Identify and isolate what cues your habit at present – cut through the background noise and clarify what triggers your routine. There are in practice only five possibilities:
Location – Where are you when you feel the urge to start your routine?
Time – Does your habit kick in at much the same time every day? Why is that?
Emotional state – Are you bored or something else when that habit kicks in?
Other people – Who else is around when you feel the urge to do what you do?
Another action – Does doing something else feed the urge and act as a trigger?
Once you've figured out your habit loop you can reengineer it – you can change to a better routine whenever that cue comes along. You can come up with a routine which delivers the reward you crave in a more productive way. Remember the formula for a habit: When I see a CUE, I will do a ROUTINE in order to get the REWARD I crave. Keep the cue and the reward the same but swap out the old routine for a new and improved routine.
“If you believe you can change – if you make it a habit – the change becomes real. This is the real power of habit: the insight that your habits are what you choose them to be. Once that choice occurs – and becomes automatic – it's not only real, it starts to seem inevitable.”
- Charles Duhigg