Why You Need to Do Challenges

Last week, I told you about the formula for habit building and how all habits consist of cue + routine = reward. When you analyze your habits and figure out what cue is causing which routine and the reward you feel after, you can successfully switch out the routine in the middle. This is one of the reasons the well known habit-changing program AA is so successful. The reward is not the drink or feeling of being drunk, but rather the release of stress. When members attend regular meetings, call their sponsors, and talk about what they are feeling, they experience that same relief. Cue and reward are the same, they've just switched out the bottle for a meeting.

So if AA is so successful, why do people fall off the wagon?

According to Duhigg, author of The Power of Habit: Why we do what we do in life and business, the secret ingredient is belief. Now, if you are an atheist you might be skeptical, so you should know that those doing the research on AA and other studies of habit building, were also skeptical. They didn't want belief to be the answer.  They wanted to find a more scientific explanation but the only difference between the people that kept with habits and the people that didn't, was the belief that it would work.

AA is based on the belief in a higher power, something larger than yourself. It is that higher power, that belief that you can do it, that keeps you going when life comes crashing down.

So why do I say that you need to do challenges?

Because belief is easier in community. I personally believe that it is the way God created us. The habits only take us so far and when the stresses of life become too much it is our belief and the people around us that will keep us going.

Try this with me: Two weeks ago when I encouraged you to do a 15-day challenge, did you do it? My goal was to try and give you a bit of community so if you didn't do it then, try it now. Community doesn't have to be a bunch of people, it can even just be one other person. They just need to believe that you can do it, and they need to cheer you on when you struggle. So find the right club, join a group, sign up for a race, or find that friend. There's no special formula for how it has to look, you just need to know that you're not alone.