"The quality of your life depends upon the quality of your habits". Habits have a really big influence on our life. We are what we repeatedly do.
We are all built with habits. Some of us have good habits and others have really bad habits like alcoholism, smoking, watching porn, etc. We all wish to get rid of our bad habits all the time but we fail.
Today, you will get the solutions for all of that with the help of the book Atomic Habits written by James Clear. He has beautifully explained about habits in this book.
Today's agenda:
1-What is a habit and how it influences us?
2-How habits are formed?
3-How to break bad habits and built a new habit?
Let's see guys.
1-What is a Habit and How it influence us?
What is a Habit?
A habit is a routine that we do regularly and it is then automated sub-consciously. Our body builds habits to do things effortlessly, to make everything easy and fast.
For example, consider the situation of learning to drive a bike. Initially, we will be so alert, "this is the clutch", "this is the accelerator", "this is the break"......and that kind of thoughts will be in our head. We will be driving it very carefully.
But what will happen if we practice it regularly? The whole steps will be saved in our subconscious mind and all the process of driving will be fast and automated. It does not require much care and consciousness.
How habits influence us?
We can build any habits we want. The subconscious mind saves any habits according to our command. But the problem is that the subconscious mind doesn't know which are good and which are bad ones.
If we practice bad habits like drinking, smoking, etc, our entire life will be spoiled. But, if we build good habits, it will help us to become successful n life. James Clear tells us that if we improve our 1% every day, then after one year, we will be 37 times better than before.
2- How habits are formed?
The author says that all habits are formed with 4 steps.
1-Cue: A trigger which tells you that there is a reward waiting for you.
Eg: A street restaurant on the way to school which attracts you to eat junk foods.
2-Craving: A tendency to do something to get the reward.
Eg: When we see the restaurant and we feel the good smell, we will have a tendency to eat that food.
3-Response: The action that you take to get the reward.
Eg: If we have the cash to buy junk food, we go to the restaurant and eat the food.
4- Reward: A feeling of satisfaction after you complete your action.
Eg: After eating the food, we feel happier and will be satisfied.
Every day we go to school, these steps take place and it slowly becomes our habit. In this way, many habits are formed in our life based on the circumstances that we pass through our life.
3-How to break bad habits and built a new habit?
How to break bad habits?
We have three layers of habit.
The first layer is the Outcome which is your goals, ambitions, like weight loss, winning a championship, become a class topper, etc.
The second layer is the Process. This includes the steps you need to take in order to achieve your goals like working out in the gym, studying hard and consistent, etc.
The third layer is the Identity. This is that which you need to become in the last, like a bodybuilder, class topper, etc.
So, we have two ways two quit the bad habits.
The first is the Outcome-based Habits. Here, you start with the outcome and then process and then last the identity.
The second is the Identity-based Habits. Here you start with the identity and end up in the outcome.
Let me explain it with an example. There are two people who are active smokers and one day they decided to quit that habit. At that time, one of their friends came and asked them to smoke. The first person said, "No, I am trying to quit that habit". The second person said that "No' I am not a smoker".
Here the first person has taken the outcome-based habit. He is trying to quit his smoking habit to become a no-smoker.
The second person has taken the identity-based habit. He first became that identity. That's why he said, "I am not a Smoker". Then he moves to the outcomes to maintain that identity.
The author says that the Identity-based habit is the best method to overcome your bad habits.
How to Build New Habits?
There are 4 steps to build new habits.
1- Make it Obvious: You should have a clear vision about your goals or habits. Instead of saying "I will start to meditate tomorrow", say that "I will meditate for 10 minutes at 6 AM in the terrace". By mentioning the time and place, you will be more clarified in your plans.
2-Make it Attractive: You need an attraction to the new habit. If you want to play video games, challenge yourself that you will play video games only after finishing your home works. In this manner, due to the attraction towards your old habit, attach the new ones.
3- Make it Easy: Our mind will always select the easy thing rather than difficult things. So, you need to make your new habits easier. For example, if you want to go to the gym tomorrow morning, arrange the gym clothes and shoes today night.
4-Make it Satisfying: Offer any rewards to yourself after completing the new habit. For example, ask your Mom to give you a cup of ice-cream after you finish your chapters, I hope she will agree!
Conclusion
Now, you all might have understood the importance of habits. Good habits will make your life successful and bad habits will destroy your life. Always remember, "The quality of your life depends upon the quality of your habit".
I hope this article was helpful to you. Let me know your opinions in the comment section.
