Four Stages of Habits
This month, we’re continuing with thoughts from “Atomic Habits,” by James Clear. Let’s explore the four stages of a habit and look at how you can use this knowledge to change your behavior. The cue is the first of the four stages (cue, craving, response, and reward) of a habit that Mr Clear identifies. The cue triggers your brain that you can receive a reward (the end goal of any habit). For example, let’s say a feeling of peace is a reward for you. When you wake in the morning, you associate the morning with a cup of coffee. If sitting with a cup of coffee brings you that feeling of peace, then waking up in the morning may become your cue for getting a cup of coffee because you associate it with peace (your reward). Other cues could be the buzz of a phone, the smell of popcorn, looking outside at a sunny day, walking into a dark room, or someone you dislike walking your way.
The process of changing behavior always begins with awareness. If you recognize your cues, you can create an environment in which you impact your habits. If you are trying to increase a behavior, you want to make the cue more visible (noticeable), and if you’re trying to remove a behavior, try to make the cue invisible.
In the craving stage, you want the reward. Most habits are dopamine drives, and your body releases dopamine when you anticipate pleasure. For this reason, the anticipation of a reward, not the fulfillment of it, gets you to act. So, if you want to start a new habit that doesn’t have an obvious and immediate reward, you can stack it on a reward. It looks like this, “After I ___ , then I will ___.” Example, “after I work out, then I will check Instagram.”
For bad habits, a cognitive technique called reframing can help. You are trying to connect a reward with “not” doing an action. First, write down the reasons for stopping. Have those reasons ready to remind yourself when cravings arise. Now, you are armed with ways to diffuse the reward of the bad habit.
The response represents the actual habit. For a behavior to become a habit, the effort to act must not exceed the value received. So, you increase your good habits by reducing the effort to act. If you want to start running, you begin with a reasonable goal. If it’s too difficult, you most likely won’t stick with it.
The reward is the end goal of habits. Become a student of why you do what you do. Understanding your “why” helps you align your behaviors with who you want to be (your identity). Understanding why can also help you give yourself grace. For example, you may feel disappointed in yourself for needing coffee every morning, but when you understand that it’s about the feeling of peace, it makes more sense because that matters to you.
