5 psychological techniques to maintain good habits

How to use action triggers

🏷️ Categories: Deliberate practice, Behavior, Habits

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I have turned a friend into a voracious reader in less than 24 hours.

When we meet up, he sometimes confesses to me one of his internal struggles: ‘I'd really like to read, but I'm too lazy’. At that moment I remembered a ‘blunt’ technique, let's put it that way.

—You want to read? Don't worry, just give me 50€ and I'll help you read,’ I said.

—What do you mean, 50€?’ He didn't understand anything.

—Yes, you give me 50€ today and we'll read the same book. Next week we'll discuss the reading. If you haven't finished it, I'll take your 50€. It's simple.

In the end I had to give him back the 50€.

He had read the whole book because he spoke to me very fluently and I could tell he had it fresh in his mind, he couldn't have just read a summary on the internet. Now I have told him that every day I am going to ask him what he is reading.

I'm giving him the initial push, now it's up to him to keep the momentum going.

This somewhat extreme tactic is just one way of creating triggers, the first of four habit-forming elements (Eyal, 2014; Duhigg, 2012). Look:

The trigger is a signal from the environment or stimulus that makes us feel that something needs to be done. Do you feel thirsty? You drink water. There are 5 types of triggers and once you know them, you can take advantage of them to maintain those habits that you want to incorporate, but that sometimes are difficult to do.

1. Time

Every morning, we go through a series of automatic motions: getting dressed, preparing breakfast, perhaps checking the phone, etc. When the alarm clock goes off, we don't think about what we should do; we just do it (Wood et al., 2005).

Reading has become a ritual for me. Every afternoon, around 4 o'clock (trigger), I start reading. I don't think about what to do after lunch; I sit down and read. The same happens on Saturday mornings (trigger), I wake up and I know it's time to go cycling in the countryside. I don't hesitate for a second.

These are the easiest triggers to apply, think about how to use them in your case.

2. Place

Our environment shapes our habits.

If you do everything in your room, you are likely to be easily distracted. Similarly, objects can be allies in this process, like my keys. Before, I used to leave them in every corner, creating chaos. Now, using a Gibson's affordances, I've created the habit of always putting them in the same place. I don't have to think about where they are; I just know they are there.

Associate actions and objects to places, so you know intuitively what to do.

3. Previous event or commitment

This is what I did with my friend. If you find it difficult to start reading, just give me 50 euros and until you read I won't give it back to you.

A study revealed this technique with students (Gollwitzer and Brandstätter, 1997). They were given a voluntary grade-raising assignment to do during the Christmas holidays. One group was told that they would hand in the assignment on their return, while the other group was asked to submit a plan before they left. 33% of those who did not make a plan handed in the work, 75% of those who did plan handed in the assignment.

The simple act of committing greatly increases the likelihood of action.

After walking my dog I always write in my diary. This simple relationship made me keep the habit. The time of the walk may vary, but the habit of writing is constant because it is associated with the previous event of walking, a habit I already have.

Create a good habit by associating it with one you already have.

4. Emotions

Our emotions have immense power over our actions - when you are thirsty, your first thought is to drink water. Feelings can direct us to automatic behaviours (Aarts et al., 2001), such as eating sweets when we are bored or spending hours on the mobile phone. It just comes to you without thinking.

It is not easy to create habits because feelings are more changeable, but you can use something like this: When I have a creative block (trigger), I stand up and go for a walk without any plan, I just wander. I used to stay at home, but I noticed that walking without plans made me feel better, I came back more refreshed and with ideas.

5. Persons

The people around us influence us more than we realise.

Christakis and Fowler in 2007 and 2008 found that just by having a friend become obsessive, you have a 57% increased risk of becoming obese, even if that person lives miles away from you. They also found that if your partner quits smoking, you are 67% more likely to quit smoking and if a friend quits smoking, you are 36% more likely to quit smoking.

The time you spend with someone is proportional to the influence they have on you.

Since I have been writing, I have friends who have taken to reading. Because I go camping so much, I have friends who have started doing outdoor activities and because of friends I started doing calisthenics. That's the influence we have.

If you want to start going to the gym, surround yourself with people who go to the gym. If you want to love reading, surround yourself with people who read.

Which trigger to use

Always keep in mind that it has to be specific and instantly actionable.

It is not the same to say ‘I will write my diary in the evening’ as ‘at 10 p.m. I will write my diary’. When you make it specific there are no excuses or procrastination, it is clear what needs to be done at the exact moment of doing it.

Experiment and feel what works best for you when you create your new good habits.

Now you have the tools, it's time to apply them.

✍️ Your turn: What habit have you been trying to create and found it hard to do?

💭 Quote of the day: “This moment, like all moments, is a very good moment if we know what to do with it”. Ralph Waldo Emerson, The American Scholar.

Thanks for being there, see you soon 🙌.

References 📚

1. Aarts, H., Dijksterhuis, A., & De Vries, P. (2001). On the psychology of drinking: Being thirsty and perceptually ready. British Journal Of Psychology, 92(4), 631-642. https://doi.org/10.1348/000712601162383

2. Christakis, N. A., & Fowler, J. H. (2007). The Spread of Obesity in a Large Social Network over 32 Years. New England Journal Of Medicine, 357(4), 370-379. https://doi.org/10.1056/nejmsa066082

3. Christakis, N. A., & Fowler, J. H. (2008). The Collective Dynamics of Smoking in a Large Social Network. New England Journal Of Medicine, 358(21), 2249-2258. https://doi.org/10.1056/nejmsa0706154

4. Duhigg, C. (2012). The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do, and How to Change. Random House.

5. Eyal, N. (2014). Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products. Penguin.

6. Gollwitzer, P. M., & Brandstätter, V. (1997). Implementation intentions and effective goal pursuit. Journal Of Personality And Social Psychology, 73(1), 186-199. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.73.1.186

7. Wood, W., Tam, L., & Witt, M. G. (2005). Changing circumstances, disrupting habits. Journal Of Personality And Social Psychology, 88(6), 918-933. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.88.6.918