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The Law

Habit - III

Our daily life consists of thousands of habits. As we have come to know, the habits get stored in the Basal Ganglia. Hence a person who sustains an injury to his Basal Ganglia, as he will no more be able to execute his habits automatically.

After knowing the three-step construction of a habit, it becomes possible to change a habit by acting on its parts.

I will give a personal example of how I started smoking in my early college days. I did my college studies in a residential college where I had to stay in hostel. I was away from my family and close to my new set of friends. My friends had a greater influence on me in those days. My tendency was to groove in with my friends, to become one of them. 

Cigarettes were the macho symbol in those days. I started going with my friends, after classes, to a kiosk selling cigarettes. All of us smoked - called it a fag on those - having fun on laying claim on cigarette butts, laughing, joking and giving names to professors and feel one up. The cue  the "after class". It was "revolt" time. The routine was to march to the kiosk with friends, ligh up a cigarette, joke, call names, pull legs, talk shop - generally enjoy. The reward was the feeling of "one of them with a sense of macho". I started looking forward to the smoking time. In truth, I wished to prove to my friends that I was one with them. I started getting addicted to the reward. I internalised the process and a habit was formed. This addiction or craving for the reward, call it what you like, becomes the drives for the habit.

That one cigarette a day became many a day shortly and I became a full blown smoker. How that happened was a different habit story with a different cue, routine and reward. 

Changing a habit is possible with effort, perseverance and will. A habit which is already ingrained in our brain is nearly impossible to eradicate. However, the good news is that it can be changed. To change a habit, it is best to leave a part of the habit loop untouched.

Extensive research has been carried out in the field of habits. It is now recommended that keeping the cue and the reward as it is, it is possible to change the routine. It is much easier to change a habit if the starting point i.e the cue or the trigger, and the end point i.e. the reward are not changed. A habit change effort, where all three components are changed, fails due to inherent resistance of the brain to change an ingrained habit.

Let me try and explain with my example of smoking. So after my class I get together with my friends. And then I walk with my friends to the cricket nets and indulge in cricket practice. Some friend will still like to go and smoke. Let them be. I am now in the process of making a new set of friends. I am a good cricket player. I show my friends better skills. Together we play and enjoy. I am "feeling one with them", only the "them" might have changed. And a good cricket player in my country is always macho.  I have kept the cue and the reward and reworked the routine. No cigarettes this time.

Looks to be simple. It is not so.


a la prochaine



Prabir 

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