5 Triggers That Help You Learn And Maintain New Habits

In his book I explain that the process of forming a habit can be divided into four simple steps: stimulus, desire, response, and reward. Together they form what I call the habit loop. Each of these four phases is important in its own way, but today I want to talk about the first of them - the stimulus, or trigger.

There are five main ways to "start" a new habit. When you understand them, you can choose the most suitable one for the habit you want to introduce into your life. Here's what you need to know about triggers.

Trigger #1: Time

This is probably the most common stimulus for new habits. For example, morning rituals. Awakening becomes the trigger for a whole cascade of regular activities: go to the bathroom, take a shower, brush your teeth, get dressed, make a cup of coffee, and so on.

Time affects the formation of our habits and not so clearly. Observe yourself and notice that you mindlessly repeat certain actions at the same time every day: take a smoke break at 10:00 or go to eat after 12:00.

Very often habits signal our feelings. So if you notice yourself bad habits, it is worth listening to your feelings. Maybe you are bored? And you arrange a snack to break the monotony of the day. Or maybe you're lonely? And you constantly run to the smoking room during work breaks to chat with colleagues.

When you understand why you repeat the same thing day after day, it will be easier for you to replace bad habits with good ones.

How do I use it

A temporary trigger can be used to introduce routine practices into your life. I prefer this particular method. For example, every Monday and Thursday I write a new article and publish it on my website. This habit is fed by date and time. It doesn't matter how much I like or dislike the resulting material, how long or short it is. The only important thing is that I follow the schedule. Time starts a habit loop.

Trigger #2: Location

If you've ever walked into a kitchen, seen a plate of cookies, and eaten them just because they caught your eye, then you understand how much the setting influences our behavior.

In my opinion, the place and environment we are in are both the strongest and least visible triggers of mindless habits. Very often our behavior is a response to the environment. This confirms the unusual experimentA. N. Thorndike, L. Sonnenberg, et al. A 2‑phase labeling and choice architecture intervention to improve healthy food and beverage choices / American Journal of Public Health, which was held in a hospital in Massachusetts. In all places where only soda was previously available, they added the ability to buy water. In the next three months, soda sales decreased by 11%, while water sales increased by almost 26%. And this is a great proof of how what surrounds us affects our habits.

However, we can create location-related triggers ourselves. Numerous researches of scientists showW. Wood, D. Neal. A new look at habits and the habit-goal interface / Psychological Reviewthat new habits are much easier to learn in new places.

One theory for why this happens is that we associate habits with certain locations. This means that all the places with which we are familiar, for example, at home or at work, already have certain behaviors and daily routines associated with them. And if you want to work out new habits in old places, you have to overcome the triggers that your brain "attributed" to a particular environment.

When you create a new habit in a new place, you start with a clean slate. You don't have to put in extra effort to drown out existing incentives.

How do I use it

When I go to the gym, I go to the same place every time to change and start warm-up. This place in the gym is a simple trigger that allows you to start your pre-workout routine. Of course, there are days when I don't feel like exercising at all. However, the environmental trigger helps to overcome this reluctance and painlessly move on to the usual ritual.

Trigger #3: Antecedent Event

Many habits are a reaction to events that occur in our lives. The phone rings - and we immediately pick it up to read the message. A notification appears on the computer screen - and we immediately click on it to find out the latest news. These are all examples of habits that are triggered by a previous event.

And in my opinion, this is the most useful trigger when it comes to the formation of new behaviors. Once you learn how to collect stacks of habits, you will understand how to connect natural events with new actions. For example, meditate for one minute after a morning cup of coffee.

How do I use it

For over two years, I've been using the antecedent event trigger to reinforce the habit of daily gratitude. Every evening, when he sat down to dinner, he said one thing for which he was grateful for the past day. It is worth noting that I may have been able to maintain this ritual because it is extremely small. The lighter the habit, the easier it is to make it a part of your life.

Trigger #4: Emotional State

In my experience, this is the main trigger for bad habits. For example, you “by default” start eating when you are sad, or dive into the world of online shopping when you are bored.

Unfortunately, emotions are quite difficult to control and use to reinforce good habits. I think this happens because in this case it is necessary to be clearly aware of your feelings at every moment of time. In other words, you must be emotional and at the same time express awareness, and that can be difficult.

How do I use it

I try to learn to notice in a timely manner when my body tenses up from stress. If I fix such a state, then I use it to introduce the habit of doing breathing exercises. I like the 3-1-5 method: three seconds to inhale, a second to pause, and five seconds to exhale. I usually repeat this sequence three to five times. It helps to deal with stress. In addition, the exercise can be performed anywhere.

Trigger #5: Other People

I think it will not surprise you to think that the people we surround ourselves with influence our behavior and habits. What may surprise you is the extent of their influence, which is much stronger than it seems. One study showedN. A Christakis, J. H Fowler. The spread of obesity in a large social network over 32 years / The New England Journal of Medicinethat if your friend is obese, then your risk of gaining excess weight increases by 57%. Even if a friend lives thousands of kilometers away.

The best thing you can do is surround yourself with people whose habits you would like to adopt. Famed business coach and public speaker Jim Rohn said, “You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.”

How do I use it

I'm not a big fan alcohol. But every time I meet my friends, I drink. Why? If I don't feel like beer, why drink it? This is a reaction to the environment and people nearby.

Things to remember when using triggers

Whatever trigger you choose to work with, there is one important thing to understand: for a stimulus to work, it must be accurate and easy to execute.

Let's say you want to do 10 pushups in the morning. The timing trigger seems to fit here: “I will do 10 pushups on my lunch break.” It might work, but it lacks specifics. For example, will you do this before lunch or after?

An antecedent event trigger would work as an alternative. For example: “I will do 10 push-ups right after I close my laptop to go to lunch.” This is already enough specifics, which means that this method will become an effective stimulus for a new habit.

Don't be afraid to experiment. Use all triggers and choose the one that works best for you.