Hacking your brain to make or break habits

#brainhacking #neuroscience #brain #brainscience #personaldevelopment #habits #success

© 2024 Zoryna O’Donnell

This article was first published by The Maverick Paradox Magazine on 12/11/2024

Before you decide to get offended by my saying that each and every one of us is a “creature of habit”, take a deep breath and read this article.

A research undertaken by Dr Wendy Wood and her colleagues established that as much as 43% of all our daily activities are enacted habitually while we are thinking about something else. The power of habits is so strong, that it will resist even conflicting interests. According to another research by Dr Wood and her colleagues, people can be so driven by their habits that they will automatically eat stale popcorn despite not being hungry (and not particularly liking the popcorn) while watching a film in the cinema.

Bearing in mind the benefits and costs associated with our habits, it is worth taking a good look at them.

According to Encyclopaedia Britannica, habit is “any regularly repeated behaviour that requires little or no thought and is learned rather than innate”.

In his book The Power of Habit, Charles Duhigg introduced the concept of the habit loop which was also explained in more detail in James Cleary’s book Atomic Habits.

Understanding how the habit loop works helps us to identify the main leverage points in behavioural change which can be used to good advantage by strategically manipulating cues, routines and rewards.

This understanding forms sound foundations for many brain hacks and science-based tools and techniques used to change habits. …

Please read the entire article here. [ https://themaverickparadox.com/hacking-your-brain-to-make-or-break-habits/  ]

Image credit: LMPC.