In order to break bad, undesirable, or non-goal aligned habits we can do a number of things. All of these follow what we’ve previously learnt about habits, often just reversing the ideas that are used to build new habits.

We can break the habit loop at 2 points. Either at the cue/trigger or the routine/behaviour.

Cue/Trigger

Remove as many triggers as possible to the behaviour. I’ll say it again: control your environment. Try not to keep these trigger foods in the house or at least keep them out of sight. Create an effort barrier between you and these foods. Change your environment, change the outcome. 

Routine/Behaviour

This is probably going to come into play if you don’t have control over your environment for example at work. Probably the more difficult approach, but we grow through the struggles we choose. Practice urge surfing. Just like ocean waves urges start small, grow in size then break up and dissipate. Ride out the cravings until they go away. Remember urges pass by themselves, we normally give in before the urge passes which reinforces the craving/behaviour. If struggling to let it pass naturally, ask yourself if giving into the craving is aligned with your goals? Is it helping you cast a vote for your desired identity, your future self or it is just reinforcing a behaviour that is perhaps holding you back?

Without the behaviour, there is no reward.

Without the trigger, there is no behaviour, therefore no reward.

If you break the loop, you take one step towards breaking the habit. 

We can also find a substitute for our habits. Often keeping the cue and the routine the same. 

Refer to the previous email of Replacing Ryan who solves his boredom/stress/emotional habits by replacing his eating/drinking with positive behaviours when the cues/triggers arose. 

Ultimately we want to break the habit loop, make the habits less desirable and reduce the frequency in which we currently practice them. 

We are halting the momentum and getting less reps in. 

Less repetition, less reward, less of a habit.

Here are ways we can break the habit loop using the inverse of our habit building strategies.

Make It Difficult

 When we looked at building habits we focused on making it easy, obvious, attractive and rewarding.

Let’s use the opposite when we are trying to break old habits and habit loops.

Create and implement an effort barrier.

Increase the number of steps required to

practice the habit you want to break.

Have less pre-prepared indulgences in the house.
Don’t keep cold beer in the fridge.

Unplug your playstation after using it.

The best way to break a bad habit is to make it impractical to do.

Add more steps that seem a little bit ridiculous to implement to get the small reward.

Eg if you want chocolate you’ll have to walk to the shop and get it.

To order pizza you can’t order it off your phone you’ll have to drive there and get it.

To drink a beer you have to put it in the fridge and wait for it to get cold (by then the craving might pass)

To play playstation you’ll have to set it up.

If snacking is an issue, don’t get ready made easy to consume snacks in the house. 

Make It Invisible

Our of sight, out of mind

Remove the cues from your environment.

Reduce your exposure to the habit.

Eg. Try not to keep tempting foods in your house.

Once a habit has been formed, the urge to act follows whenever the environmental cues reappear. 

Stop expecting yourself to rely on willpower or self control.

Bad habits are autocatalytic. They feed themselves

It’s known as “cue-induced wanting”: an external trigger causes a compulsive craving to repeat a bad habit. Once you notice something, you begin to want it.

The best strategy to eliminate bad habits is to cut off at the source. Reduce exposure to the cue that causes it.

Rather than make it obvious, make it invisible. Remove a single cue and the entire habit often fades away. Self-control is a short-term strategy, not a long-term one.

People with high self-control tend to spend less time in tempting situations. It’s easier to avoid temptation than to resist it.

Make It Unattractive

 Reframe your mindset. Highlight the benefits of avoiding the habit you're trying to break.

Eg. you'll move towards your goal quicker.

Every behaviour has a surface level craving and a deeper underlying motive.

Our habits are modern-day solutions to ancient desires. Some reduce stress by smoking a cigarette while others go for a run.

Once you associate a solution with the problem you need to solve, you keep coming back to it. 

Habits are attractive when we associate them with positive feelings and unattractive when we associate them with negative feelings.

To reprogram your brain to enjoy hard habits, make them more attractive by learning to associate them with a positive experience. Highlight the benefits of avoiding a bad habit to make it seem unattractive.

By saying no to this habit I’m saying yes to my goals and my future self.

Make It Unsatisfying

Remove the reward and add a consequence

 Behaviour is avoided when the experience is painful or unsatisfying. Pain is an effective teacher. The more immediate the pain, the less likely the behaviour.

For some people removing a reward and adding a consequence can help.

To prevent bad habits and eliminate unhealthy behaviours, add an instant cost to the action to reduce their odds. There can’t be a gap between the action and the consequences. As soon as actions incur an immediate consequence, behaviour begins to change.

Add in a consequence for practising your behaviour. Create a contract.

Eg. Snoozing alarm = eating your most hated food.

Complaining = 100 burpees
 

Get an accountability partner. Ask someone to watch your behaviour.

Create a habit contract. Make the costs of your bad habits public and painful. 

Remember to break a habit, think about where you can break the habit loop.

The cue, the routine or the reward.