What are habits?
- Regular behaviors or actions that we perform almost automatically, often without conscious thought
- Memory of steps that arise from some kind of internal or external trigger which have successfully solved a problem in the past
- Habits reduce the cognitive load for our brain while solving these repetitive problems
- Basically everything can become a habit when the behavior was repeated often enough in the past.
- Can be both positive and negative
When we walk to a new class, we invest considerable effort in figuring out its exact location. However, after we have repeated the behavior often enough, a few days later we no longer consciously think about it, and the process of walking to our class becomes almost automatic, requiring minimal or no mental effort at all
(Davis, n.d.; Wood, 2019)
Examples for bad habits
- Unhealthy diet
- Spending time on Social Media every time you're bored
- Smoking
- Nail biting
- Hitting the snooze button
- …
Examples for good habits
- Daily stretching after getting up
- Journaling before going to bed
- Tracking financials
- Drinking one glass of water immediately after getting up
- …
(Davis, n.d.; Wood, 2019)
… to learn more about the Power of Habits