GET MORE DONE –
How to Kick
Old Habits, Stick with New Ones,
and Supercharge Your Productivity
Growing up in New York in the late 70’s and
early 80’s, David Goggins’ childhood was scarred by a violent, authoritarian
father. At the age of six, David and his family would work until midnight at
the family business, often eating and sleeping at the roller rink his father
owned. But the loud music and crowds made sleep nearly impossible and the
domestic abuse intensified. As a result, David was always exhausted, had
difficulty focusing, and performed poorly in school.
His mother finally left, moving David and
four of his siblings to a small town in Indiana where he faced poverty, racism,
and social anxiety due to a stutter he developed. He continued struggling in
school and was nearly illiterate. He had a dead-end job and was feeling
unfulfilled in his life. He coped with his ‘toxic stress’ by turning to food,
ballooning to almost 300 pounds.
One day, after seeing a documentary on the
Navy Seals, he decided that was the life for him. He set out to become a Navy
Seal. He didn’t let the mountain of obstacles he faced, including low
self-esteem, a learning disorder, or his weight, stand in his way. Few people
believed in him. But, in just three months, he’d lost over 100 pounds and in
2001 David Goggins was assigned to SEAL team 5.
After a 20-year military career he moved on
to become an ultra-endurance athlete, an ultra-distance cyclist, triathlete,
motivational speaker, and the New York Times best-selling author of Can’t Hurt Me: Master Your Mind and Defy the
Odds. Not bad for a person who once described himself as an all-around loser. How did Goggins manage to master his mind and turn his life
around?
Certainly, it required him to be willing to
leave his comfort zone, endure some pain and inconvenience, and to make radical
changes, in order to have a better life. Once he stopped seeing himself as a
victim, he then stopped setting limits for himself. He took risks. He faced
challenges that scared him. But perhaps the most transformative choice he made
was to master his habits and, make no mistake, David Goggins has some hardcore
habits.
From his life in the military, he
discovered the power (and reward) of discipline and commitment. Today he starts his morning at 5 AM with a
2-hour, 12-mile run. Then it’s cycling for 10-20 miles. Then it’s off to the
gym for an hour workout. Then his workday starts. Before bed he stretches and
meditates for 2-3 hours and gets up the next morning to do it all over again,
every day of the year.
________________
People with productive habits can appear to
be super achievers. They rarely seem to struggle with the temptation to laze
around, eat pizza, waste time online, or procrastinate. It’s not because
they’re superhuman, or that they don’t have temptations. It’s because they’ve
chosen habits that support their goals and when their autopilot of habits kicks
in, it eliminates temptation from the menu.
But building productive habits can take a
lot of effort and repetition before they take hold. All of us have started a
new, healthy habit with enthusiasm only to fail and revert back to our old
ways. And what about our existing bad habits, the ones we know are preventing
us from being our best selves? If it were easy to stop them, we would’ve done
it by now. But our bad habits keep us stuck. It can all be so discouraging.
With habits playing such a crucial part of
our lives, you’d think we’d know more about mastering them. Sadly, most of us
don’t. For instance, how do we convert a new, desirable behavior into a routine
and make it stick? How do we break old, unproductive (or destructive) habits
and never look back? Why is it so difficult to kick those bad habits, and form
new ones? Why do so many of us repeat ineffective habits even when we don’t
want to? So many questions!
Luckily, new discoveries about how the
brain forms (and breaks) habits have emerged that make good habit formation
attainable. With a few simple strategies, we may be able to control our habits
and live a more disciplined and productive life. But first, we have to
understand the nature of habits.
WHAT IS A HABIT?
What is a habit, really? Habits are the
incremental, consistent behaviors and actions we take every day. They’re the
automatic routines that our brain creates to make us more efficient and reduce
stress.
When most of us think of habits, we tend to
think of the kinds of actions that end up on our New Year’s resolutions list of
things we’d like to change. Behaviors like eating poorly or too much,
procrastinating, multitasking, smoking, not exercising, or wasting hours with
‘screen time’, for instance.
But our bad habits can reveal more than our
personal quirks. They can expose the uglier side of our human nature with
things like negativity, complaining, distracted driving, excessive substance
use, staying in unhealthy relationships, blaming, gossiping, making insensitive
remarks, prejudging people – the list goes on.
When we allow our bad habits to rule our
day-to-day lives, we reduce the odds of living up to our full potential. It can
leave us feeling as though we’re not living our true purpose. It can leave us
feeling exhausted and miserable without really knowing why.
It can be confusing to set about making
lasting change. By mastering our habits, we naturally become more productive in
our personal and professional lives. We have the energy and resolve to overcome
challenges like:
▪
Procrastination
▪
Boredom
▪
Distractions
▪
Staying
motivated
▪
Negative
self-talk
Well chosen, supportive habits serve us.
They make us more efficient. They help us improve our performance and achieve
our dreams. Ultimately, they reward us with the experience of a happy life.
Most of us operate on the assumption that
habits are just things we do, like a reflex. But, our habits are not like
breathing or blinking our eyes – which are reflexive actions. Our habits are
actually behaviors we’ve consciously or subconsciously learned. Our habits play
a huge role in our successes and our failures. Much of what we do habitually
makes up who we are. Studies have suggested that nearly 50% of our actions run
on autopilot. Some habits are so well programmed we’re able to perform them while
we think, problem solve, and carry on a conversation about other things.
Here’s the challenge. Once a behavior
becomes a habit, it’s difficult to convince the brain to circle back and make a
change. The brain set up the habit to be efficient, to protect us from pain,
and help us find pleasure. Now we’re telling it to undo that ‘efficiency’,
threaten our comfort, and override its survival instinct. The brain is like a
dog with a bone – it doesn’t want to give up that habit without a fight. That’s
why it’s easier for us to reach for that glass of wine at the end of the
workday and settle in for another night of screen time, rather than change
things up and go for a walk, paint a portrait, or learn to play the banjo. Once
the habit is firmly imbedded and we toe the line by seeking comfort and
consistency over discomfort and change, the brain rewards our routine behaviors
with dopamine, the feel-good brain
chemical.
Our mind can feel like our own worst
adversary in the habit department. When we know that a habit is unproductive or
even harmful to us, yet we continue to do it (thanks a lot, brain!) we end up
beating ourselves up for being ‘weak’ or lacking motivation, self-discipline,
or willpower.
THE
HABIT LOOP
How do we get that stubborn noodle of ours
to cooperate and help us change old habits that no longer serve us? Research suggests that we can’t kick old
habits and pick up new ones simply through discipline, willpower, or tough
self-love alone. That leaves us with the question – how do we kick old habits and replace them with new ones if the brain
is hardwired to keep old ones, even when they’re unproductive, or even
destructive? The answer: by
understanding and using what’s been coined, the habit loop.
In 1999, psychologists at Massachusetts
Institute of Technology (MIT) made a groundbreaking discovery of habits – how
they’re formed and maintained. They pioneered the idea of a cue-routine-reward feedback loop.
Expanding on their work, journalist and
author Charles Duhigg introduced the concept of the habit loop in The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in
Life and Business. It’s a three-step process that explains why and how
habits develop.
Here’s how it works:
Step
one is the cue. The cue is the trigger that sets
off the habitual action. Like seeing a jelly donut, for example. Cues can also
be environmental (a kitchen, for example) or situational (like an office
party).
Step
two is the routine or action. This is the behavior
that’s being repeated. You do it without thinking about it. Like when you’re
bored and you reflexively open the fridge door, or you feel that afternoon
slump and automatically reach for the pot of coffee.
Step
three is the reward. Your payoff is both the
anticipation of the reward and the reward itself. The expectation of the reward
sends dopamine surging through the brain, plus, the body gets the reward of the
action. Win-win! At least in the short term. The reward reinforces the
behavior.
Rewards help our habits become entrenched.
When the brain makes the connection between the behavior and the reward, your
craving can take over automatically. Great if your habit is working out every
day. Not so great if the habit is pounding back pastries.
Here’s an example:
Cue – You see a jelly donut in the kitchen
at work.
Routine or action – You eat the jelly
donut.
Reward – Your brain is showered with
dopamine and your taste buds are rewarded. And, viola! The habit loop is formed. As soon as the behavior becomes
automatic, our brain’s decision-making region takes a vacation on jelly donut
decisions - it’s now automated!
But let’s say your conscious mind doesn’t
want to eat jelly donuts anymore, what then? How do we override the brain to
tell it to stop us from eating delicious jelly-filled fried dough?
The first hurdle is to accept the fact that
we’re not in charge of our habitual behavior. Many of us operate on the
assumption that our habits are decisions we’ve consciously made. But most of
them are not. They’re subconsciously formed.
But that’s good news because, once we can
accept the idea that much our behavior is subconscious, that means two
significant things:
-
First,
we’re not ‘doing it wrong’ we’re just being our human selves. No shame in that.
-
Second, we
don’t need to rely on willpower or discipline alone to help us cross the finish
line of habit change.
HOW
TO CHANGE YOUR HABITS
The question then becomes, how can I kick
my bad habits, replace them with productive ones, and make those new habits
stick? Sounds like a tall order! The
most effective way to affect habit change is to disrupt the habit loop. How? By
targeting the cues that support the bad habits we want to change. Like keeping
fresh fruit on hand rather than donuts or by avoiding the open bar at the
year-end office party, for example. By replacing, removing, or avoiding the
cue, the fuel supply to the bad habit is cut off. It doesn’t happen overnight.
It takes repetition and time - the experts say it takes anywhere between 18 and
250 days to permanently change a habit, depending on the person, but the
payoffs can be immense.
Here are some other well documented
strategies that you can build up to help get you from where you are to where
you want to be using new habits:
-
Make the habit clear. What if your level of motivation isn’t the issue? What if
you are not picking up a new, good habit because the habit is too vague? One day I will stop eating sugar. Not
exactly inspiring. Try using James Clear’s formula: “I will [behavior] at [time] in [this location]”. For example, I will stop eating sugar at 7am
tomorrow morning in the kitchen. Or I will do 30 minutes of cardio tomorrow after work at 5:30 at
Frank’s Gym.
-
Set goals that reflect your personal values AND
disrupt your bad habits. If
your goal is to be an athlete and you want to run a marathon, and it’s doable,
you’ll notice the siren call of that jelly donut. Once you realize it’s
counterproductive to your new goal, you’ll be motivated to replace the donut
eating habit with something more aligned with your values and goals, like
eating fruit or drinking smoothies.
-
Create a cue that supports your desired habit. Do you want to start going to the gym
regularly? Put your gear next to the door where you can see it. Even better,
head straight to the gym from work. Or avoid looking at emails in the morning
before you exercise.
-
Swap habits. Nature abhors a vacuum and so does the brain. When it
comes to quitting an old habit, your success rate increases dramatically when
you replace it with another, more desirable habit. Make it easier by using the
same cue to get started. It can be as easy as filling the habitual red wine
glass with sparkling water instead. Or, instead of mindlessly scrolling, use
your device to learn how to grow figs, get inspired with a new recipe, or learn
about a travel destination you’d love to visit.
-
Piggyback new habits onto your current ones. For instance, if you text every evening with
friends, try throwing on some running shoes and walk around the block while you
chat. Make it a game and set some distance goals to see how far you get before
running out of things to talk about.
-
What’s your inner dialogue telling you? Negative self-talk can kill a new habit before
it’s been ingrained. We can be so hard on ourselves. Phrases like, “I never”, “I always”, or “I suck!”
shames us into giving up. Remember, you’re in charge of how you speak to
yourself – be gentle.
-
Accept that good habits can be challenging to
maintain and you’ll have successes and failures. If you go into a workout thinking that, unless you fill
every minute of time pumping iron or stair climbing, your workout is a failure,
it’s easy to get discouraged and slip out of the new habit. Getting to the gym
is a success. Even if you only do one lousy push up. You’ll have bad days but,
with your system in place – getting yourself there establishes the environment
cue. Celebrate your victories no matter how small.
True habit change involves anticipating our
triggers, or cues and learning ways
to circumvent a bad habit cycle before it starts. It also helps to have a
positive habit ready to take over for the old one. It will take time and effort
to remove those cues and short circuit the loop, but it can be done, and you
can do it!
THE IMPORTANCE OF LIFESTYLE HABITS
Changing our habits has a positive impact
on our lives in many ways. By incorporating good habits, we increase the odds
of achieving our goals with less effort and more joy along the way. Building
good habits helps create momentum for establishing other, good habits. When you
develop a positive habit, doesn’t it just feel good and inspire you to do more?
The types of habits we choose to add to our
repertoire can help us supercharge our performance. These are often our daily
lifestyle habits that we do without much thought such as brushing our teeth,
making our bed, or having a tall glass of water first thing.
When it comes to deciding what habits to
add, and which to leave in the rear-view mirror, we don’t need to reinvent the
wheel. All we need to do is ask ourselves, what
habit would a super achiever use in this situation? Highly productive
people tend to be more in touch with their habits than the average bear. Tear a
page out of their playbook and get started using the following habits as
inspiration:
Practice
self-care. You’ve heard this one before, but it is
essential. You’re no good to others if you aren’t good to YOU, first. Throw
guilt, shame, and judgement out the window and focus on what you could do to
promote your own wellness. Are habits like eating better, staying hydrated,
getting a regular massage or asking for help on your radar? It’s time to give
yourself the care you deserve.
Keep
your environments tidy and organized. At home or at
the office, clutter is a creativity and productivity killer. Do you find
yourself constantly misplacing or losing important materials or tools at work?
Talk about a frustrating time-waster. An organized space makes it easy to find
your stuff which helps reduce stress
and improve concentration, efficiency and results.
Set
small reasonable goals in the service of the larger goals. Setting big goals is fun, exciting, and inspiring. But big goals
can also feel overwhelming, especially if you’re on step one of your
thousand-mile journey. Breaking your big goals down into manageable pieces can
make your goals feel more attainable.
Tackle
the most difficult work at the start of the day.
Since we’re generally more focused, energetic, and clear-minded at the
beginning of the day, prioritizing the tough stuff first means it gets the best
of your attention and focus. Plus, it can make the remaining tasks seem like a
piece of cake by comparison.
Lazy
is a four-letter word. But some companies hire
‘lazy’ employees on purpose. Why? Because they’re the ones most likely to find
efficient ways to get things done. Whether it’s automating a procedure,
eliminating an unnecessary process, or simply finding a shortcut, the lazy way
can save time energy, without compromising results. Let your lazy flag fly
high!
Reward
your efforts. Create a larger ‘envelope’ around the
habit so you’re not just rewarding the result but, the habit itself. Tie your
self-worth to the effort, as well as the result.
Create
an ‘already done list’. Have you ever lost the plot
of reaching your goals because you’re drowning in what feels like endless
tasks? Talk about exhausting! We’re all familiar with a ‘to do’ list. Why not
include an ‘already done list’ – an inventory of things you’ve accomplished
each day? You know there’s a reward headed your way once you accomplish your
BIG goal. By tracking the things you’ve already done you see your efforts and
progress and that can help keep up motivation.
Sleep
on the job. Both Google and NASA realized years ago
the benefits of napping to productivity in their workforce. So much so that
they began offering spaces for their employees to do just that - sleep on the
job. A mere 20-30 minutes of counting sheep can significantly improve focus,
mood, alertness, decision-making and, as a result, improves productivity.
________________
Think of a goal, personal or professional,
that you’re struggling to achieve. What habits are interfering with your
progress? Which habits from the list above would serve you best
moving forward? Now that you know how to
bypass the bad habit cues, isn’t it time to shed those old, unhelpful habits
and replace them with some inspirational ones?
We’re all creatures of habit. When it comes
to establishing and maintaining productive habits, finding the right balance is
key. Some habits serve us well. They are the scaffold of routines that can help
support and supercharge our productivity. Other habits cause us to become
inefficient or to stagnate.
David Goggins is a great example of how our
habits create who we are, and the life we live. His habits of poor nutrition,
negative self-talk, and lack of physical activity created a life that he wanted
to escape. By being clear about his goal and changing his habits, he turned his
life into one of resolve, strength, and excellence.
“Victory often comes down to bringing your very best
when you feel your worst.”
David
Goggins.
The great news about habits is, it’s never
too late to break an old, destructive habit and start fresh. Once we recognize
and understand the process of habit formation, the pattern of cue, routine, and
reward, and we’re armed with some strategies of habit building, along with some
inspiring examples of productive habits, it becomes easier to swap out the old
with the new and create dramatic changes in our lives.
You don’t have to wait for New Year’s Day
to replace stale habits with new, inspiring ones. Whether you want to improve
your physical fitness, your mental health, eat better, or spend less time on
socials, anytime is the right time to switch out a bad habit for positive one.
Hopefully this inspires you to challenge your old routines, set new goals, and
see what you can accomplish when you master your mind and your habits.
