complex and needs to be broken down into less complicated bites? 

There are numerous potential points of failure in this process, and while it’s not feasible to address each one, I do want to zoom in on rewards.

As mentioned, habits should be conditioned to assist our goals, encompassing everything from health to beliefs and dreams. This concept is straightforward in theory but can be incredibly challenging to implement and sometimes hard to recognize, especially if the reward is not immediately gratifying. For instance, our goal of brushing our teeth more often is relatively simple in terms of execution, and the reward is immediate and clear. However, the goal of losing body fat is more complex. It is a lengthy process that is often uncomfortable, and there may be times when individuals doubt the efficacy of the approach. These doubts can also engage with various social and personal pressures, making the reward system unclear and our purpose lost.

When it comes to conditioning habits, especially for scenarios that require sacrifice, it’s useful to revisit the concept of intention moderators discussed in the second article. What are your aspirations for yourself, your family, and your future? Are your goals justified? Furthermore, can the task be enhanced with additional rewards or benefits? Can you treat yourself to milestone rewards? Can you make the sacrifice stints shorter in duration? What strategies can you employ to motivate yourself to persist through the conditioning of habits that can be unpleasant?

If the desired result has failed, consider it an opportunity to explore a different viewpoint on habit formation.

• Desired result achieved? No: “Brushing teeth immediately upon entering the bathroom is not going as planned, so I’ll try a new cue. I never forget to wash my face at night. So, I’ll place my toothbrush beside my face wash, and brush my teeth immediately after I finish washing my face .” 
• Desired result achieved? Yes: “Each evening, I successfully brush my teeth the moment I step into the bathroom.”

Repeat, reinforce, and strengthen 

If you’ve successfully executed the cue-behavior sequence, you are on the path to forming a habit. The priority now is ensuring your cue exposure and specificity are constant. 

The two major challenges people often face are a lack of understanding of the time required to form habits and the increased conscious effort needed as the habit becomes more complex. The path to habit formation is unique to each person and can depend on various factors, including the nature of the habit and individual differences. As I will discuss in more detail in the next article, the time it takes to form a habit is not fixed. There is no set number of days, and research suggests that the more complex the habit, the longer it can take to form. Therefore, when it comes to forming more complex habits, be prepared to allocate more time.

While the cue aspect of habits is usually brief and straightforward, the action component varies significantly. Execution of action can range from quick activities like brushing your teeth to longer ones, such as a 45-minute gym session. Clearly, the latter requires more time, commitment, and effort. This is why it’s important to concentrate on all aspects of intentions, moderators, and “if-then” plans, and to develop a support system wherever possible. This includes a combination of established habits, rewards, environmental setup, and anything else that can enhance your chances of consistent repetition for as long as it takes.

Last, you might start feeling confident and be tempted to alter your routine, such as moving a habit from routine-based to frequency-based (e.g., switching from brushing your teeth in the evening to once a day). Try to resist switching things up. Changes to the habit formation plan should only be made after careful consideration and confirmation that the new approach is superior. During this stage, embrace the concepts of repetition, steadiness, and a bit of monotony.

• Repeat, reinforce, and strengthen: “Over the past few weeks, as I enter the bathroom before bed each evening, I have consistently brushed my teeth right away.”

Habit formation

The habit formation process is complete when you achieve automaticity. This means that you’ve repeated the action enough that it can now be performed without conscious deliberation. In the toothbrushing goal example, you have achieved automaticity when you enter the bathroom in the evening and brush your teeth without thought or intention several nights in a row.

That said, sustaining a new habit requires not just reaching the point of automaticity, but also maintaining the conditions supporting the automatic behavior. This means the cues must remain consistent and stable over time, not just during the habit formation phase. So, as long as you wish to maintain the habit, all the pieces must stay in place. This is why choosing habits that align with your lifestyle is important. Your cue needs to stay engaged until you desire to retire the habit.

Generally speaking, habits tend to hit a holding point, a peak level of strength, and stay there unless there’s a drastic shift in routine. In exploring the practical application of this in research, Watson et al conducted a study with older adults who had recently undergone dental rehabilitation. The participants were divided into two groups with a total of 54 participants. The intervention group (n=27), who attended three sessions over six weeks, received tracking sheets and were guided on how to set goals for increasing fruit, vegetables, and whole grains. The control group (n=27) received standard dietary advice through a leaflet.

Researchers monitored the impact of automaticity on the participant’s food choices over six weeks, with follow-up assessments at four and eight months. The group that received guidance and education on eating habits began choosing fruits, vegetables, and whole grains and demonstrated improved automaticity in healthy eating compared to the control group.

The intervention showcased the effectiveness of educational content focused on habit-building for achieving relevant goals. Note that both groups had intention moderators that aligned with their goals to eat better, meaning a key difference could be the incorporation of automaticity in behavior.

• Habit formation: “It took four weeks before I brushed my teeth upon entering the bathroom without consciously thinking about it for the first time. Even then, I continued to exert a conscious effort, but in the following weeks, I increasingly found myself not thinking about it and just doing it. After eight weeks, the behavior has become more consistently automatic.”

Reflection 

So, you’ve successfully conditioned a habit. It’s a big deal, and we should acknowledge and reflect on what worked and what didn’t. Reflection also provides a space to consider how that habit affects your life and whether the habit you created can co-exist or support other habits or behavior goals. 

Hopefully, you see how each step serves a purpose and moves us from wanting something to actually doing it. Remember, success in habit formation hinges on being clear and specific about your goals. Avoiding vague cues and striving for consistency in triggers and locations is important. Additionally, we need to give ourselves a lot of time and repetition to build these habits, particularly when the habits involve more complex steps or barriers.

Ask yourself: What worked well? What didn’t? Where can you integrate other habits? We will delve into some of these aspects when discussing routine and environment. Ultimately, if you have purposefully conditioned a habit, it indicates you’ve successfully engaged with a powerful subconscious process.

• Reflection: It’s been three months, and I still brush my teeth in the evenings when I enter the bathroom. I feel really happy about the state of my dental hygiene and toothbrushing habits. I never had a problem in the morning, but I would do other things in the evening and sometimes forget to do it. That doesn’t happen now. I think I’d like to focus on creating a better habit around flossing and try to do it immediately after brushing my teeth in the evening. 

And those are the mechanics of habit formation!

Now, let’s apply the system you’ve learned to goals that are likely more relevant to you as a MacroFactor reader. We will focus on the goals from the case studies we have been tracking throughout this article series. By using these specific examples, you’ll be able to see how the principles of habit formation can be tailored to fit different situations, whether they relate to nutrition, physical activity, or any other aspect of health and wellness. 

Case Studies:

I’m sure you remember Casey and Riley from the case studies in the first two articles of this series. Casey is trying to develop a habit of walking after dinner, and Riley is trying to cut down on unwanted snacking. Let’s pick these threads back up to see how these concepts apply to the habits they’re trying to build.

How to condition a new habit

While the detailed breakdown of habit formation steps might seem excessive, that’s exactly the intention. Habit formation is, by nature, repetitive. The point of these exercises is to show you that any habit can be successfully developed if you understand each step of the process. In this instance, we’re applying the methodology to Casey’s goal to illustrate their full path of habit formation. These steps show progression from setting a new goal to habit formation success. Casey’s case study is still unfolding, but this provides a solid framework for how their habit formation could progress, alongside the insights shared throughout the article.

1. New goal: Walk for 30 minutes every day after finishing dinner until I have automaticity.
2. Motivation: My daily steps are low. Walking can help with both weight management and general health.
3. Intention: I intend to walk for 30 minutes every day after dinner.
4. Cue identification: When I take my plate into the kitchen, I will use this as a trigger to engage the action of going for a walk.
5. Behavior execution / repetition: After taking my plate to the kitchen, I will walk for 30 minutes after dinner.
   • Cue context: I get up from my chair, grab my plate, take it to the kitchen, and set it in the sink.
   • Cue response: I head outside (or to my treadmill) to walk for 30 minutes.
6. Result: Did I walk after dinner every day for 30 minutes?
   • No: I did not walk after dinner. I don’t like dirty dishes sitting in the sink after dinner. So, I will try walking after washing the dishes and change my habit plan to reflect that.
   • Yes: I walked after dinner for 30 minutes.
7. Repeat, reinforce, and strengthen: I’ve walked after dinner for 30 minutes six times this week.
   • Maintain specificity: I put my dish in the kitchen six times this week and then went for a walk.
   • Continue cues exposure: I eat in the same spot and put my plate in the same spot when I’m finished. Thus far, everything feels easy and repeatable.
8. Habit formation: It took roughly five to six weeks until this walking habit was automatic. Over the last six months, I have walked almost every evening after dinner. I do not have to make a conscious effort to walk after dinner now; it just happens. 
9. Reflection: I found implementing the habit of walking after dinner easy. The few times the habit was interrupted, I went for a walk slightly later with no issue. I feel confident that I’ll walk after dinner unless something drastic changes. 

How to use these steps for breaking bad habits

In the second article of this series, I discussed the complex nature of breaking habits. Once learned, it’s very difficult to unlearn a habit. Therefore, when attempting to break a habit, it’s best to adopt a similar strategy as the one we use to make habits. 

While that might seem bizarre, most success in “breaking” habits is in habit substitution, particularly when the cues triggering the habit are unavoidable. For example, if you habitually snack on a specific item every time you enter the kitchen, the cue – entering the kitchen – will inevitably continue to be a part of your life. While you might initially try to disrupt and disengage from the habit, transitioning to habit substitution could be the next step if this proves ineffective. An example of substitution could mean choosing a lower-calorie snack or reducing the quantity of the higher-calorie item. 

With that, now we will use Riley’s case study and their goal of wanting to stop eating high-calorie foods while watching TV. 

1. New goal: Stop snacking on high-calorie foods while watching TV or streaming movies.
2. Motivation: I’ve noticed weight gain and want to halt that and decrease my overall body fat level. 
3. Intention: I intend to avoid eating high-calorie snacks while watching TV. If I must snack, I will choose my pre-selected alternative items. 
4. Cue identification: Sitting down to watch TV or scrolling/watching videos on my phone triggers my desire to snack. I will not snack or replace my snacking with a better item when this happens. 
5. Behavior execution / repetition:
   • Cue context: The act of sitting down with the remote control in hand and turning on the TV or starting a movie.
   • Cue response: Opting for a lower-calorie food item or beverage if abstaining isn’t working. 
6. Result: Did I manage to avoid high-calorie snacking while watching TV?
   • No: I did sometimes, but not consistently. I also didn’t do well at all on the weekends. I noticed I did worse when I tried to stop altogether or didn’t have alternatives. 
   • Yes: I stopped eating high-calorie snack foods while watching TV. 
7. Repeat, reinforce, and strengthen: I’ve succeeded every day this week and haven’t had any more high-calorie foods.
   • Maintain specificity: I’ve not had high-calorie snacks while watching TV every day this week. 
   • Continue cues exposure: I watch TV or movies sitting in the same spot but have changed my routine by introducing new, healthier habits instead of snacking.
8. Habit formation: It took me a few weeks until the foods I chose in place of high-calorie snack foods felt “normal” and happened without much thought. 
9. Reflection: I found it surprisingly easy to switch out my high-calorie food habit with snacking on lower-calorie foods. There were a few times I didn’t have any food and drank tea instead. I have also stopped gaining weight. With that said, I haven’t lost much weight, and I do think I still eat too much while watching TV. I feel the quality of my nutrition is better; however, I still need to work on cutting my overall calories to lose fat.

What’s next?

Technically, you can take the information from these three articles and succeed in habit formation. However, I invite you to stick around because the final two articles look at optimizing our routine and creating an environment for success. This is especially important because the more complex our habits become, the harder they are to establish or “break” once formed. How we integrate them into our lifestyle is a big piece of putting things together. 

For now, let’s examine our next homework assignment and see how we can apply what we’ve learned.

Homework assignment: studies of habit formation

In our first article of the series, we examined the dual nature of habits: they can be either constructive or counterproductive to our goals. Hopefully, this prompted you to identify a goal you wish to achieve or modify through habit manipulation.

The second installment emphasized understanding our existing habits more deeply, focusing on the reasons and motivations behind our desire to change these habits. It also guided the creation of action plans to reinforce positive habits or address and overcome obstacles to habit change.

This section will apply what we’ve learned regarding the mechanics of habit formation to our case studies. 

Case study 1: Increase physical activity via walking after dinner

Casey is a 44-year-old freelance graphic designer who works from home and wants to counteract a sedentary lifestyle by incorporating more physical activity into their daily routine. Their objective is to add a 30-minute walk after dinner each day.

Specific cue identification: ”When I take my plate into the kitchen, I will use this as a trigger to engage the action of going for a walk.”

List 3 behavior response supports (Implementation Intentions):  

• I will keep my shoes by the door. 
• I’ll keep my phone charged to have entertainment to listen to while walking. 
• If I have something else to do after dinner, I will immediately walk when the other event ends. 

Tracking method: “I will track my steps every day to see that the totals increase from then on, and then keep them similar throughout the next few months of monitoring.” 

Case study 2: Eliminate high-calorie snacking while watching TV/streaming

Riley is a 30-year-old account manager who tends to snack on high-calorie food while watching TV or streaming movies. Riley’s goal is to eliminate this habit, hoping it will also help meet their goal of losing 20 pounds of fat. 

Specific cue identification: ”Sitting down to watch TV or scrolling/watching videos on my phone triggers my desire to snack. When this happens, I will not snack, or I will replace my snacking with a better item.”

List 3 behavior response supports (Implementation Intentions):  

• I will buy low-calorie snacks to replace the high-calorie snacks. 
• I will keep tea and honey stocked for when I want a beverage snack.  
• I will use the weekends to prep or buy the items I want around on the weekdays.

Tracking method: “I will track my nutrition in an app to ensure I keep myself accountable to achieve my goal. However, I will give myself a small amount of leeway for imperfection and log it via memory at the end of the day.”

Your assignment:

At the end of each article, take a moment to document each insight lesson for your journey. For this article, try to answer the assignment questions that are also asked of our case study participants. 

Bonus homework: Fill out your habit loop steps and try to forecast your habit goal’s desired results. Can you anticipate any barriers? How long do you think it’d take you to form this habit automatically? Are you seeing your cues specifically and clearly? It might take a little time to dive into this, but if you envision your habits this way, you can apply these strategies to anything you want to change.

The post How to Form (or Break) a Habit appeared first on MacroFactor.

In this article, we will explore why habits are notoriously challenging to break or intentionally establish. It’s probable that everyone reading this article has encountered the difficulty of trying to condition new habits or dismantle old habits. If you’ve been frustrated by the struggle of changing your habits, you’re certainly not alone. 

This article will provide insights and five reasons why habits are difficult to change, and it will start to address how we can overcome those challenges effectively. By utilizing the most up-to-date evidence and methods, our aim is to assist you in aligning your habits with your goals, making the journey from intention to action a little less bumpy. 

First, as a small note before diving in, this article (and the rest of this series) will be discussing purposeful habit change. Technically, it’s very easy to change your habits. It happens all the time without you even realizing it. However, most of those changes are non-purposeful changes. Some may be helpful for your goals, and some may hinder your goals, but most will be completely neutral. For example, you used to habitually put on your right shoe before your left shoe, and now you habitually put on your left shoe before your right shoe, even though you didn’t make a conscious effort to switch up the order. Why? We may never know.

In this series, we’re dealing with purposeful habit change – intentionally trying to form new habits that support your goals, or intentionally trying to break or replace habits that hinder your goals. This may seem like a very basic distinction, but it’s an important one. You will wind up with some set of habits by chance, but ending up with the set of habits you want to have is considerably tougher, and requires effort.

So, why is it so hard to purposefully change your habits? Let’s dive in and find out.

Reason #1: Purposeful habit change takes strong intentions

Purposeful habit conditioning is strongly influenced by goal setting and motivation. We’ve discussed goal-setting extensively in the article “Accomplishing Goals Through Sustainable Behavior Change,” where we lay out the theoretical foundations and a framework for goal construction. While not essential for understanding this article, it’s recommended as a companion resource for a more comprehensive understanding.

Without successful behavior change, the formation of habits cannot occur. And embedded within the framework of any commitment to behavior change are intentions. Understanding intentions and the factors contributing to their failure is crucial; without this insight, achieving goals becomes challenging. 

Why?

Before a new behavior can become habitual (automatic and virtually effortless), you typically need to consciously carry out the behavior many times, which requires focus, awareness, and some degree of effort. Manipulating our short-term conscious behavior is relatively easy and straightforward, but manipulating our conscious behavior consistently enough, and over a long enough period of time to condition our subconscious to act as we desire automatically? That’s a bit trickier. It requires sustained effort that won’t occur without strong intentions. 

Habit formation requires time and effort. A lot of it. Persisting with cues and actions for weeks or months may not be enough; some habits can take almost a year to establish. Therefore, we must be committed to the intentions of the habits we are trying to automate.

This point may seem trite, and almost too basic, bordering on cliché. It may sound dangerously close to the mumbo jumbo you’d hear from a motivational speaker (“You just have to want it bad enough!”). But, strong intentions are the necessary starting point for purposeful habit change. With weak intentions, you’ll certainly still carry out a new behavior a few times, but you’ll be far more likely to give up and revert back to your old habits when you face setbacks. It may take weeks, or even months, to condition a new habit. During that time, it won’t always be easy to carry out the behaviors you’d like to become habitual, and there’s a very good chance you’ll occasionally slip back into your old habits while you’re trying to build new ones. Strong intentions provide you with the push you need to persist when the going gets tough.

But, while strong intentions are necessary for habit change, they aren’t sufficient. Strong intentions help you persist through the process of purposeful behavior change, but you do still need to change your conscious behaviors, and maintain those new behaviors long enough for them to become habitual. So, let’s turn our attention to behavior change.

Reason #2: Habit formation requires behavior change

Since new habits start as new conscious behaviors, we can’t discuss habits without discussing behavior change. For a primer, (purposeful) behavior change is the active process of using behavior change techniques (BCTs) for self-improvement. These techniques span a wide range from goal setting to self-monitoring to transtheoretical models. It’s sort of a big self-improvement bubble. If we condition habits—recognizing that habit theory itself constitutes a BCT—those new habits provide an automatic neurological response even if motivation is waning.

Since you’re reading this on MacroFactor’s site, you’re likely interested in applying BCTs and changing your habits to help with weight management, healthy eating, and/or physical activity. Unfortunately, not all new behaviors to support goals and those domains can become fully subconscious and habitual; of the behaviors you change to support those goals, some will become habitual, while some will remain conscious behaviors (that’s especially true for physical activity).

For example, if you had a goal of consistently brushing your teeth every morning, you could definitely reach the point where brushing your teeth is completely subconscious and habitual. My brain is barely functioning when I’m carrying out my morning routine, but I still complete it exactly the same way every day, with virtually no conscious thought. However, a habit of healthier snacking would still need to be supported by the conscious choice of buying healthier snacks. The act of munching on apples instead of potato chips may become habitual, but you still need to consciously decide to keep apples around the house in place of potato chips. Or, the process of getting dressed to work out as soon as you get home from work or school may become habitual, but active thought and decision making is still required to actually complete your workout.

New behaviors become effortless once they can become fully automatic and habitual. But, new behaviors require effort before they can become habitual. Furthermore, when you’re trying to modify a set of behaviors, and only some of those new behaviors can become fully habitual, ongoing maintenance of your new behaviors will still require effort. The new habits you build will certainly make the remaining conscious behaviors easier, but they’ll still require focus and energy.

Because of that, routines will be a blend of subconscious firing mixed with ongoing efforts to modify and sustain new conscious behaviors. This is one reason why this section of the article series is so important. To change habits means changing behavior with purposeful intentions. 

Reason #3: Internal and external factors can create an “intention-behavior gap”

So, to pause for a moment, if you’ve reached this point of the article series, you’re probably thinking, “Look, I intend to change my behaviors and pursue this habit. But how do I actually do it?”

Bear with me a little longer. 

When we investigate intentions (because most people are already filled with intentions), we must understand why intentions aren’t always enough. To do this, we must examine the intention-behavior gap.

The intention-behavior gap is the discrepancy between an individual’s intentions to execute specific actions versus their automatic behavior. For example, you intend to walk for 30 minutes every day, but after repeated attempts (and despite your best intentions), you’re still not walking for 30 minutes every day. Why does this happen? You believe you’re ready to change your behavior, having committed to purposefully enact this change. You’ve attempted to form what you thought were new and better habits. What’s the issue? Why does the expected change not materialize?

Understanding why habits fail requires examining intention-behavior moderators. If intentions represent the plan, moderators are the elements that influence the plan’s execution. For example, if your intention is to take a 30-minute daily walk, one moderator could be the perceived safety of your neighborhood. Another moderator might be the perception that committing 30 minutes is too demanding. Alternatively, you might discover that when you notice your shoes by the door, you’ve already committed to another activity. Moderators encompass various factors, ranging from past habits to regret to difficulty of the habit goal itself.

Below is a list of Moderators from Connor and Norman that highlights all the factors that can affect intentions. The descriptions and examples have been simplified from the originals for easier understanding.

As you see, if you look at that list alone, it’s … basically everything in your life and your psychological makeup. Each of those factors could represent a potential (surmountable) barrier to make behavior change and habit modification more difficult. 

In research, we look at these gaps and moderators alongside behavior theories to get a snapshot of why things don’t always go according to your plan. A 2023 study by Feil et al conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of the intention-behavior gap in strengthening habits for physical activity. The meta-analysis included data from 25 independent samples, taken from 22 articles, with a total of 29,600 participants. These participants were drawn from various backgrounds, including students, parents, and adults at health risk, representing a wide range of the general population interested in or advised to engage in physical activity for health benefits.

The main purpose of the study was to examine the gap between intending to do physical activity and actually doing it. They also wanted to find out what factors might influence the size of this gap. To clarify, a larger gap indicates individuals failed to translate their intentions into action. The smaller the gap, the better their intentions were applied. The study identified four profiles based on the participant’s intentions and behaviors:

The overall intention-behavior gap was quantified at 47.6%, implying nearly half of the individuals intending to be physically active did not follow through on their intentions. This produced outcomes similar to a 2013 study that found a 46% intention gap for physical activity. The study also found college students showed the largest intention-behavior gap (56.1%). In comparison, those with more health risks showed the smallest gap (40.0%). This could suggest that individuals facing adverse health risks may possess higher levels of intention, belief, and motivation compared to the average college student.

Insights from studies like these highlight the necessity of identifying additional moderators or tools to support our efforts for change. And again, this is especially important for more complex goals like physical activity or weight loss goals. 

Having solidified intentions and understanding the role intention moderators play in habit formation is a great place to start. However, if you can add in one more bit of assistance, I’d make it an implementation intention.

Reason #4: You don’t have backup plans for your plans

So, the intention-behavior gap represents the discrepancy between our intentions and our actions. Intention moderators explain the why behind these actions. Now, we introduce implementation intentions. These revolve around how we support purposeful action or respond in the face of barriers.

Implementation intentions link specific situations or cues (the “if” part) with a behavior or action (the “then” part). These plans help you support new behaviors by preparing plans in advance to help you carry out those new behaviors. For now, let’s assume you’re conditioning a habit of walking after dinner. An implementation intention could be, “If I finish putting my plate away in the kitchen, then I will go for a 30-minute walk.”

The if-then approach can also be used for protecting your goals and habit-building against potential barriers, sometimes referred to as coping planning. For example, “If I find myself mindlessly eating a snack, then I will stand up and put the snack away.”

As stated earlier, the more complex the habit we are attempting to condition, the more weapons we will need in our arsenal. Coming at it from that aspect, let’s look at a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized clinical trials from Silva et al that focused on the impact of implementation intentions on increasing physical activity in adults. It covered 13 eligible studies with participants across various health conditions and revealed that implementation intentions significantly increased physical activity.  

If you look at this forest plot, you’ll see a notable difference between the categorization of “with reinforcement” versus “not reinforcement.” This means that individuals either received some form of follow-up when implementing their intentions or they did not receive any additional feedback or follow-up. For example, reinforcement could be as simple as a text or phone call asking how well people were following through with their implementation intentions. As you can see, reinforcement greatly increased the probability of success.

Implementation intentions help you consistently carry out a new behavior because they allow you to make good decisions at a time when you’re not immediately confronted by temptation. If you’d like to start taking a walk after dinner, it helps to make plans to do so before you finish dinner. After dinner, the couch will probably be looking very cozy, so if you need to make a decision in the moment, it’s more likely that you’ll follow the path of least resistance and be drawn toward the couch. But, at 10AM, the idea of a walk after dinner may seem quite pleasant, and the couch won’t be calling to you quite as loudly. So, that would be a great time to create a plan and make the decision to go for a walk. So, after dinner, it won’t feel like quite as difficult of a choice in the moment – you’ve already decided to go for a walk, and you’ve already created a plan to carry it out. Sticking to the plan is now the path of least resistance, and deviating from the plan (and gravitating toward the couch) would now require a more conscious choice.

That sounds simple and intuitive, but as you can see from the meta-analysis above, implementation intentions without reinforcement weren’t good for much. So, it can help to tell someone else your intentions, so that they can check in with you. For example, you could tell your partner or roommate that you plan to go for a walk after dinner, and ask them to check in with you if you head straight to the couch instead. Or, you could actually write down your implementation intentions, and have a weekly ritual of reviewing your plans and checking in with yourself. Did you go for a walk after dinner every day? If so, great! If not, why not? And can you make further plans to help you overcome obstacles that arose?

For example, maybe you didn’t go for a walk after dinner one day because you were in the middle of a really engaging conversation as you were finishing up the dishes. So, you sat down on the couch to finish the conversation, and never got back up. In that case, you could create a new implementation intention for the next time that situation arises (for example, “if I’m engaged in a great conversation with my partner or roommate after dinner, then I’ll invite them to walk with me to continue the conversation.”). Each time you fail to follow through on your new behavior, check in with yourself (non-judgmentally), and see if you just need to create a new backup plan.

Implementation intentions do make it easier to consistently carry out a new behavior, but creating implementation intentions, planning for obstacles, checking in with yourself, and creating new plans when new challenges arise does certainly take more effort than slipping back into your current behavior patterns that are well-worn and take little conscious thought.

All these elements lead us to an overarching theme of self-awareness and reflecting more deeply on our actions and their motivations. This leads directly to the last point we’re going to cover.

Reason #5: You need to catch habits to make (or break) habits

To this point, we’ve mostly focused on the challenges associated with creating new habits: you need to change your behaviors, and maintain those behavior changes long enough for your new behaviors to become habitual. That takes strong intentions, planning ahead, active effort, and (oftentimes) ongoing maintenance of conscious behaviors that support your new habits. However, we haven’t focused much on breaking “bad” habits, which comes with an additional, particularly tricky challenge.

We’ve examined the benefits of habits and how they can work in your favor. However, some of your ingrained habits may be counterproductive behaviors. It’s important to note that “good or bad” habits can manifest in various ways. For each positive behavior, such as adhering to an exercise regimen or allocating time for reading, there may also be counterproductive habits, such as late-night scrolling on your phone or excessive snacking while watching television. Once again, we are influenced by both our conscious and subconscious behaviors.

Habits operate on a subconscious level, serving to conserve our cognitive and mental resources. You’re not really supposed to notice them. Because of this, catching “triggers” or “cues” for undesirable habits can be challenging. For instance, if you have a habit of snacking while watching television, do you recall when this habit formed? Are you always conscious of reaching for the snacks? It’s not as if you’re existing in a complete subconscious fog, but there are automatic moments and mechanics at play that sustain this habit.

The research on breaking habits doesn’t present a collection of slam-dunk success, especially in complex areas like weight loss. That’s because habits are a lot like gaining knowledge. For example, I’m about to teach you that wombat poop comes out cube-shaped. Scientists theorize that they have cube-shaped poop to prevent it from rolling away and marking their territory, making them “anti-wheel poopers.”  Because this is a quirky and memorable piece of information, you’re likely to retain it, or at least remember some animal out there produces cube-shaped poop. It will remain somewhere in your brain, albeit perhaps with some details forgotten. Similarly, habits become deeply ingrained within our physical and mechanical expressions. Their neurobiological underpinnings are rooted in complicated and interwoven networks that can persist even when memory associations falter, as seen in advanced aging disorders. 

Therefore, removing a learned habit from our cognition ranks on the highest end of the difficulty scale. Stopping a habit is challenging but doable. Replacing or purposefully conditioning a new habit works much better, but it still takes a lot of effort and education. That being said, the more knowledgeable you become about habits, routines, and their interplay, the easier this all becomes. 

We will cover this concept more in later articles on habit formation, routine, and environment because, for example, if cues start habits, one tool in our box can be avoiding the cue. But for now, I want you to concentrate on becoming aware of your current habits and the outcomes they produce. 

Take home? Reflection and awareness are pretty important to habit change

The habit change journey is complex and takes a multifactorial look at our intentions and behaviors because habit formation is not a standalone process. The habits we aim to form (or alter) are intertwined with our daily actions and mindset. Conditioning habits requires us to examine our reasons, beliefs, and the elements that affect our daily lives.

The critical steps in breaking old habits and fostering new ones rest in the awareness of not only the gap between intention and action, but also how our habits operate in the first place. In doing so, we can utilize our knowledge of moderators and if-then plans to be a base of support in the efforts we’re making along our habit journey. 

If you grasp all the reasons behind why forming habits is challenging, you’ll stand a better chance of excelling among those attempting to develop not only simple but also complex habits.

Homework assignment: studies of habit formation

We last left off identifying our habit goals and how our current behaviors were constructive or counterproductive toward our goals. Hopefully, at this point, you have a goal in mind that you’d like to use habit formation to support. 

This section will provide examples of individuals demonstrating awareness of their habits, identifying the reasons behind their goals, and devising implementation intentions to support their journey of habit formation.

Case study 1: Increase physical activity via walking after dinner

Casey is a 44-year-old freelance graphic designer who works from home and wants to counteract a sedentary lifestyle by incorporating more physical activity into their daily routine. Their objective is to add a 30-minute walk after dinner each day.

Catch a habit related to your goal: “After dinner, I immediately go into the TV room. It’s clockwork and without thought. I can be in there for hours.”

Identify three strong reasons that support your intentions:

1. I’m getting older and worry more about my health and circulation. I know movement is good for me.
2. I wouldn’t mind losing a few pounds, and this would probably help with that too.
3. I like being outdoors and having some time to focus on things I like. It improves my mood.

Come up with an if/then plan to support your habit: “If I get the chance earlier in the day, then I will download all my podcasts ahead of time to have something to listen to.”

Come up with an if/then plan if a barrier appears: “If it’s raining outside, then I will spend 30 minutes doing an indoor workout video or use the treadmill if available.”

Case study 2: Eliminate high-calorie snacking while watching TV/streaming

Riley is a 30-year-old account manager who tends to snack on high-calorie food while watching TV or streaming movies. Riley’s goal is to eliminate this habit, hoping it will also help meet their goal of losing 20 pounds of fat. 

Catch a habit related to your goal: “I automatically reach for snacks when I sit down to watch TV, without being truly hungry.”

Identify three strong reasons that support your intentions:

1. I’ve been gaining weight faster lately, and this isn’t helping. At the very least, I’d like to stop the gaining.
2. I don’t like the idea of eating mindlessly, and it can bleed over into drinking a little sometimes as well. It doesn’t feel like a healthy habit for me.
3. Snacks aren’t as cheap as they used to be, and I think I’d resent my grocery bill less if I cut some of these items out.
   

Come up with an if/then plan to support your habit: “If I have to snack, then I will make a vegetable platter with low-calorie dips.”

Come up with an if/then plan if a barrier appears: “If I don’t have vegetables for my platter, then I’ll make some herbal tea with a little bit of honey.”

Your assignment:

At the end of each article, take a moment to document each insight lesson for your journey. How can you relate this to your current habits and behaviors using the framework provided? The point of this article is to encourage you to examine your habits, reasons, and plans. For each habit, devise if/then plans that can help you stick to your goals even when you face challenges. Lastly, reflect on how the strategies used by Casey and Riley can be adapted to suit your circumstances.

The post Why Are Habits Hard to Change? appeared first on MacroFactor.

This article is part one of a five-part series: 

1) Why Habit Formation Matters For Goals

2) Why Are Habits Hard to Change?

3) How to Form (or Break) a Habit

4) Daily Routines for Successful Habits

5) Crafting Environments to Support Your New Habits

Let’s get started with the first article!

A quick look at habits: cues to reinforcement

In article 3, I’ll dive into detail about how habits are formed. However, to explain why habits matter to our goals and outcomes, I need to give you a brief primer on how they work.

A habit is a stable and contextual loop that starts with a cue and ends with a result. For instance, seeing your running shoes next to the door could serve as a cue, initiating a desire to exercise. This cue sets off associated behavior actions (going for a run). Engaging in this behavior travels the habit loop to produce a result (the experience of the run and a sense of accomplishment). This outcome reinforces the cycle, leading to a stronger association between the cue (seeing your running shoes) and the behavior (going for a run). Over time, if repeated, this stable sequence of events gains automaticity where starting the action is performed with minimal conscious effort (making exercise part of your routine). Thus, a habit is created. Once the habit is created and reinforced, the behavior (running) will take less effort to carry out consistently, eventually leading to the outcomes you were hoping to achieve with this new habit (increased aerobic fitness).

So, it’s essential to understand that habits operate using an automatic cycle stemming from stable contextual conditioning. From the moment you rise until you fall asleep, you run off a collection of neurological and social subconscious operations. What you do in the morning, how you get dressed, the route you drive to work, and even how you think run via your subconscious and mix with other conscious behavior processes. 

While habits interact with our conscious actions, they are more about subconscious patterns. It’s a dual process. Do automatic responses provide us with daily benefits? Do habits help?

At their core, habits function automatically to conserve resources and reduce cognitive load. While there is debate around ego depletion and mental resource allocation, evidence largely suggests that excessive decision-making can deplete these resources. Despite terminology disagreements, it’s accepted in behavior research that decision-making impacts our cognitive function. So, by helping us carry out a lot of behaviors without much conscious thought, habits help us save our mental energy for the decisions and behaviors we can’t just put on autopilot. Therefore, since habits run in the background of our daily decisions, it makes sense to condition them for what we want.

A simple illustration of habit loops, and the effort required to overcome habitual responses 

In the next section, we’ll discuss how habits can influence larger outcomes like exercise and weight loss, but it might help to start by discussing a study that helps illustrate several of the key features of habits in a simplified manner.

In a study by Hardwick et al, participants were split into groups based on their duration of practicing keystroke tasks: minimal practice, four days, and 20 days. Participants used keystrokes in response to displayed visual signals to develop a habit. For example, every time a square flashed on the screen, you might need to tap “1,” and every time a circle flashed on the screen, you might need to tap “2,” etc. The participants placed their fingers on specific keys, each corresponding to one of four unique symbols displayed on a screen. Then, they were asked to press the correct key as quickly as possible whenever one of these symbols appeared. This linked the visual cue and the keystroke.

When the symbol-response maps (layouts) were altered, the researchers tested the participant’s ability to switch between the learned habit and the new requested (goal) action. In other words, when a square flashed on the screen, you might now need to tap “3” instead of “1.”

The findings show that those who had practiced the original keystroke tasks for 20 days made more errors when the task changed than people with less practice (minimal practice or four days of practice). This points to the impact of habit being more ingrained, making it harder for them to switch to the new goal. Additionally, they had quicker response times for incorrect answers, indicating that the habits became more automatic and harder to suppress and replace with the new goal-directed behavior, ergo, more errors.

This study illustrates a few key characteristics about habits. Habits function on automatic feedback loops, with those feedback loops becoming more ingrained with greater reinforcement. Furthermore, habits aren’t destiny: conditioned habitual behaviors can be replaced with goal-directed behaviors. But, when a habit is more ingrained, it’s more likely that a cue will result in a habitual behavior, and more mental effort is required to replace the habit with a new goal-directed behavior.

While it might seem far-fetched to use keystroke habits to discuss complex behavior change, there are plenty of parallels. This study highlights that habits operate automatically, conserving mental resources. Mental resources are finite, and by managing those resources, we manage cognitive load. And yes, most tasks are not button-punching, but if we understand the base nature of a habit, we can increase its complexity in reasonable doses.

On one last note, sometimes the keystroke studies create a deflated feeling if you’re overwhelmed by your habitual responses. However, I implore you to embrace your optimism, as these studies also mean you can push through older, more ingrained habits and train new ones. It goes both ways. 

Looking at habits through the lens of our goals, not a black-and-white filter

Ideally, we should view our habits from the perspective of a goal. Meaning, you have goals you want to achieve, and habits are a means to attain them. So, it’s helpful to frame habits, not as good or bad, but as constructive or counterproductive. Constructive habits help you achieve your goals. Counterproductive habits detract from or create barriers to your goals.

Changing that perspective frees us from shame associated with our less-desired habits while nipping undeserved self-nods. Additionally, framing habits with goals means you have clearly defined intentions. And as you’ll see in the upcoming articles, intentions contribute to successful habit formation. 

So, habits are what we do and who we are, but not always who we want to be. Most of us categorize habits as good or bad, often congratulating ourselves for the former and flogging ourselves for the latter. However, technically, habits are neutral, running off contextual cues having little to do with wants or intentions. For example, a study looking at smoker’s habits investigated how smokers would react after a ban was passed in UK pubs. They found the smokers, despite not meaning to do so, lit their ciggies inside the pubs after the ban. It was not defiance but environmental habits that led them to light up.

For every study in which participants add a desired new automation, say eating more fruit or taking more walks, another shows them reinforcing undesired behaviors, such as eating stale popcorn at movie theaters, simply out of habit.

Research continually affirms our goals and intentions are not our habits. Therefore, if we are unaware, our habits will work in the background, looking for the easiest or most familiar behavioral patterns, even if those behaviors are counterproductive for our goals. Being aware of this dynamic can help us gain an edge because often, the problem is that we are unaware that our habits are not working in unison with our goals. In our attempts at behavior change, we need to become aware of our habits, so that we can try to align our habits with our behavior change intentions.

If you’re reading this and thinking, “You’re not making me feel great about setting goals,” you shouldn’t be thinking that at all! Counterproductive habits can make goal pursuit much more difficult, but we can also use habits as a foundation of our goals, and make our habits work for us. Yes, our habits run automatically. However, you can influence that automatic behavior and create a goal-supported backup system.

The impact of habits on longer-term goals and outcomes

To support this line of thinking, let’s look at a meta-analysis and meta-regression study on behavior change and habit formation in the context of physical activity. It reviewed 10 studies involving 2,349 participants and found that interventions positively increased physical activity habit strength. In more straightforward terms, the methods designed to help us form new habits also help maintain healthy behaviors. It’s a symbiotic relation that supports a cycle where our habits help our behavior, and our behavior helps our habits. 

Small but clinically beneficial outcomes were also found for weight loss in a systematic review and meta-analysis of five trials involving 630 participants. The intervention participants were 2.4 times more likely to achieve meaningful weight loss (≥5% weight reduction), and post-intervention weight loss was 1.4kg greater in habit-based intervention groups than in control groups.

All of this highlights the potential strength of habit formation in working toward our goals. Later in the series, I’ll discuss room for improvement and (possibly) more substantial outcomes. If we tweak our approaches and application of habit formation, we gain a greater advantage.

Trying it all together in the real world

Let’s say you’re driving home after a demanding day that has drained both your physical and mental energy. The route is familiar, taking you past a fast food joint you often visit. This sight, combined with your current state, acts as a powerful cue. It triggers the habit of picking up your favorite combo meal.

However, a conflict exists because, contrary to that habit, you’ve recently set a goal to eat what you cook at home. Additionally, you’re trying to eat more vegetables and lean protein with a goal of losing body fat. Going home supports your goals. Stopping at the fast food joint does not. 

At this moment, you’re fighting against a habit with diminished cognitive resources due to the demands of your day.

In this scenario, can you muster up the self-discipline to beat the habit? Of course. But the more critical tone I’m trying to strike is that the habit has the home-field advantage. Habit has privilege. In that moment of resisting, you’re conditioned to do something beyond simple wants. And while it’s easy to paint the combo meal as bad and the home-cooked meal as good, that’s actually not the point. Remember, habits are neutral. If your habits don’t support your goals, overcoming them might take more effort than you can give. 

This scenario is an example of ego depletion and automaticity at play. To reduce resource demand, we execute the habit. Again, research indicates that when our mental resources are depleted, we are likely to fall back on habitual behavior, regardless of whether it is constructive or counterproductive. It’s the keystroke. Habits serve as the default. Habits require less mental energy and effort. 

Now, let’s consider the same demanding day. What if you’ve developed a habit of going to the gym after work? And that habit includes consistently eating a pre- and post-workout snack you take with you. Also, what if the gym causes you to take a different route home? If the habit of stopping at a fast food joint is replaced, you’re still moving automatically. You’re still firing subconscious habits. On a demanding day, you’re still moving toward your goals. You succeeded not because you overcame temptation with willpower but because you conditioned a habit to work for you.

And this is why we should attempt to condition habits. It’s not that habits are a paradigm of perfection and all the answers to our goals. We still have to condition them in the first place. However, if you achieve constructive conditioning, habits show up to automatically support your goals. 

We see benefits from improving automation in almost every area, from work to health. If you want to floss more, study better, resist food temptation, or exercise more, improving automaticity supports your goals.

Homework assignment: Studies of habit formation 

In this series, we don’t just want to stay in the realm of theory – we want this series to provide you with clear, actionable steps to help you change your habits to support your goals. This section bridges the gap between concepts and action planning, offering a path to implement habit formation into your daily life. 

We’ll explore these steps using a follow-along example of an individual’s journey from the beginning to the end of the series. You’ll see how each article builds upon the last to support habit formation. However, I’d like to highlight that these strategies can be adapted to suit any goal or level of expertise. Whether you’re a bodybuilder trying to get “exotically lean,” or a brand new dieter who’s simply trying to be consistent with food logging, these strategies can be scaled to your needs.

As you read the case studies, consider how these concepts can apply to your goals and specifically how building a new habit can assist to achieve those goals. 

Case study 1: Increase physical activity via walking after dinner 

Casey is a 44-year-old freelance graphic designer who works from home and wants to counteract a sedentary lifestyle by incorporating more physical activity into their daily routine. Their objective is to add a 30-minute walk after dinner each day.

Clarify your primary habit goal: “I want to walk for 30 minutes after dinner every day to increase my physical activity and support my weight loss goals.”

Identify existing counterproductive behaviors: “Sometimes I eat dinner at erratic times, so I put off walking because I wait too late to eat. Also, I often sit and watch TV after I eat, which is not helping me work toward my goals.”

Identify existing constructive behaviors: “I like listening to podcasts when I walk. I also enjoy walking after meals and feel that I earn relaxation time when I’m done. Focusing on these things can help me with my goals and habit formation.”

Case study 2: Eliminate high-calorie snacking while watching tv/streaming 

Riley is a 30-year-old account manager who tends to snack on high-calorie food while watching TV or streaming movies. Riley’s goal is to eliminate this habit, hoping it will also help meet their goal of losing 20 pounds of fat.

Clarify your primary habit goal: “I want to stop snacking on high-calorie food while watching TV or streaming.”

Identify counterproductive behaviors: “I grab snacks when I sit down to watch TV or movies in the evening. It’s my time to escape. I also buy particular food knowing I’ll consume them during that time. It’s not helping me work toward my goals.”

Identify constructive behaviors: “Sometimes I make low-calorie herbal tea that I enjoy drinking very much. I also like veggie platters and dips quite a bit; I just never make them. Focusing on these particular things can help me form better habits and achieve my goals.” 

Your assignment:

At the end of each article, take a moment to document each insight lesson for your own journey. How can you relate this to your current habits and behaviors using the framework provided. At this time, don’t be concerned with making changes or altering anything. This is merely about identifying the habit you’d like to make (or break) and your counterproductive and constructive behaviors. 

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