We all do it.. Every single day. Whether they’re good or bad, WE ALL HAVE HABITS. Habits are “regular behaviors or routines that are repeated frequently, often subconsciously, and tend to occur automatically in response to certain situations or stimuli”. Habits form through a process called conditioning, where repeated actions become ingrained over time, making them easier to perform without much conscious thought. Think, waking up every morning, using the bathroom, taking a shower, and brushing your teeth. It’s probably second nature to you at this point. Humans are creatures of habits. We tend to shop at the same stores our parents shopped at, because that’s all we know. We also tend to buy the same brands they bought us, out of habit of always having those brands in our homes growing up.
3 Key Components of Habits:
The Cue: A trigger that initiates the habit. This could be a time of day, location, emotion, or another environmental factor. (waking up, being at work, summer time)
The Routine: The behavior or action itself, whether it's brushing your teeth, checking your phone, or exercising.
The Reward: The positive outcome or satisfaction that reinforces the behavior, encouraging its repetition.
Habits can be beneficial (like stretching every day, saving money, or maintaining a morning routine) or detrimental (like smoking, a sedentary life, unhealthy food choices). The brain forms habits to save energy and automate frequently performed tasks, allowing it to focus on more complex or novel activities. So if your brain is going to perform any type of task, GIVE IT SOMETHING GOOD TO AUTOMATE. When you constantly give it bad behaviors to automate, then you’re programming yourself to remember those habits and constantly crave them. The same is true for good habits as well.
2 Types of Habits:
Good habits = (healthy behaviors) working out, eating green vegetables, or maintaining a consistent sleep schedule.
Bad habits = (undesirable behaviors) such as procrastinating, skipping the gyms, or excessive screen time like binging tv
You know how they say “you can’t teach an old dog new tricks”? Or what about “kids are like sponges, you can teach them anything and they’ll soak it right up”. Now think about how that relates to habits and how they’re built. The older you get, the harder it is to break out of the habitual routines you built as a kid. The younger you are, the easier it is to not only BUILD new good habits, but also BREAK bad habits as they are forming. The deeper you get into adulthood, the harder it gets to break out of your old ways… like sleeping in late, missing deadlines, excessive smoking/drinking, poor hygiene, bad financial habits, procrastination, and the list goes on. What you can accomplish at 21, gets harder at 31, and then a little bit harder at 41… when it comes to good and bad habits.
Why is it harder the older I get?
Why is it that kids pick up new things so easily? Why do our elders usually struggle with learning something new? The answer to both of these questions have to do with habits. It is VERY HARD (but not impossible) to rewire and reprogram your brain. Think of children as a clean chalkboard and adults as a chalkboard that has been written on all day. It’s a lot easier to write your plans on a fresh, clean chalkboard vs having to wipe the used board clean or write over what is already written. Not impossible, just harder. So why make life hard on yourself. Do everything you can to NOT pick up bad habits when you’re young.. especially the ones a lot of people pick up in their early 20s. Drinking. Smoking. Sleeping in. Sedentary lifestyle. No real plans. It is very hard to rewire and redo what was done over a decade. NO IMPOSSIBLE, JUST HARD. For example; if you’ve been hitting the gym every week, 2-3 times a week, from 18-30.. starting a new cycling class will be easy for you. If you haven’t worked out since 10th grade physical education class where you barely participated, a cycling class would probably kick your ass at 30. You see why keeping good habits is beneficial? I’ve been in the gym since I was in grade school, I’ve always been an athlete. So when I got older and got on my own time, picking back up where I left off in the gym was very easy. To someone that hasn’t built that habit, it would be hard to ease into anything I do in the gym. You see where I’m going? If you haven’t picked up a book since mandatory reading in high school, setting a goal of reading 100 books in one year is a bit lofty. You would probably struggle to finish one book in a month. Habits are formed over time, NOT overnight. There is actual science behind this as well..
1. Neurological Changes:
Your brain plasticity declines: Brain plasticity is the brain's ability to change and adapt as a result of experience. As we get older, this ability decreases, making it harder to rewire neural pathways that are associated with long-standing habits.
Stronger neural circuits for existing habits: The longer a habit has been in place, the more ingrained the neural circuits responsible for that behavior become. Over time, repeated behaviors reinforce these circuits, making them more automatic and harder to override.
2. Psychological Resistance:
Comfort and routine: As we age, many people become more set in their ways and comfortable with their routines. Routines offer predictability, which can feel comforting but also create resistance to change.
Cognitive biases: Older adults may have stronger cognitive biases, like confirmation bias (favoring familiar behaviors) and status quo bias (preference for things to stay the same). These can make it harder to adopt new habits or break old ones.
3. Time and Energy Constraints:
Busy lifestyles: Older adults often juggle multiple responsibilities, including work, family, and other commitments, leaving less time and mental energy for habit change. Prioritizing personal change can feel more challenging when life is already full.
Less motivation for novelty: As people age, the drive for novelty and new experiences may decrease. This can lead to less motivation to form new habits or push through the discomfort of breaking old ones.
4. Emotional and Behavioral Conditioning:
Emotional reinforcement: Many habits, particularly bad ones, are reinforced emotionally over time. For example, smoking, overeating, or procrastination may be tied to stress relief, comfort, or coping mechanisms, making them emotionally harder to break.
Identity and self-concept: As we age, certain habits become intertwined with our identity. If you’ve smoked for 20 years, for instance, you may start to see yourself as a smoker, which can make the thought of quitting more intimidating.
5. Physical and Cognitive Decline:
Slower recovery from failures: Forming new habits often requires persistence through setbacks and mistakes. With age, some people may find it harder to stay resilient and bounce back from failures.
Cognitive load: Learning new habits requires mental focus and attention, which can be more difficult if cognitive processing slows with age. This adds to the challenge of sustaining new behaviors long enough for them to become automatic.
6. Hormonal and Biological Factors:
Changes in dopamine levels: Dopamine, a neurotransmitter involved in motivation and reward-seeking behavior, tends to decrease with age. Since dopamine plays a critical role in reinforcing new behaviors, lower levels can make it harder to maintain the motivation needed for habit change.
Physical limitations: Aging bodies may also be less physically adaptable to new habits, especially if they involve lifestyle changes like exercise or diet.
You see where I’m going with this? Stackers focus on forming GOOD habits. We also focus on breaking BAD habits. It’s actually better to REPLACE a bad habit with a good habit instead of just trying to drop the bad habit. The science behind it:
1. The Brain’s Need for Routines:
Habit loops: Habits follow a cycle called the "habit loop," which consists of three parts: a cue (trigger), a routine(the behavior), and a reward (the outcome that reinforces the behavior). To effectively break a bad habit, it's usually necessary to replace the problematic routine with a healthier one that provides a similar reward.
Cue and reward stay the same: The brain is hardwired to respond to certain cues and seek rewards, even in the case of bad habits. If you eliminate a habit without replacing the routine, the cue and desire for the reward remain, which increases the likelihood of relapsing into the old habit. By swapping in a better routine, you still satisfy the brain's craving for reward but in a healthier way.
2. Cravings and Emotional Triggers:
Bad habits can be coping mechanisms: Bad habits often develop as ways to cope with stress, boredom, or other emotional triggers. For example, stress eating or smoking might provide comfort or relief. If you try to eliminate these habits without a new way to manage stress, your brain will continue to seek out ways to fill that emotional need. Replacing the bad habit with a positive coping mechanism, like exercising or meditation, allows you to meet the same emotional need but in a healthier way.
3. Neurological Pathways:
Rewiring the brain: When we repeat a behavior, the brain strengthens the neural pathways associated with that behavior. If you simply try to stop a bad habit, those well-established pathways remain intact. However, when you replace a bad habit with a good one, you help form new neural connections and gradually weaken the pathways associated with the old behavior. Over time, the new habit becomes easier, and the bad habit loses its automatic grip on your behavior.
4. Sustaining Behavior Change:
Building momentum: When you replace a bad habit with a good one, you create positive momentum. For example, if you replace nighttime snacking with drinking herbal tea, the act of doing something positive reinforces itself and increases the likelihood that you'll stick with it over time. Simply removing the bad habit without a replacement leaves a gap, which can feel unsatisfying and increase the temptation to fall back into old patterns.
5. Reward System and Dopamine:
Dopamine reinforcement: Bad habits often provide an immediate dopamine hit, which reinforces the behavior. If you eliminate the bad habit without a replacement that also triggers a dopamine response (like exercise, creative activities, or social interaction), you might miss that pleasurable feedback, making it harder to sustain the change. Replacing the habit with something positive that also stimulates dopamine helps your brain adjust to the new behavior more easily.
6. The Power of Focus:
Positive over negative focus: It’s psychologically more effective to focus on what you will do, rather than what you won’t. The brain responds better to actionable goals (“I will go for a walk when I feel stressed”) than prohibitions (“I will not smoke”). Focusing on a positive action helps you stay motivated and gives you a clear path forward.
Here’s a real life example breaking all of this down..
If you have a habit of snacking on sour candy when you’re bored, you might replace that routine with drinking tea or eating fruits or veggies instead. The cue (boredom) remains the same, but the routine (snacking) is swapped with something healthier (drinking water or eating something healthier), while the reward (relief from boredom) stays intact.
With all of this information, make your own decisions and MAKE THEM WISELY. The things you do repetitively can propel you to great heights OR they can anchor you to a life of misery and defeat. Pick your poison.