Lesson: The Power of Habit/ExerciseL1

Listening Exercise

So, if you're

me, you probably have

a few bad habits you would like to

. But it's tough, because no matter

I try, I seem to slip back into the

routines again and again.

"In the last decades we've

a lot about how habits work."

That's Charles Duhigg, author of

book "The Power of Habit".

"And in

we've learned the neurological structure of

habit."

He says we tend to think of a habits

a single thing, but actually, "Each habit

three components. There's a cue which is like a trigger for a

to start. And then there is a routine

is the behavior itself, and then finally a reward, which is how

brain learns to encode that automatic behavior

the future. And one of the big

is that for years, when people thought

habits, they focused in on the routine,

the behavior. But what we now know is that it's

and these rewards that really

how habits occur and how to change them."

And Charles says that

we like it or not, this kind of habit formation is endemic to our brain.

"And what it will do is our brain

latch on to a cue that it associates with a behavior

a particular reward. And over time, that cue and that

become more and more and more sort of intertwined. The inner part of your brain, named the basal ganglia will relate them

. And the behavior that is associated with

, that will just

happen automatically."

But Charles says the good news is: We can also use this knowledge to our

.

"There was a big study that was done about how to create exercise habits. And so what they did is they told a group of people, “Okay, first of all choose an

cue: always go running at the same time every day or put your workout clothes next to your bed so that you see them first thing when you wake up”. And then they said, “and then go for a run or go workout and when you get back from exercising, give

a small piece of chocolate”. Now this is kind of counter-intuitive,

? Because people who are exercising are trying to lose

, not eat more chocolate. And yet what the researchers

is that their brain needed that reward. Their basal ganglia needed some reward. But what they found was that people who

a small piece of chocolate after coming home from a run or a workout, they were

to start exercising habitually."

So, according to Charles, whether you want to break a habit,

start a new habit, the key is to divide that habit into its component parts:

,

, and

. And design it for the result that you want.