A metaphor for the human brain is a man riding an elephant. Our brain consists of two parts, the neocortex and the limbic system. The neocortex is used for planning, reasoning, and deliberate decision making / responses. The limbic system is responsible for the automatic / unconscious / habitual responses. The neocortex is represented in the image by the rider and the limbic system by the elephant. The elephant can easily toss the rider in such a scenario. Likewise, our impulsive self (limbic system) can easily dominate our controlled self (neocortex). I have read a number of books about forming habits and self-control:
1. Willpower: Rediscovering Our Greatest Strength by Roy F. Baumeister and John Tierney - Summary: Willpower: Rediscovering Our Greatest Strength by Roy F. Baumeister and John Tierney - Chester Grant
2. The Willpower Instinct by Kelly McGonigal - Notes : The Willpower Instinct by Kelly McGonigal - Chester Grant
3. The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg - Summary: The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg - Chester Grant
4. Mini Habits by Stephen Guise - 26 Highlights from Mini Habits by Stephen Guise - Chester Grant
What follows is my synthesis of the ideas presented in these books, and what has worked for me through trial and error. The fundamental premise of my approach is that the limbic system like the elephant is trainable and should be in subjection to the neocortex, the rider.
Why listen to me?
Take a look around at this blog. It’s a testament to the power of habits. I developed a habit for reading and documenting my readings. To add to this, this isn’t even my first blog. My first blog had more content than this.
My approach
Identify the habit you would like to form: reading or meditating or exercise etc.
Mini-fy the habit - You are going to make the action so small that you can do it effortlessly everyday. For instance, aiming to read 2 pages per day or meditating for 5 mins per day or exercising for 5 mins per day. The key thing with forming habits is that your brain doesn’t need intensity to form a habit, it needs consistency. If every day you keep doing the same activity, a habit will form.
Gradually Increase Effort - The mini-fied action is your baseline, your non-negotiable. You must at least do that much of the activity every day. But this is not where you stop. Unless you want to only read 2 books per year, you need to gradually increase the intensity. Aim for 5-25% increase in effort each week. So, it is two things; one is you have a goal for effort each day, but some days you might not be able to accomplish that goal then you do the mini-fied action.
No more than two min-days in a row - Take me at my word for this one.
Habit Stacking - This concerns when you take action to implement the habit. Researchers have found it is easy to form a new habit if it is directly following an existing habit. So, let’s say you already have a habit of eating lunch at noon, you will simply place your reading habit directly after that or whatever habit that you are interested in forming. For me, I chained several habits together. First, I brush my teeth, then exercise, then read. Brushing my teeth was my initial habit then I just chained the rest to it.
Habit Streaking - Get a habit app or calendar that tracks how many days in a row you have been consistent with the habit. There is a psychological bias we have called loss aversion. Once you have established the streak, you don’t want to lose it, hence you will persist with the habit until you achieve automaticity.
I thought this might be useful to someone, or at least can serve as a reminder to myself of how to get back on track if I ever become lost.