The Habit Society

⚡️ The Golden Rule

To: Society Members

Good Morning!

Don’t forget why you read this every Monday. We want to make sure this isn’t another take-it-or-leave-it e-mail, and that you are actually bringing consciousness to your day-to-day behaviors. If you aren’t, tell us how we can make this newsletter better by replying to this e-mail.

This One is GOLD

Now, for the good stuff. The Golden Rule of Habit Change: You can’t get rid of a habit. You can only replace it.

Via Envato Elements

To change a habit, you must keep the old cue, and deliver the old reward, but insert a new routine in the middle.

Example:

Let’s say you have a bad habit of drinking Coke with every meal. Your cue is, perhaps, the Coke in the fridge or your afternoon lull. Your craving is the feeling of wanting a sweet, bubbly drink. Your routine is drinking Coke. Your reward is the good feeling you get from satisfying your craving.

To replace this habit, what you have to do is change the middle component: the routine. You can now replace the routine of drinking Coke with a healthier option. Your cue and reward remain the same.

Keep in mind that for the reward to stay the same, you need to fulfill the craving. So, you should not start by replacing Coke with water. That clearly won’t satisfy the same craving. Instead, you can start by replacing Coke with flavoured sparkling water – a healthier option.

Insight from ‘The Power of Habit’ by Charles Duhigg

Here is how you can get started today, {{ first_name|default:” }}.

1. Think of the habit you would like to trade-in for something healthier (scrolling social media)

2. Become aware of the cue (boredom).

3. Become aware of the reward (entertainment, aka dopamine).

4. Write down what you can replace this with, keeping the cue and reward constant (facetiming a friend).

5. Try it! You’ll see that socializing will feel better than mindless scrolling.

To quote comedian Sam Morril:

“I read this article that said try to replace drinking with another activity, like tennis with a friend…ya that’s a very helpful example. That’s always the crossroads I find myself at, at 4:57am. I can’t tell you how often I’m coming out of a blackout like, f*** I should have done doubles instead.”

P.S. …sarcasm

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