Cue, Desire, Action, Reward - How to build healthy habits?

By now, most of us know and recognize the importance of self-care. Self-care is the practice of taking care of yourself by performing activities on a regular basis that help improve your well-being. Self-care can reduce stress and make you feel more balanced, resilient, and happier. Did you notice the words “on a regular basis”?

It is important to plan recurring self-care moments in our daily lives. The idea is that you make time for yourself every day. Something that fits into your daily routine so that you can feel relaxed, away from the busy schedule and obligations. However, that is easier said than done. How can we make self-care a habit?

We are all creatures of habit. We tend to wake up at the same time each day, brush our teeth, have morning coffee and commute to work, following the same patterns every day. So why is it so hard to form new healthy habits?

Behavioral scientists who study habit formation say that many of us try to create healthy habits the wrong way. We make bold resolutions without taking the steps needed to set ourselves up for success. Here are some tips, backed by research, for forming new healthy habits.

What are habits?

A habit is a certain behavior that is fully automated through constant repetition over a longer period. Habits are carried out depending on the situation and caused by external circumstances.

So: in certain situations that are always the same, you automatically perform a specific action. It doesn't matter if it's brushing your teeth in the morning or the run while you're still half asleep. Anything you do regularly in recurring situations without thinking about it, is a habit.

According to James Clear, the author of Atomic Habits, 30-50% of our daily actions consist of habits. That is quite smart: following habits saves our brains a lot of neurological and cognitive resources. It works in a kind of power saving mode.

What are habits good for?

Habits give structure to our daily lives and provide security. They make our lives easier: something you do routinely because it is part of your daily life saves energy and time.

Imagine having to decide every day whether to shower, brush your teeth or how to put one foot in front of the other. Unfortunately, there is a catch: your brain doesn't distinguish between good and bad habits. Depending on the actions you have internalized, good or bad habits define your life.

When you have developed healthy habits, you exercise and eat healthy without thinking about it. Just because it's your routine. But whether you routinely choose healthy food or fast food depends on what your brain has stored neurologically as "good". Whether your consciousness gives the same appreciation, or actually thinks something completely different about this, is another question.

Healthy habits make you happy because you behave in accordance with your values which creates a sense of inner balance. You feel happier and more satisfied. Bad habits have the opposite effect. They create an inner contradiction that you struggle with. In psychology, this condition is known as cognitive dissonance.

The Habit Loop

Forming habits is not about willpower. In practice, relying on willpower is an ineffective way to get rid of your bad habits. In the media we see people who achieve their goals as disciplined and strong. But the reality is often different. The problem with willpower is that it is not equally high at all times of the day. With nobody. There can be all kinds of reasons for this: stress, fatigue, irritations, etc. Therefore, any kind of behavioral change is doomed to fail if you don't intervene in your habit system.

Good habits happen when we set ourselves up for success. On autopilot – according to James Clear and his book "Atomic Habits," both good and bad habits are based on a neurological cycle. In this context, habits are composed of 4 components.

Cue (trigger), Craving, Response (action), Reward.

1.     Cue: Your internal alarm goes off. The so-called “cue” causes a certain, usually unconscious behavior. This can be spatial, emotional, temporary, mental or external. It can be a feeling: I’m tired, I’m hungry, I’m bored, I’m sad. Or it can be a time of day: it’s Monday at 9am or work is done.

2.     Craving: Your craving is the motivation for the action that follows. Often it is unconsciously an important driver of your habit.

3.     Action: The action is your habit. This can be active behavior, but also, for example, a thought.  This can either be a negative action you want to cut back: I drink soda, I eat cake, I snack, I drink alcohol, I smoke cigarettes, I watch TV – or a positive one: I will meditate, I go to the gym, I go for a run, I read a book.  

4.     Reward: The reward creates a positive feeling that forms the basis of the whole concept of habits.

These 4 components form the so-called Habit Loop in our brain. The more often the four-step cycle occurs, the stronger the connection between the trigger and the action. The habits are then so highly automated that you no longer even consciously perceive the trigger and do not think about your action.

Picture this: you have trained your brain to take a cue (it is 9 am), you want to feel less stressed (desire), you anticipate a reward (feeling calm and centered) and you make the behavior automatic (do a 15-minute morning meditation).

Whether you are trying to change an old habit, stop an unhealthy habit, or begin a healthy habit, it starts with the first step in the process: the cue. If you are looking to break a bad habit, it begins by identifying what the cues are that make you take the action that you’re trying to stop. At the same time, you can mentally train yourself, just like Pavlov’s dog, to build a new healthy habit by identifying the habit you want to build and the cue you want to use to proceed it. The most important step to changing your habits is to recognize the trigger and develop a desire (your internal motivation) for your new habit.

In our blogpost “Our 9 tips to help you form a new healthy habit” we help you gradually and consciously teach yourself the desired behavior.

Sources

• Clear, James (2018). Atomic Habits.

• Duhigg, Charles (2013). The Power of Habit.

• Lally, P., van Jaarsveld, C.H.M., Potts, H.W.W. and Wardle, J: (2011). How are habits formed: Modeling habit formation in the real world.

• Nilsen P, Roback K, Brostrom A, Ellstrom PE (2012). Creatures of habit: accounting for the role of habit in implementation research on clinical behavior change.

• Tudor-Locke C, Craig CL, Brown WJ, et al (2011). How many steps/day are enough?

• Wood, Wendy (2019). Good Habits, Bad Habits: The Science of Making Positive Changes That Stick.

• https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/18/well/mind/how-to-build-healthy-habits.html