When I was in elementary school, life was grand.  School days were short, recess was long, free time was plentiful, and homework was minimal.  As you might expect, this lifestyle changed over the years. As I entered middle and high school, my afternoons became quickly filled with studying for tests, practicing for band concerts, and socializing with friends.  I was forced to adjust my schedule to make time for these competing priorities, and it was at this point that I developed my first after-school routine.

Routine = A sequence of tasks performed regularly or at specified intervals

After arriving home from school and using the bathroom (I avoided those school bathrooms like the plague), I rewarded myself for a hard day’s work with a snack.  After the snack, I immediately started my homework and worked on it until completion.  When I was done, I used my allotted 30-60 minutes of “screen time,” after which I finished my chores.  With any luck, my daily tasks were done by dinner, and I could enjoy my evening reading with my family.

A funny thing started happening though once I was a few weeks into each school year.  I’d arrive home and be greeted almost immediately with the urge to use the bathroom and have a snack.  With the snack finished, I’d feel a sense of refreshment that gave me the motivation to do my homework.  My screen time was then even more enjoyable knowing that my homework was behind me.  Finally, my chores were easier to complete knowing that dinner and my relaxing evening where coming shortly.  I was able to flow from one activity to the next without the need to muster any motivation or make any difficult decisions of what to do next.  In fact, it began to feel uncomfortable when I couldn’t complete my snack-to-homework-to-screens-to-chores repertoire after school.  My afternoon routine was effectively on autopilot and had transformed into a habit.

Habit = A routine that has become a behavior with little or no conscious thought.

Of course, the ritual changed as I got older, with snack time becoming a power nap and screen time becoming internet time.  Band practice, sports, and clubs would occasionally alter the exact time at which things would be completed.  Nonetheless, by adding just a little bit of routine and structure to my life, I was able to complete my daily tasks without the burden of deciding the order in which to complete them.  I generally tried to stick to the idea of school à snack à homework à break à chores à evening without much variation. 

Finally, it’s important to consider that some patterns of behavior and habits can eventually leave a person with almost no ability to act differently.  These habits often include substances, which are consumed as part of a habit (caffeine, nicotine, alcohol, other drugs) or produced by one’s own body resulting from the habit (dopamine, adrenaline).  People generally have a harder time making good decision because of their dependence on a substance or behavior, and willpower is removed from the equation as the substance takes control of the body.  Significantly more time, effort, and expertise are required to change the behaviors, and this change often demands an integrative, long-term plan to treat physical symptoms like withdrawal.  These behaviors eliminate the presence of choice entirely and can transform into an addition.

Addiction = A habit with a powerful physiological component that leaves the individual with almost no choice to behave differently.

The word “addiction,” in fact, is derived from a Latin term addictus for ‘enslaved by’ or ‘bound to.’  An addiction often eliminates the ability to consider any alternatives other than the one to which the body and mind are addicted.  For that reason, experts consider addition a disease that often requires medical help to treat properly.  Addictions can range from the relatively mundane (caffeine) to the completely debilitating (certain drugs like heroin).

PUBLIC SAFETY NOTE:  If you or someone you know suffers from addition, please seek professional help.  In the United States, you can call SAMHSA’s National Helpline 1-800-662-HELP.  It is important to understand that addiction is not “just a matter of willpower.”  If your behavior is having a negative impact, or you are putting yourself at risk, or if you are experiencing withdrawal symptoms, it is critical to obtain the proper assistance and treatment from professionals. It is not too late, and help is available.

Moving back to the topic of habits, however, we can examine the idea of building strong behaviors and eliminating/avoiding poor ones.  Consider a simple behavior that (hopefully) we have all learned already: washing your hands.  A young child would have no intuition of this behavior and would need be taught by an adult via repetition after each use of the bathroom.  Ideally, this routine would become a habit that eventually requires no reminders and no thought by the child at all.  At some point, adults should develop an aversion to not washing their hands.

This idea outlines a critical difference between routines and habits.  A new routine often feels comfortable when we skip it.  Skip going to the gym (when you’re not used to it)?  Heck yes!  Stay up late watching YouTube on your phone rather than going to bed?  Sign me up!  Forego budgeting this month since you still have a little money in your account?  No problem!  As a result, routines can be hindered by procrastination and inconsistency.  Habits, on the other hand, often feels uncomfortable when we don’t do them.  Not looking both ways before you cross the street?  Not putting on your seatbelt when you get in the car (I hope…)?  Not peeking at your cell phone when it beeps or buzzes?  Bet the very thought of those things just feels wrong.

Transforming desired behaviors into routines and habits can be powerful tool to improve your life.  However, it’s important to consider that not all routines can become habits.  Certain activities that behaviors that require concentrated effort or careful deliberation not habits because they will always require effort.  Deep work tasks like reading Shakespeare or writing a doctoral thesis won’t become a habit so don’t blame yourself if particularly challenging tasks never take on the same level of automation as washing your hands.  Nevertheless, you can build a routine or a habit of preparing yourself for deep work, eliminating outside distractions, and organizing your to-do list proactively. 

Routines and habits are particularly crucial when it comes to taking care of your mind and body, like working out, eating well, meditating, and sleeping.  If you can complete these tasks at pre-set times during each day/week, you will drastically improve the time you spend working because all other decisions have already been made for you and your willpower can be entirely devoted to the task at hand.  Both involve the relationship between a stimulus and a response (in my example: school à snack; homework à screen time), and both can be molded to create a favorable outcome (homework and chores completed before dinner).

Of course, we cannot disregard the power of routines and habits to create a not-so-favorable outcome.  The same “magic” that can motivate you to work out without thinking about it can also cause you to act destructively without thinking.  If, for example, you (a) check your beeping phone while you’re speaking to someone in person, or (b) pull into the drive-through during lunchtime or (c) indulge in procrastination until the last minute, you may have developed a habit that is working against your best interests.  Habits are a two-sided coin, so by learning better about the ways in which our behavior is governed by them, we can better assess how to utilize the “good side” of the coin while avoiding the bad side!  The encouraging news is that you can break a bad habit by creating a new habit to replace it.

The positive notions of habit-building are very appealing, so much that it seems like everyone from amateur bloggers (*raises hand*) to professional self-help authors seem enthralled with the subject.  It would be perfect if we could simply teach our body to work, eat well, exercise, save money, floss, and call our family members without consuming much will power.  As you might imagine, however, humans need a proper strategy in order to develop productive new habits and stick to them.

How can you build a new routine or habit?  Let’s break it down into some manageable steps;

1) Commit fully and publicly

There’s a great Clayton Christensen quote that says “100% is easier than 98%,” and I firmly believe this.  Giving up soda entirely is easier than giving it up ‘except on special occasions.’  Walking a mile every morning is easier than going once or twice a week “when I have the time.”  Furthermore, tell your friends and family exactly what you’re doing and how you’re doing it.  This isn’t to brag but rather to hold yourself accountable.  Nobody wants to feel the shame of reporting back a week later telling them you quit, so being public (yet humble) about a new habit can be the key to ongoing success.

2) Allot the appropriate time

Most new behaviors take a certain amount of time, so by planning for this in advance, you increase your chances of success.  For example, I complete the monthly budget, check all bank and credit card statements, report any suspicious transactions, and work through ways to improve our finances on the first weekday of every month at the same hour.  I’ve blocked off this time in my calendar and do not allow for conflicts.  Consider doing the same for your goal; give yourself the proper amount of time in advance and minimize any variance from the schedule.  I recommend working on one habit at a time, since it is much easier to find time for a single change than many.

3) Start with a routine

Set a recurring alarm on your phone to remind when you should start and finish.  Then take the first step towards doing it.  The hardest part of going to the gym isn’t the workout itself; it’s getting out of bed and putting on your gym clothes.  If you have a routine of waking up at the same time, putting on your gym clothes, brushing your teeth, getting in the car, and going to the gym, the do that routine every weekday with precision.  If you’re feeling unmotivated, at least get up for the alarm and put on your gym cloths.  Nine times out of ten, you’ll then be motivated to finish the routine.  Finally, make the routine easy for yourself.  For example, you can leave everything ready the night before so your gym gear is accessible – avoid giving yourself an excuse to skip out on your routine.

4) Seek accountability

The buddy system is a powerful force in building better habits.  Whether it’s one person or a group of people, a social circle to keep you accountable can be the difference between success and failure.  Don’t be ashamed; I fully admit that I need accountability when it comes to tasks I sometimes procrastinate like a exercising routinely or writing blog articles.  Your friends and loved ones want to see you succeed, so it’s OK to ask them for support.  After all, the multi-level marketing companies use this social psychology to their advantage, but you can use it to your advantage too.

5) Reward successes

You can support a new routine by giving yourself a reward when you do it, like I did with my screen time after school.  Offer yourself a quick reliable reward at each step, though avoid addictive substances or things that offset your good habit with a bad one (sorry, no ice cream after running for a mile!). 

On this note, some research shows that while experiencing pleasure is indeed motivating, avoiding pain is even more motivating.  This idea can be delicately applied to certain habits.  Things like a buddy system for working out (the fear of being ashamed if you skip a day) or a chore-system (for when you cheat on your diet) can help you mold your behavior.  Be careful when applying punishments for building a long-term habit, since you don’t want to reach the point where you associate the habit with something negative. 

Regardless of your exact method, reinforcement, both positive and negative, really do work!

6) Measure your results periodically

Thou Cannot Manage What Thou Does Not Measure.  It’s important to look back and acknowledge what parts of your routines and habits are working and what aren’t.  The most effective way is to record and measure your successes.  Did you put the right amount of money into savings this month?  What number of days did you make it to the gym? How many articles on TheCentsei did you complete (hopefully all!)? 

Follow these steps and modify based on the behavior or goal you’re trying to accomplish!

Remember, the goal of a productive habit is to minimize the number of decisions needed to complete it successfully.  By committing, starting with a routine, allotting time in advance, seeking accountability, and following through, you will free up the mental space needed to be successful.  A routine and be easier than doing nothing (but thinking about it), and a habit can be easier than a routine.  As Samuel Johnson put it, “The chains of habit are too weak to be felt until they are too strong to be broken.”

Take some time to consider which behaviors are present in your life today.  Which would you like to make into a routine or habit?  Which would you like to eliminate?  Which would you like to avoid?  As indicated already, it’s OK to acknowledge that some things will take time, some may fail on the first try, and some will not become a habit at all.  Still, you have the ability to build a routine around nearly any goal in life to maximize your chances of success.  You can (it’s our philosophy)!

If you enjoyed this article, you might enjoy some further reading on the topic from one of my favorite bloggers, the very “Centsable” Mr. Money Moustache.  And if you’re wondering what habits to add and what to avoid, tune in for a future article!