EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGIST – 30
Mrs.DEVI VENUGOPAL
INDONESIA
Hello readers, we have discussed about habit implementation techniques, habit stacking and Environment Design to introduce a new habit. The 1st law of bringing in a new habit is to “Make it Obvious” and similarly the secret to break a bad habit is to make the cues invisible. In today’s world lot of fame has been given to Self-control, but let’s get a peek into the secret of Self-control.
Recent research shows that people who have tremendous self-control, are not that different from people who are struggling. The “disciplined” people are better organizing their lives in a way they do not require strong will-power and self-control. In simple words, they spend less time in tempting situations. People with the lest self-control, are the ones who need to use it the least. It is easier to practice self-restraint when you don’t have to use it very often. Of course, perseverance, grit, and will-power are essential to success, but the way to enhance these traits is not by wishing you were a more disciplined person, but by creating a more disciplined space.
The counterintuitive idea makes more sense when we understand how our brain functions when a habit is formed. A habit that has been encoded in the brain is ready to be used whenever the relevant situation arises. A therapist from Texas, Patty Olwell, started to light a cigarette whenever she rides the horse. Later, she quit smoking and was able to sustain without nicotine for years and she also had stopped riding horses. Decades later, she hopped onto a horse again and found herself craving for a cigarette for the first time in years. The cues were still internalized, but she wasn’t exposed to them in a long time.
Whenever the environmental cues appear the urge to act will reappear. This is the rason Behavior change techniques can backfire. Shaming obese people with weight-loss talks can make them to eat more. Showing blackened lungs to smokers, can increase their anxiety which drives many of them to reach for a cigarette. If you aren’t aware of the cues, you can cause the same behavior which you want to stop happen again.
Bad habits are autocatalytic: the process feeds in itself. They foster the feelings they try to numb. You feel bad and eat junk food, Because you ate junk food, you again fall into the feedback loop of feeling bad. Worrying about your health makes you feel anxious, which causes you to smoke to cope up with your anxiety, which makes your health worse. It is a downward spiral a runaway train of bad habits. Research name this process as “cue-induced wanting” an external trigger causes a compulsive craving to repeat a bad habit. Once you see something you want it, this happens in our environment all the time without even
realizing it.
Scientists showed a picture of cocaine to addicts for just thirty-three milliseconds, which then stimulates the reward pathway in the brain and sparks desire. This speed is too fast for the brain to consciously register, the addicts couldn’t even tell when they have seen, but they craved for the drug. So here it goes, “You can break a habit, but you’re unlikely to forget it.” Once the pathways have been established in the brain it is unlikely to eradicate them completely. So, coming back to the strategy of resisting temptations is not a permanent solution.
It’s hard to maintain the Zen attitude with so many interruptions, iot takes away all the energy. Temporally, you can win over the temptations, but for a permanent solution we become a product of our environment. To put it bluntly, its rare to see someone sticking with a positive habit in a negative environment.
To cut off the bad habits from its source is to reduce the exposure of the cues that causes it. For example:
o If you can’t be productive, keep your mobile phone in a different room for few hours.
o If you are continually feeling low self-esteem, stop checking on social media.
o If you binge watching Netflix or shows, move your TV outside your bedroom.
o If you are spending too much money on gadgets, stop reading the latest review on the latest tech gear.
o If you are playing too much video games, unplug the console and put it in console after each use.
To summate, the 1st Law of Behavioral change is to make it obvious for the new habits to include and make it invisible for the old habits top reduce. Your limited energy can be well spend if you optimize your environment. This is the secret of Self-Control.
