Mind The Cue
Recently I have found myself drinking more coffee during the work day. I used to have two cups of half-calf in the morning and that would be it. But a few months ago, I unknowingly created a cue for myself that started to form this bad habit.
Right before one of my meetings one day, I decided I really needed a cup. I drink decaf in the afternoon, so it's not even an I need caffeine thing, but more of an I need something comforting thing. So for whatever reason, something was stressing me out and I went for it - nothing too far out of the norm.
I'm not sure how it happened, but that one-off day started to become a habit and before I knew it my once-in-a-blue-moon afternoon coffee had turned into an everyday thing. This week I realized why. Making a cup of coffee at the same time (right before a meeting), in the same place (my kitchen), created a habit. Charles Duhigg, in his book The Power of Habit: Why we do what we do in life and business, defines a habit as such:
Cue + routine = reward
In the case of my coffee habit, my cue became anytime a virtual meeting was about to start. As someone who works from home with several meetings throughout the day you can see how this quickly became problematic. With the cue happening all day long, and the routine just a short 10 feet away from my desk, it is all too easy to keep that habit going.
If I want to change this, I need to follow Duhigg's research and instead of trying to just force myself to stop with willpower, I need to find a way to switch out the routine in the middle for something healthier. I can't remember if Duhigg has a name for this, but I've been calling it habit switching and it's one of the best things I ever learned how to do.
To do this, I need to think about the reward and what it really is. It's easy to assume that if you have a habit of snacking on chips when you watch tv, that the reward is the chips. However, if you really thought about it, I bet it's something different. It might be a sense of relaxation. It might be something salty or something sweet you are craving. Or maybe you just like having something to do with your hands because it feels like you're at the movies. If you try to break this habit by stopping everything, then you have now set yourself up to need constant willpower the entire time you're watching your show (you know you're going to be thinking about those chips). If you try to change the habit by switching out the middle, then you have now decreased the need for willpower to just the time you are doing the routine.
Here's an example….You're about to sit down for tv (cue), so you go to your kitchen and instead of reaching for the chips (routine), you grab some baby carrots, or apples, or maybe some light popcorn. The idea is not to cut cold turkey, but to take some baby steps by altering the routine slightly in a positive direction. You make your way over to your couch and get to watch your show with something comforting (reward).
Try this with me: Think about a habit you have that you know isn't good for you or you've been wanting to change. It may be related to a goal you have or maybe you've been forming some bad work habits that lead to procrastination. Whatever it is, try dividing it up into that formula and then switching out something about the routine in the middle. It might take a few tries to find something that satisfies, but if you're like me you'll be amazed at how well it works…. most days. Sometimes we just need the real thing ;) But we're going for progress, not perfection.
