Early Updates On Successful Habit Change

A week ago, I wrote about the process by which habits form. In every habit, there’s a cue, a routine, and a reward. The cue kickstarts the routine by which the reward is achieved. 

I’ve built a bad habit of watching baseball videos in bed right after I wake up. This usually causes me to stay in bed way after my alarm goes off. I’ve identified this as something that kills the momentum of my morning, so I have been looking for a way to defeat this habit. 

Well, I’m happy to report that in the first week of trying, I’ve been able to successfully start rewiring this habit by changing the routine, while keeping the cue and the reward the same. The cue is wanting to slowly wake up, and the reward is watching the previous evening’s baseball highlights. But instead of staying under the covers as a routine, I’ve changed the routine to getting out of bed and drinking a glass of water on the couch. Now, I’m out of bed, I’m drinking water, and I’m still getting to watch baseball videos. Win-win! 

I don’t want to claim this success too early, or act like I’ve solved anything monumental. Much of the other research I’m reading states that real habit change takes a bit longer than one week, and that I’m likely to fall back on old habits when difficulty arises. I just want to share an early success that was inspired by a simple change of the routine. 

Give it a try with your own habits and see if you see any early success. As my research continues, I’ll continue to share interesting tidbits. Onward!

Thanks for reading, have a great day.