Habit Change Can Be Difficult. Where Should We Start?

A healthy lifestyle is an accumulation of the choices we make on a regular basis. Many of us know we should be eating right, getting enough exercise, ditching tobacco, and going easy on the alcohol, but it can be difficult. If we take stock of our current habits, we may find we are falling short.

What happens when we want to ditch some of our unhealthy habits for healthier ones? Where do we start? How can we move past “I’ll start tomorrow”?

Habits Are Complicated

First, let’s look at the definition of habit from the American Psychological Association (APA), which defines it as “a well-learned behavior or automatic sequence of behaviors that is relatively situation-specific and over time has become motorically reflexive and independent of motivational or cognitive influence—that is, it is performed with little or no conscious intent.”

This definition gives us an inkling of the complexities involved.

Habits become strong when we are in a stable, consistent environment. That is why it is often suggested that, in order to change a habit, we should try to change our environment to make the change easier.

Some programs have had success with this approach. For instance, replacing soda machines in schools with readily available water, creating more bike paths in cities, placing advertising restrictions on tobacco products, implementing taxes on alcohol, or even measuring waistlines to combat metabolic syndrome (an initiative in Japan).

Habits Often Start With a Cue

Those programs showed some success because many of our habitual behaviors and choices occur in response to cues. James Clear, in his book Atomic Habits, notes that often a habit starts with a cue, followed by a craving. That craving produces a response that is perceived as a reward. The habit gets reinforced. Change the cue, and you can change the response. But what happens when the cue isn’t obvious?

Our environments are layered with cues, many of which are difficult to control or go unnoticed—things like socioeconomic status, education, the family and social cultures we are part of, mental health, genetics, our food environment, and the advertising of unhealthy foods.

Some cues, as noted by the APA, bring about an action that is performed with little or no conscious intent. In other words, between our complex environment and our nearly unconscious response to it, sorting out what cues a specific habit can be very difficult.

Even if we have specific goals and intentions, they are often subsumed by the cues around us. We may start out with a goal to cut back on wine or beer, only to find ourselves in a social situation where alcohol consumption is the norm. People can easily lose sight of their goals when tossed around in a sea of cues that do not support them.

Other Barriers to Habit Change

There are deeper emotional needs that can also drive a habit. According to Clear, some of our choices serve to reduce anxiety, win social approval, or achieve status in the eyes of those around us. Those needs can be difficult or impossible to identify.

Jeremy Dean, in his book Making Habits, Breaking Habits, notes that people often succumb to what he calls a planning fallacy. They think that changing a particular habit will be easier than it actually is. When difficulties ensue, the intent to change the habit gets lost.

Another potential problem is trying to change too much at once. If we try to reshape our lifestyle all at once, or even a significant portion of it, it is likely to backfire. For example, deciding to follow a diet that represents a drastic change from one's usual habits around food may work for a while, but it can turn out to be unsustainable.

Choosing a Habit to Change

Given all this, how can we choose a habit to change that we can succeed at?

Here are some pieces of the puzzle that can aid in the adoption of some new, healthier habits.

1. Think carefully about what is really possible. One way to do that is to visualize what steps would be involved in the process. Picture yourself completing each step.
2. Recognize there are many things in your environment that you can’t control. Focus on what you can control, and how you can control those things.
3. Break down large habits into small ones. Keep getting smaller until you can see yourself accomplishing that change easily. You can always add others later. One success leads to the next one.
4. Remind yourself of your goals. They can easily get lost in the shuffle of our complex environments and lives.
5. Identify hidden rewards and trade-offs. Some habits (probably most) will come at the expense of another firmly ingrained habit that brings some kind of reward. Do your best to identify what that reward is, and design a replacement that supports the healthier habit. This is an especially hard one. First, you have to figure out what the previous habit is doing for you, and then replace it with a different desire. Sometimes, cognitive behavioral therapy or coaching can help sort that out.

Habit change is a difficult but rewarding process. If we can acknowledge and work with the difficulties, it will help us design some changes that can lead to better health.

To find a therapist, visit the Psychology Today Therapy Directory.

References