What Is a Habit?
According to Robert Duhigg in his book The Power of Habit, habits have three components:
- A Cue
- A Routine
- A Reward
Take, for example, a common habit that most of us have: brushing our teeth. Many of us have learned to associate the reward of having fresh, clean smelling breath with the routine of brushing our teeth. The cue to brush our teeth often comes from seeing our toothbrush and toothpaste sitting next to our bathroom sink first thing in the morning. Once we see them, we are reminded that our mouth is brimming with halitosis, and we thus brush our teeth to purge our mouths from the scourge of bad breath. Our behavior is rewarded by the minty and refreshing taste of the toothpaste, and the vain, maniacal pleasure we get from seeing our white smiles in the mirror.
While many of us no doubt know that brushing our teeth is a good practice, many of us would likely fail to brush our teeth on a regular basis if their were no reward involved. Habits reinforce behaviors, in effect, by instilling within us the desire to do said behaviors. Without a reward to reinforce our desire, what would there be left to motivate us--will power? Will power alone can only take us so far. Eventually, our ability to will will exhaust itself, as anyone who has ever tried to will themselves to do anything for an extended period of time can attest.
To borrow from the language of Aristotle, there are primarily four ways of acting in the world:
- Acting Viciously
- Acting Incontinently
- Acting Continently
- Acting Virtuously
If a person acts incontinently, he has a correct knowledge of what is good, yet he desires what is not good, and he acts according to his desire.
If a person acts continently, he has a correct knowledge of what is good, yet he desires what is not good. Nevertheless, he acts according to his knowledge, despite his desire.
If a person acts virtuously, she has a correct knowledge of what is good, she desires what is good, and she acts in accordance with the unity of her reason and her desire.
Of course, the ultimate goal is to become virtuous--to not only know what is good, but also to want to act according to what is good. Our desires are exceedingly powerful, and if we fail to reconcile our desire with our reason, we'll inevitably find ourselves exhausting our will power to act according to what's good, in spite of our desire. We may be able to live continently for a while, but inevitably we'll lapse into incontinence.
Changing Habits
According to Duhigg, habits cannot be truly eliminated. They can only be replaced. More specifically, the routine that falls between the cue and the reward can be replaced. But, before the routine can be changed, one must first ascertain what the cue and reward are.
Cues can come in any number of forms, whether it be a specific place, time, emotion, person, or preceding action. Rewards, likewise, can take on a number of forms. Some cues and rewards are easy to figure out, but others may be tricky. Duhigg, for example, describes how he used to have the habit of eating a cookie every day at 3:30 in the afternoon. It appeared clear that the cue for his behavior was a sudden desire to snack at 3:30, but he had to do some self experimenting to nail down the reward for this behavior. He tried going for a walk at 3:30, going out for coffee, and eating an apple, yet none of these behaviors seemed to properly reward his cue to snack. As it turned out, his desire to get up and go snack was in fact reinforced by the reward of socializing, and the cookie turned out to be an appropriate excuse to get up and do just that.
Having nailed down the relevant cue and reward associated with his routine, Duhigg was able to replace his habit of getting up to eat a cookie at 3:30 with finding someone to gossip with for 10 minutes. Duhigg consequently lost 21 pounds. It's amazing the positive change that can come from replacing even one bad habit!
Going back to Aristotle, desire is a powerful, emotive force. Most people, however, only desire what they perceive to be the greatest good. This good is often the reward obtained from enacting a certain routine. Nevertheless, despite the fact that most people don't desire what is ultimately bad for them, they may make mistakes in terms of what they perceive to be good. Furthermore, their routines for getting what they think is a good can also be mistaken.
For instance, an alcoholic, despite what onlookers might suppose, does not desire anything bad, at least within their own perspective. The routine of drinking to excess can often be cued by a number of things, such as the sight or smell of alcohol, the presence of a given person, or a particular emotional state. The reward may often be a sense of escapism from the demands of everyday life, from stress, from family problems, or any number of issues. The question the alcoholic must therefore ask is what sorts of cues spur them, ultimately, to seek an escape from life, or whatever else it is that may reward their behavior? If the cue and the reward can be ascertained, it becomes much easier to begin the process of replacing the negative routine of excessive drinking with a positive one.
This same scenario can prove true for a number of negative behaviors, whether they be staying at work late or eating too much unhealthy food. If you can figure out the cue and the reward associated with a given routine, you can change the routine.
Final Thoughts
The practical implications seem clear. To change a given habit, we need to:
- Pick an unhealthy routine that we would like to change.
- Figure out what the cue and the reward for this routine are.
- Replace this negative routine with a positive one.
Good luck, and may you live virtuously!
