How do habits work? How are habits built? Well, the process of building a habit can be divided into four simple steps: Cue, Craving, Response and Reward. These 4 steps are the backbone of a habit.
The Cue
The cue triggers your brain to initiate a movement. Your brain is continuously observing your surroundings and looking for cues which can lead to your desired rewards. Once your brain spots a cue, it triggers your craving.
Example: You see a book lying somewhere in front of you and you get the sudden urge to read. The book is the cue is this case (We will be using this same example in the next steps as well) Congrats! You fulfilled the 1st step.
The Craving
Cravings are the motivational drive of a habit. We crave the rewards, not what the habit/process is. Craving is an important part of a habit. Without motivation or desire, we cannot work on our habits. This is why we fail building habits properly. We don’t make the cues clear and thus nothing motivates us to do the actual things
Example: You see a book. The book is the cue. You feel like reading it. The cue triggered your craving. Congrats! You fulfilled the 2nd step.
The Response
This is the action part, where you do the actual habit. Once you get a craving, you are most likely to do the thing in response. But if it takes you more physical or mental effort than you are willing to give then you’ll get exhausted and end up not doing it at all.
So, when starting a new habit. Keep it easy. Don’t overdo it. Otherwise you will get burned out and leave it. Take one step at a time. You can increase the amount of time or effort over time. No need to rush it on day three.
Example: You see a book. The book is the cue. You feel like reading it. The cue triggered your craving. In order to satisfy your craving, you response to it. You pick up the book and read it. Congrats! You fulfilled the 3rd step.
The Reward
This is the final step. The Reward. The reason why you got the craving and worked for it. The response triggers a reward. Its the end goal of a habit.
There are two reasons why we look out for rewards:
- They satisfy us. They satisfy our cravings and gives us a sense of contentment.
- They teach us what actions are worth remembering in the future. As I said before, your brain observes your surrounding all the time. The satisfaction, the disappointment, frustration, excitement, everything is noted in your brain. Its a part of feedback mechanism. Rewards close the feedback loop and complete the cycle.
If any of the 4 steps are incomplete then, it will never become a habit.
- Remove the cue and you will never get the craving
- If you don’t get craving / motivation, you won’t act at all.
- Make the habit difficult, you will lose all the motivation to do it. Your brain will mark it as an unpleasant action and you won’t do it again
- If you don’t get the reward then there is no point in doing it again in the future.