The Buzz About Habits: Making and Breaking

The Reality of Habit Formation

Considering we have a certain level of free will that we get to exercise independently, crafting our life in the way we want to should be a rather smooth ride. In a land far away from our own, this might be true, but here on Earth, human minds offer a rather bumpy journey.

Our lives are intrinsically crafted through habits that become a part of our second nature. Eventually, we stop questioning the power and impact they have. Habits are automatic behaviors that we perform regularly, often without conscious thought. They develop through repetition and are reinforced by rewards or consequences.

Be it having a dessert after each meal or doomscrolling when bored or stressed; these actions and many more become a part of our identity, either consciously or subconsciously. Unless an individual is aware enough, habits are not really questioned but just repeatedly lived on autopilot.

While alertness and awareness of our habits is a starting point to understanding and changing them, they do not suffice. Habit building and breaking is something that cannot entirely depend on motivation or awareness. Had that been the case, the majority would be able to break negative habit loops and be free.

The Neuroscience Behind Habits

The brain is responsible for our habits. It is a culmination of things we pick up from our environment, things we learn, coping mechanisms we develop, the way we are brought up, and many more factors that lead to habit formation.

Habits are formed through a neurological process that automates behaviors. The brain's key role is to reduce cognitive effort by shifting repeated actions from conscious decision-making to automatic execution.

Key Brain Regions

• Basal Ganglia - Also known as the habit storage center, it's responsible for storing and automating habits. As behaviors repeat, the basal ganglia take over and reduces the need for conscious thought. This is why you can drive home without remembering the journey! However, this part is activated once we embody a particular habit.
• Pre-Frontal Cortex - Inside the brain, this is responsible for forming new habits and breaking older ones. As a habit becomes automatic, the prefrontal cortex is less involved, allowing you to focus on other things.
• Dopamine System - The Reward Driver. The brain releases dopamine when you perform a habit, reinforcing it. This is why pleasurable activities (like eating sweets, scrolling social media, or smoking) create strong habits quickly.
• Hippocampus - The Memory Keeper. Stores context and cues related to habits. It helps your brain recognize when to trigger a habit (e.g., smelling coffee in the morning prompts you to make a cup).

Neuroplasticity: The Hope for Change

Some negative tendencies that become habits seem too rigid to let go. However, this is where the recent studies of neuroplasticity come to the rescue. According to this, the brain is like a muscle and can change and adapt at any point in life. This is a testament to the fact that no habit is big enough to not be able to change or replace by another.

Why Habit Changes Fail

Is it not ironic that despite a strong and firm start to changing or forming new habits, most people fail to continue? This is precisely what happens during January every year. People's motivation and their drive gets them started but the start is a rather short one without a firm base. This primarily happens because people's focus for building or changing habits lie in the habits solely.

Let's break this down with an example: Tina wants to get fit in 2025 and the extrinsic motivation of January 1st got her started with her workout of choice—running. The new year energy in the air was crisp which kept her going for the first 10-15 days, after which, due to a lack in her intrinsic motivation, she stopped. The extrinsic motivation of the new year started to fade. To counter feeling guilty, she began depending on sugar as her choice of a coping mechanism. Through this, a new set of negative tendencies started. If Tina does not work on her 'habit loop' immediately instead of a particular 'habit'—'running' in her case—she would be back to square one.

Understanding Habits 101

1. Connect to Your "Why"

Through Tina's example, the first pillar of a solid base for habits needs to be a strong "why." Intrinsic motivation comes from within, while extrinsic motivation comes from outside. The new year's fresh energy managed to provide a kickstart for Tina's workout journey but not a sustainable start. Had Tina aligned her new habit with her own individual motivation, the base would be firmer. This step requires honesty and clarity.

2. Habits vs. The Habit Loop

The secret to whether you are successful or not in making or breaking your habits lies here! In Tina's case, she jumped straight into going for her runs daily based on when she got free time in her day. Running is the 'habit' she wanted to develop but she directly executed the task without setting up her unique formula for it. This formula is what we are going to refer to as the Habit Loop.

The habit loop is a neurological pattern that describes how habits form and are repeated. Understanding the habit loop can help you change bad habits or form good ones. However, routines do not exist in a vacuum. The cues and rewards mechanism make it possible to change even something that seems to be impossible at first.

The habit loop is a three-step neurological cycle that drives habit formation:

1. Cue - Acts as a trigger, signaling the brain to initiate a behavior.
2. Routine - The action itself, which, through repetition, becomes automatic.
3. Reward - Reinforces the habit by releasing dopamine, making the brain associate the behavior with pleasure or relief.

Over time, this loop strengthens neural pathways in the basal ganglia, shifting habits from conscious effort to subconscious automation.

Tina decided on working on this habit loop. She dedicated a specific time for her daily runs which, over time, brought down the resistance to show up. The night before her runs, she neatly kept the running gear next to her bed. This acted as her cue, and as soon as she woke up in the morning, even before brushing, she changed into her running gear. As for her reward, she decided to treat herself with a lavish breakfast after the run daily.

The initial few days were when she had to use her intrinsic motivation to get out of bed, but within a month, the cue and reward system integrated running to feel like a part of her routine, without any effort!

3. Habit Stacking

It is funny but mostly good habits breed good habits and bad habits breed bad habits. Incorporating daily workouts could potentially and most likely lead to clean eating, sleep hygiene, and an overall better life. The key here is to start small and stick to it, till the point it compounds to be big and second nature.

4. Don't Talk About Your Habits When You Are in the Process of Forming Them

This sounds unnecessary but has an explanation to it. The more we talk about something we have not fully achieved and are striving towards, the more likely we are to get our dopamine dose by just talking, which can lead to inaction when the task needs to be done. Instead, keeping it to ourselves and journaling can go a long way in bridging this sort of gap.

The more you work with your brain's habit-forming mechanisms, the easier it becomes to build positive habits and break negative ones, no matter how stubborn the habit!