created: 2021-12-19 Author: Lon Setnik, MD #on/habit| #on/productivity | #moc/publish %% ```toc style: number min_depth: 2 max_depth: 6 ``` ## What's the big idea here? ## Unrequited notes (by link) _update when creating MOC to point to this note_ These notes point directly to this note. But this note doesn't point back. ```dataview table file.mtime.year + "-" + file.mtime.month + "-" + file.mtime.day as Modified from [[Habit]] and !outgoing([[Habit]]) sort file.mtime desc ``` ## Associated notes (by tag) _Update when creating MOC to point to this tag_ These notes have this associated tag: `#on/habit`. ```dataview table file.mtime.year + "-" + file.mtime.month + "-" + file.mtime.day as Modified from #on/habit and !#moc and !outgoing([[Habit]]) sort file.mtime desc ``` %% ## Why are habits important? - Habits reduce the mental energy required to get through our day. - Habits are shortcuts that my brain makes - The sum of my habits make up my behavior and thus my lived values - If I'm intentional, [[Future Lon]] gets to participate in the crafting of my habits and gets to decide what kind of person I will live as - If we are intentional with instructional design, we will change behavior through both habit creation [[single loop learning]] and through what people's [[Developing Values]] are. Single loop learning works at the level of the default behavior, and value work is at the level of the [[cognitive frames]]. ## What is a habit? - An action that has been performed so many times that it happens with automaticity (Atomic Habits) - Classical definition is it is a behavior embedded in a sequence including: - Cue (Prompt) - Craving (feeling linking cue to behavior, often the craving builds when the behavior doesn't relieve it) - Behavior - **Behavior likelihood = (Cue + Ability + Motivation)** - Reward (Return on behavior) Habits exist as actions of individuals and _also_ as actions in organizations (for example: Alcoa and the habit of safety) and societies(Civil Rights movement) (Power of Habit) ## How do habits form? - Habits form by us relatively randomly trying things and repeating the things we try. We explore the world and get [[Feedback]]. - Our [[behaviors solve for a problem]] often ending up in patterns of behavior that are not always helpful, or are not as helpful as they should be in certain situations. We end of with a set of behaviors that solve for our problems well enough to survive, but not well enough to thrive. - We use [[heuristics]] to just survive the day and to make quick and frequent decisions. These heuristics contain systematic [[cognitive biases]], making us vulnerable to certain types of errors. - We get [[accidental feedback]] from the world, giving us pleasure or pain with our choices, eventually we have a set of behaviors that make up our habits. - We experience [[environmental cues]] that cause us to take certain actions, these are often influenced by forces that don't have our best interests in mind (advertisers). - [[Feeling]] influences our behavior in practical ways (Tiny Habits). Considering [[Thinking Fast and Slow]] (Type I and Type 2 thinking), when we are thinking fast we are more in the [[default mode]], we are more likely to participate in habits. When we are making active decisions methodically (type 2) We are acting more in the realm of [[Deciding]]. So being excited, fatigued, or angry makes us more likely to do our habits, and when we are parasympathetically motivated we are more likely to think broadly, ask questions, and consider alternatives. - Activated experiences are more likely to be memorable, but that doesn't mean they are more likely to be repeated. Experiences followed by positive emotions are more likely to be repeated, but we repeat lots of behaviors that are followed by negative consequences and emotions (guilt). - Social pressure plays a role as well - Gyms like YMCA found that people form social bonds that support their exercise habit which is more important than the gym cleanliness or new machines Atomic Habits - [[Forming Identity]] based habits vs Outcome based habits - I do ... because of *WHO I AM* vs I do ... because I want to be XXX - Once your pride is involved with identity, you will fight tooth and nail to keep a habit. - Outcomes, however, are a judgement that may or may not come true. Focus on the **identity and the process**, the outcome will be what it is: - "Right effort, agnostic to outcome" ![[CleanShot 2021-12-14 at 20.15.14 1.jpg]] (Atomic Habits: Clear, 2018) Step 1: ask yourself: Who is the type of person who I want to be? - > Who is the type of person who can Climb 5.12a on lead? - > Who is the type of person who lives a life connected to their family? - > Who is the type of person who can lead a team? - IDENTITY BASED instead of OUTCOME BASED THEN YOU CAN ASK WHAT DOES THAT PERSON DO? - crises promote habits: story of underground train fire and wrong site surgeries at RI hospital (the power of habit) ### Imitation We imitate the habits of three groups - those who are close - the many (the crowd) - the powerful ## How can habits be made more likely? ### Make it easy - (Atomic Habits) = Make it Tiny ([[Tiny Habits]]) Create a [[Implementation intentions]] ![[CleanShot 2021-12-14 at 21.09.53.jpg]] Also actively making decisions explicit - "I am about to eat another brownie but I'm already full" ## Cue/Prompt ### Make it obvious (Atomic Habits)- the Cue (Power of Habit) Prompt (Tiny Habit) = Design the prompt to be SPECIFIC ([[Tiny Habits]]) ### Choices of Cue #### Power of Habit - Cue - Time - Location - Emotional state - Other people #### Tiny Habit - Anchor - Person (another person prompts us) - Action (Habit Stacking = Atomic Habits) an action prompts us - Context - something we notice about around us prompts us - Fuzzy Prompts are less helpful than specific prompts - A specific prompt is identifying the _trailing edge_ of the cue, like the click of the button, the clunk of the phone, the click of a door, the closing of the mail app - Finding the "trailing edge" - as specific as possible Atomic Habits: **Pointing and Calling** a form of making something that might be automatic conscious- Japanese train is his example - - my example is - Climbing - On Belay : Belay is ln - intubating - here is my plan A, B, C - Add _**[[Shine]]**_ to your celebration can be a way to make behaviors more likely to stick ![[CleanShot 2021-12-14 at 21.09.53.jpg]] ## How to chose what habits to focus on - [[keystone habits]] - those that will cause other habits to form - remember the Keystone Habits around Aluminum at Alcoa - Exercise is often a keystone habit - When ## How can habits be made less likely? ### Habit reversal training (Duhig Chapter 3) - start by identifying the cues - Then identify the rewards - Then replace with a similar stimulus - Experiment until you find a stimulus that extinguishes the craving successfully ### Make them less attractive ### Add [[Good Friction]] ## How can habits change more easily? When our life is upended in other ways - commonly happens during other big changes in life - marriage - moving - having child - changing jobs - Similar to: Crises - London underground fire - RI hospital story - Like [[Kotter's 8-Steps]], never let a good crisis go to waste When people in our social network change - The power of "weak ties" that are shared broadly - Rosa Parks support came from across groups that usually don't work together because of extensive weak social ties - "Weak ties" are also useful for people looking for jobs/going to college [[Constructivism]] ideas here, people learn by doing something. Habits don't happen to you passively, especially designed habits. ## A plan ### [[Implementation intentions]] - When I ... , I will... ## Creating Habits approach: When it doesn't work try experimenting with a new - ### cue - ### a new substitute behavior - ### a new reward ## Sources Clear, J. (2018). _Atomic habits: Tiny changes, remarkable results: an easy & proven way to build good habits & break bad ones_. Avery, an imprint of Penguin Random House. Duhigg, C. (2012). _The power of habit: Why we do what we do in life and business_ (1st ed). Random House. Fogg, B. (2021). _[[Tiny Habits]]: The Small Changes That Change Everything_. Gardner, B., & Rebar, A. L. (2019). Habit Formation and Behavior Change. In B. Gardner & A. L. Rebar, _Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Psychology_. Oxford University Press. [https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780190236557.013.129](https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780190236557.013.129) Kahneman, D. (2013). _Thinking, fast and slow_ (1st pbk. ed). Farrar, Straus and Giroux. Schwabe, L., & Wolf, O. T. (2009). Stress Prompts Habit Behavior in Humans. _Journal of Neuroscience_, _29_(22), 7191–7198. [https://doi.org/10.1523/JNEUROSCI.0979-09.2009](https://doi.org/10.1523/JNEUROSCI.0979-09.2009)![[FLipAIuVEAAYhIc.jpeg]]