It takes a trigger. Or a cue. Something that starts it.<\/p>\n
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And when that triggered action becomes part of our routine, we are two thirds of the way there.<\/p>\n
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If we get a reward for taking that action, a payoff that we look forward to getting<\/p>\n
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…We have all the elements of a habit.<\/p>\n
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I’ve been reading The Power of Habit.<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n I’ve often worked to engineer habits. As a child, I sucked my thumb…far longer than I should have.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Of course people made fun of me, but my thumb was my own business.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Until one day when I was seven I decided I would stop. Me and Mom crafted a plan. We got this bad-tasting concoction meant to help nail biters and decided to put it on my thumb. Then, in case I forgot and accidentally put my thumb in my mouth and had that awful taste, I would carry a water bottle so that I could get rid of the awful taste.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n So prepared, I went to school with determination. And never sucked my thumb again. I didn’t need that water bottle. I never tasted the nasty tasting liquid.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Habit kicked.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n New habits can be tougher. How do I START doing something I want to do? I’m trying to sustain a habit of tracking everything I eat. I track all the healthy things no problem. But the dips into the chip bag? Just for 3 chips? I don’t track those. I am working on this habit.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Habits of stopping, habits of starting, these are all mine.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n But there are societal habits, too.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n How can we change what everyone else does? Turns out there are a lot of people who work on that problem.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Their efforts hit us every day in the form of advertising.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n But my favorite story is the one about housewives in world war two.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n In the 1940s, housewives had a lot more responsibility than they do now. The basics were harder to come by. I could have dinner ready in seconds. But a 1940s grocery store gave foods requiring a lot more preparation. If you wanted hamburger you had to grind it yourself.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n And that’s before we bring rationing into it.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n America had to ship food over to feed all the soldiers, and not just the ones from America. We supplied food to our allies.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Rationing was part of the solution, but then also they wanted to use all parts of the meat animal. Like all the organ meats.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n We couldn’t afford to throw it away anymore. So the government had to come up with a way to get people to eat what they never had before.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n So they put out recipes and suggestions for working these meats into dishes that were already familiar. Like, add some liver to meatloaf. We like meatloaf, right?<\/p>\n <\/p>\n It turns out there is a principle at. People like what’s familiar, and automatically reject what is different, So this war campaign, suggesting small adjustments, was super successful.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n 30% growth in eating organ meats happened during the war. And since people had gotten used to it, by the 1950s, the number had grown 50%.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Wrapping the new habit in our favorite old habits can work.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n This is a principle I call sneaking up on myself. I will wrap up something I’m REALLY dreading into something ordinary. I know I get so much work done when I ride public transportation to work. It takes all the pressure off.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Picking the right habits sets me up. This book is making me want to take a habit inventory and upgrade a few.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" It takes a trigger. Or a cue. Something that starts it. And when that triggered action becomes part of our routine, we are two thirds of the way there. If we get a reward for taking that action, … Continue reading