Habits are more or less basic decisions and actions that we perform on regular basis. Habits create a life that we are living. All of us want to change various habits to create a better life for ourselves. For example “ self care, waking up early, eating healthy, spending time with family, reading a book every month, brushing teeth twice a day, drinking water after regular intervals, 8 hours of sleep etc.
While most of us have plans to change certain habits, we struggle to maintain consistency. Habits can be difficult to change without the right kind of motivation. Therefore we need to have subsequently good enough reasons for us to change any form of habits. When certain actions are repeated over and over again, over a period of time, they become a part of our unconscious mind or neurological wiring and we start repeating them without any form of awareness. We often realize that we have participated in the same habit again only after it is done, which can bring up a lot of guilt and shame.
While it is challenging to change a lot of our long-term habits, which we do almost as rituals without awareness, it is definitely possible to reshape and recreate new habits. To simplify and understand this concept, I would like to bring your attention to our neurological wiring functions.
Our body functions because we receive messages from the brain via neural pathways. Our brain has something called as the ‘habit formation region’, which plays a huge role when it comes to habits. A couple of researches from MIT have believed that when neurons are fired at the start and end of a specific behavioUr over a period of time, it becomes a part of our habit. Over time, our neurons create a specific pathway that inherently becomes a part of our neurological wiring and thereby a part of who we are.
For instance, during our childhood none of us knew the importance of regularly brushing our teeth. It was reinforced over and over again by our parents. It was an activity that we hated, but because it was done over and over again it has formed to become a habit today. Without our realization, we may find ourselves to wake up in the morning and brush our teeth using the same hand. This activity is not only a result of habit created over years, but also because of neurological firing that has become a part of our neurological functioning.
That brings us to the obvious question, if habits are a part of a neurological wiring, can it be changed? Yes! It most certainly can be changed with sufficient awareness and effort. In the beginning of any habit, an action is broken down into multiple steps. As the series of actions become a habit, the brain chucks the steps into a whole. For example, a simple action of drinking water after regular intervals of time can be broken down into a series of steps in the beginning. Deciding how much water needs to be consumed through the day, realizing the intervals of time, carrying a bottle handy & reminding yourself to drink the water. When these steps are performed over time, it becomes a habit, wherein all the steps are no longer viewed as steps but rather a whole action of drinking water.
While reading this article you might have come up a couple of habits that you would like to change. In order to do this you need to take three things into consideration “ Desire, Time Duration & Goal Planning of steps.
Breaking a habit can be really challenging and hence, we need enough willpower or motivation to make the required changes. This is why we are in a better space to change habits, when we decide we want to, rather than being told we should, by others.
Time duration is very much important. Habits, which are formed years ago will be harder and more challenging to over come than habits that are more recent. The longer the habit, the more time it would take to overcome the same.
Habits like we discussed need to be viewed as a series of steps rather than a whole action in the beginning. This means that, you need to break down an action into a series of planned steps. While considering changing a habit, break down the behaviour into smaller achievable goals to build on further.
Habits cannot be changed over night. Habits like anything else require effort. It is not possible for us to feel motivated everyday and this is where discipline plays a huge role. As long as we are disciplined and consistent, we can make all the changes that we want to.
