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Breaking habit loop of cue, routine and reward
By Wang Yong |
October 13, 2012, Saturday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
AS Shanghai repairs subway escalators to ensure passenger safety, many feeble white-collar workers have had to inch their way up the stone stairs.
A couple of weeks ago, I saw high-heeled ladies clicking and clacking their way up the paved stairs since the adjacent escalator was suspended for a regular repair at the Nanjing Road W. stop on Metro Line 2. At that moment, it dawned me that those ladies in high heels actually are capable of walking up stairs without a lift, that their habit of riding instead of walking whenever possible can be corrected, and that few people are actually born lazy and averse to walking.
In many cases, it is the availability of an escalator or elevator that induces people to walk less and ride more. When the escalator disappears or doesn't work, people rediscover their natural strength and, it is hoped, the pleasure of exercise. Certainly, modern cities cannot function without elevators and escalators, especially in high-rises. But someone who works on the 40th floor often finds it hilarious or hard to believe that many people commute between the first and second floors on an elevator.
If all high-rises were designed so that elevators (except for those for people with disabilities) made no stops for the first three, four or five floors, those who work there might eventually find it pleasant to walk up and down. After all, our parents and grandparents lived through hard times on foot and emerged alive and kicking.
Using so many escalators and elevators, many people have forgotten the old Chinese warning about health: the weaker the legs, the worse the health.
In author Charles Duhigg's words, the penetration of escalators and elevators in modern life represents a "cue" to induce people to satisfy their craving for comfort. When they become addicted to these lifts, people will embark on a "routine" of looking for and taking a lift everywhere they go. Then comes the "reward," which will teach the brain whether the habit is worth remembering for the future.
The "cue," "routine" and "reward" constitute what the author calls a "habit loop" that can be changed if any of the three parts changes. In his 2012 book, "The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business," he debunks the myth that habits are one's nature and cannot be corrected.
Although hard-to-break bad habits sometimes do get rooted - since the brain does not judge whether the habit is beneficial or detrimental - author Charles Duhigg, an investigative journalist for The New York Times, believes that you can change your destructive habits by changing your cues, routines or rewards.
In the case of the escalator, for instance, urban planners hoping to save energy and keeping citizens healthy may consider any of the following: 1. eliminating or reducing the number of escalators so passengers or pedestrians have to climb the stairs of no more than, say, 100 steps; 2. canceling around-the-clock escalator service so that passengers or pedestrians have to climb the stairs now and then; 3. educating the public about the health hazards associated with riding more and walking less.
The first two choices focus on a "cue" or a "routine," and the third focuses on the "reward." Each focus is effective in its own way.
There are many brilliant examples in the book that tell us bad habits can be uprooted if one focuses on the "habit loop." In one case, the book describes how Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) successfully helps many members change the habits that surround drinking.
No refuge in a bottle
Someone addicted to drinking usually approaches drinking as a way (a cue) to forget or unwind. Instead of eliminating the presence of alcohol - which is impossible - AA changed the "routine" from one of habitual drinking to one of seeking companionship - talking to other alcoholics about the craving and the feelings it sparks instead of finding refuge in a bottle. AA approach has been so successful that it has been adopted by people dealing with other additions, such as food, cigarettes and drugs.
The cue-routine-reward habit loop applies to habits in societies as well, says the author. "A movement starts because of the social habits of friendship and the strong ties between close acquaintances," he observes. "It endures because a movement's leaders give participants new habits that create a fresh sense of identity and a feeling of ownership."
And, in both social and personal cases, change of a keystone habit can cascade throughout and force other changes. "Some habits have the power to start a chain reaction, changing other habits as they move through an organization.... Keystone habits start a process that, over time, transforms everything," he writes.
Fewer high-heeled shoes
Back to the escalator case.
If you have to walk more and ride less, you will consider buying fewer high-heeled shoes (which is better for your feet and back), and over time, you may well develop a liking for walking, jogging or hiking whenever possible. Eventually, you may become very nimble and flexible, even as you grow older, while other sedentary people wither away, in part because of weaker legs.
The book seeks to address the big problems of our times by focusing on small wins, and the author has done a good job. Habits, not empty ideologies, can make or break an individual and a society.
One reason why many people over the world talk the talk of low-carbon life and walk the walk of energy waste is that they have been so pampered by societies armed to teeth with modern electric and electronic conveniences that thinking out of the box seems almost impossible.
They forget that man, not machine or the material world in general, is the source of progress and happiness. What's the use of myriad of fine machines if man, the master, is weakened?
A couple of weeks ago, I saw high-heeled ladies clicking and clacking their way up the paved stairs since the adjacent escalator was suspended for a regular repair at the Nanjing Road W. stop on Metro Line 2. At that moment, it dawned me that those ladies in high heels actually are capable of walking up stairs without a lift, that their habit of riding instead of walking whenever possible can be corrected, and that few people are actually born lazy and averse to walking.
In many cases, it is the availability of an escalator or elevator that induces people to walk less and ride more. When the escalator disappears or doesn't work, people rediscover their natural strength and, it is hoped, the pleasure of exercise. Certainly, modern cities cannot function without elevators and escalators, especially in high-rises. But someone who works on the 40th floor often finds it hilarious or hard to believe that many people commute between the first and second floors on an elevator.
If all high-rises were designed so that elevators (except for those for people with disabilities) made no stops for the first three, four or five floors, those who work there might eventually find it pleasant to walk up and down. After all, our parents and grandparents lived through hard times on foot and emerged alive and kicking.
Using so many escalators and elevators, many people have forgotten the old Chinese warning about health: the weaker the legs, the worse the health.
In author Charles Duhigg's words, the penetration of escalators and elevators in modern life represents a "cue" to induce people to satisfy their craving for comfort. When they become addicted to these lifts, people will embark on a "routine" of looking for and taking a lift everywhere they go. Then comes the "reward," which will teach the brain whether the habit is worth remembering for the future.
The "cue," "routine" and "reward" constitute what the author calls a "habit loop" that can be changed if any of the three parts changes. In his 2012 book, "The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business," he debunks the myth that habits are one's nature and cannot be corrected.
Although hard-to-break bad habits sometimes do get rooted - since the brain does not judge whether the habit is beneficial or detrimental - author Charles Duhigg, an investigative journalist for The New York Times, believes that you can change your destructive habits by changing your cues, routines or rewards.
In the case of the escalator, for instance, urban planners hoping to save energy and keeping citizens healthy may consider any of the following: 1. eliminating or reducing the number of escalators so passengers or pedestrians have to climb the stairs of no more than, say, 100 steps; 2. canceling around-the-clock escalator service so that passengers or pedestrians have to climb the stairs now and then; 3. educating the public about the health hazards associated with riding more and walking less.
The first two choices focus on a "cue" or a "routine," and the third focuses on the "reward." Each focus is effective in its own way.
There are many brilliant examples in the book that tell us bad habits can be uprooted if one focuses on the "habit loop." In one case, the book describes how Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) successfully helps many members change the habits that surround drinking.
No refuge in a bottle
Someone addicted to drinking usually approaches drinking as a way (a cue) to forget or unwind. Instead of eliminating the presence of alcohol - which is impossible - AA changed the "routine" from one of habitual drinking to one of seeking companionship - talking to other alcoholics about the craving and the feelings it sparks instead of finding refuge in a bottle. AA approach has been so successful that it has been adopted by people dealing with other additions, such as food, cigarettes and drugs.
The cue-routine-reward habit loop applies to habits in societies as well, says the author. "A movement starts because of the social habits of friendship and the strong ties between close acquaintances," he observes. "It endures because a movement's leaders give participants new habits that create a fresh sense of identity and a feeling of ownership."
And, in both social and personal cases, change of a keystone habit can cascade throughout and force other changes. "Some habits have the power to start a chain reaction, changing other habits as they move through an organization.... Keystone habits start a process that, over time, transforms everything," he writes.
Fewer high-heeled shoes
Back to the escalator case.
If you have to walk more and ride less, you will consider buying fewer high-heeled shoes (which is better for your feet and back), and over time, you may well develop a liking for walking, jogging or hiking whenever possible. Eventually, you may become very nimble and flexible, even as you grow older, while other sedentary people wither away, in part because of weaker legs.
The book seeks to address the big problems of our times by focusing on small wins, and the author has done a good job. Habits, not empty ideologies, can make or break an individual and a society.
One reason why many people over the world talk the talk of low-carbon life and walk the walk of energy waste is that they have been so pampered by societies armed to teeth with modern electric and electronic conveniences that thinking out of the box seems almost impossible.
They forget that man, not machine or the material world in general, is the source of progress and happiness. What's the use of myriad of fine machines if man, the master, is weakened?
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