How To Set And Build New Habits

How To Set And Build New Habits

Habits are the basis of our lives because we are habitual creatures and to change

and reach your goals you need to get down into what you do on a daily basis.

but, It’s hard to build new habits and break old ones and I bit you know that too

I know how difficult it can be that’s why I wrote this article

to help you and myself build the habits we want to better our lives and reach our goals

this article is the 7th of the start of start the year Strong series

you’ll find links to all the articles in this series at the end of the article

What you will learn:

• science of habits
• Important concepts that will help you understand the tools 
• Tools based on science to help you build habits and the neuroscience for each one 
• Programs to follow that combine every tool 

This post is based on this episode of the Huberman Lab podcast 

Science of habits 

Habit building is related to learning and neuroplasticity

Neuroplasticity is the process in which your nervous system

changes in response to experience

The change happens to the communication between neurons through

the changes to the electrical and chemical signals 

This means forming new neurocircuits and pathways in which a habit can occur 

Important concepts In neuroscience and psychology 

That would be useful for understanding the tools and program

They are important to understand

because they play a role in building habits, and breaking them

( will have a separate post),

and for you to understand the tools

1-types of habits based on psychology

-Goal-based habits

Habits that are based on the outcome you want to achieve like doing push-ups 

-identity-based habits

Habits that are based on who you want to be or the identity you have like being an athlete, creative

which are more powerful

leaning these to help you in choosing the habits you want to build  

2-limibic friction

How much energy and effort do you need to overcome to do the behavior

How much activation energy it will take for you to execute a new habit or break a habit 

It’s affected by the state of your body and mind

it’s a measure to assess whether forming certain habits will be

easy or challenging for you to 

or if you can build the habit or not at all

3-Linchpin habits 

Are things that you enjoy doing that are easy to execute and they make doing others’ habits easier

to execute when they’re done in relation to each other

helps us Execute hard habits

4-habit strength

There are 2 ways to measure habit strength

1-how context-dependent a habit is

The ability to perform the habit at any time and in any environment

Stong habits are context-independent meaning you can do them anywhere at any time

eg. teeth brushing if you can do them at your home and hotel when you travel

then they are context-independent

2-limibic friction

Limibic friction is how much top-down (from your fore-brain to your limbic system that generates autonomic responses) 

conscious override of your state is required to engage in that particular behavior 

When you are in the process of building and consolidating habits

it will take more limbic friction to execute those habits 

The goal of any habit is to become automatic

meaning it requires less energy to get done

Less mental and physical effort and less limbic friction to execute them

How long does it take to build habits 

It varies from person to person and from habit to another

You may build the habit of waking up early in 3 months or more but you easily build the habit of journaling in 2 weeks or less 

Identify which habits are easy for you to perform,

and which ones are hard for you to perform

And which ones do you want to break 

doing this will help you when you use the tools below

next is the habit building tools

Tools to build habits(how to set habits)

Tool 1 Procedural memory visualization 

Come from psychology exactly from a review article (psychology of Habit)

by Wendy Wood and Dennis Ruegner in the Annual Review of Psychology

What is a procedural monomer?

It’s where you hold the sequence of events in order for a particular outcome to happen like a recipe or protocol

Neuroscience

parts of the brain involved are the Hipicmapus and neocortex and others

receptors involved NMDA AND methyl-D- aspartate receptors 

different receptors on the surface of the neurons will start activating

with a strong stimulus of doing the visualization

then when you actually engage in this new behavior and as you do it repeatedly

particular neurons co-activate

i.e fire together which strengthens the connection between them

How do you do it?

By visualizing the sequence of steps to perform the habit from start to finish

shift the likelihood of being able to perform this habit

from unlikely or moderately likely to very likely over time

Use it with things you want to be reflexive,

do it once or twice a week

Benefits, why it helps in habit building

 when you do the visualization the nervous system

sets in motion the same neurons that are going to be required for the execution of that habit

so when you actually perform that habit

things fall easily into place,it lowers the threshold for the habit to perform 

Which will increase the likelihood of doing the habit

Tool 2 task bracketing

Important for the establishment of behaviors associated with a habit,

we have particular circuits in our brain that are devoted to framing

the events just before we initiate the habit and just after we terminate the habit 

When that part of the brain and neuro circuits is engaged your body is primed to execute the habit

Neuroscience, how it works

involves neurocircuit within the nasal ganglia  

Which is dorso(up)lateral(to the side) striatum (subdivision to the basal ganglia)

when it is working it changes the state of your body and mind

and makes it easier to execute the habit

Benefits of using this tool

Important because it will determine

whether or not will be context dependent or not, and strong or not

the state of your body and mind when using this tool

is going to allow you to get into a habit, form that habit, and consolidate that habit

because Our nervous system tends to generate particular behavior based on the state is in

and this tool lead you toa sate where you can perform habits easily

How to use it

Through visualizing the events before and after the habit execution

And though using the next tool

Tool 3 phase-based habits plan (program in itself )

Dividing the day into 3 phases starting from when you wake up

it can apply to both nocturnal and diurnal people

based on neuroscience and psychology literature on learning and the concept of task bracketing 

Each phase will underpin biological and chemical and neurocircuits assoiated with it

I will describe the diurnal which starts from bedtime at 10 pm plus or minus

and waking up at 7 am plus or minus

Benefits, why you should do it

The reason for placing particular behaviors at different phases of the day is to

utilize the neurochemical states of each phase

which will make habits associated with that phase

(before, during, and after the execution of the habits)

in doing so,

you shift the whole nervous system into being able

to predict when certain things going to happen

ie. when you are going to lean in against limbic friction

in order to perform particular types of habits 

which utilizes task bracketing and

helps with making the habit context independent

How it works

1-0-8hours from waking up

Neuromodulators epinephrine and norepinephrine, dopamine will be elevated in this phase

For several reasons 

1- healthy cortisol is higher in our bloodstream

2-our body temperature is increasing 

things that support this alert and focused state 

1-viewing sunlight or bright artificial light within 30 minutes of waking

2-physical exercise of some kind preferably early but it’s okay if not

3-cold exposure 

4-caffeine ingestion

5-fasting not ingesting will increase these neurotransmitters

Or eat food that is high in tyrosine( look them up

Or supplements with alpha GPC or phenylethylamine, l-tyrosine(

disclaimer: consult your physician before taking any supplements or doing any sort of diet change )

they place your body and mind in a state

where you can easily engage with high limbic friction activities

because your whole system is primed for action and focus

due to the neurochemicals that rise in this phase 

Practical how to use it

List the habits you want to do and do the ones that have

the highest degree of limbic friction,

hardest to engage in, require the most activation energy,

and want them and put them in this phase 

2-9-14 hours after waking up

Neurochmicals from phase one start to come down, cortisol decreases and

serotonin starts to rise which will put you into a more relaxed state

than before but not yet too relaxed like phase 3

Things that support the consolidation and generation of certain types of habits 

1-reducing the amount of light you are viewing artificial one

Because you will be heading to phase 3 soon which will be important

for the consolidation of habits

2-NSDR(NON-SLEEP-DEEP-REST), self-hypnosis script, meditation to get into a relaxed state 

3- hot bath, shower, and sauna support the high serotonin state

4-supplementation: ashwagandha very potent cortisol-inhibiting tool

not to be taken more than 2 weeks (to know why look it up)

disclaimer: consult with your doctor before taking any supplements or doing any protocol

an important point to have in mind is

that in this state you are alert and engaged in social activities and other works 

but you’re not on the same level as phase 2

I think of it as an in-between state of the first and third phase

Practical things to use it

Choose habits that are a bit challenging but don’t require

a ton of energy to override the limbic friction.

Less resistant things that have neruosubstare 

It could be habits that you already practicing like journaling, or learning a language…

Because our ability to override limbic friction will be less than that of phase one as explained above

3-16-24 hours from waking up

You are heading to sleep and sleeping by the end of it

Things to support being in this state of neuroplasticity that leads to Habits consolidating

1-very low to no light (very dim or dark environment)

2-lowering temperature it has to lower by 1-2 degrees to get into sleep and stay 

3- adjusting your eating schedule ie. eat well enough before sleep

whether that is 2 hours or more

4-supplements:

Magnesium theronate,bisglycinate,theonine, apigenin

disclaimer: consult with your doctor before taking any supplements or doing any protocol

5-not ingesting any caffeine starting in phase 2

to get into a deeper state of rest in

which habit formation and neuroplasticity can occur 

Neuroplasticity and rewiring of neural circuits happen in deep sleep

which is the basis of habit formation

So, if you don’t do the things in this phase you won’t build those habits from phases 1 & 2

Practical things here

Do relaxing things and sleep soundly 

important tips about this plan as a whole:

if you start to have habits in phases 1 and 2 that you start to engage with pretty effortlessly

you can move them to different times and phases of the day which will make the habit context independent

in doing so,

habit moved to a certain component of neurocircuitry

that allows us to do what seems reflexive 

What moves are the signals, the sequence of electrical firing 

Once the information moved to a different area of the brain it achieved context independence

Tool 4 dopamine spotlighting and task bracketing 

using dopamine to help motivate you to do the habit

Neuroscience/ why it works

This has to do with reward prediction errors which entail

If you anticipate that something will happen dopamine

will start releasing and if that thing happens

the dopamine releases would be greater

And if you anticipate that something will happen and it doesn’t happen dopamine will drop below the baseline

And if something positive and unexpected happens

you’ll get dopamine greater than when you have anticipated 

When anticipating a reward it starts to arrive earlier as dopamine release experience as a feeling of positive anticipation  

And when the thing happens dopamine gets released too

but most of it comes in with the anticipation

the series of thoughts you think as you do the habit.

it will start to generate dopamine release within your body and brain 

eg. thoughts you might have: this is great,i actually i managed to do this,

i am succeeding in executing the behaviors i need to perform this habit,

i am overriding limbic friction’

The release of dopamine changes your state because of the neuro circuit changes

ie. our levels of energy, and sensory things that we pay attention to

Benefits

It makes it easier to form habits because it

give us energy by converting dopamine into epinephrin which changes your state

that will make it easier to override limbic friction

How do  you do it

Start positively anticipating the execution of the habit itself,

the period headed into the habit and afterward by feeling a particular set of benefits 

It’s very important to not lie to yourself about the execution of the habit

ie. anticipate the hardship and the effort that it will require

here is how it looks step by step

1-pick a habit you want to form

2-write down concretely the sequence of steps

involved in the execution of the habit 

3-write down what is the sequence of events

that need to precede that habit immediately 10-15 min before 

4-write down the immediate sequence of

events, thoughts, or feelings that will occur after the habit

 ie. anticipate what you will feel and think after completing the habit

positively associate the entire events that lead to the habit,

In doing so you engage the reward prediction error through

a reward-like feeling of completing something

which will lead to the release of dopamine

which will lead you to be motivated

21-day habit installation and testing system 

It involves doing 6 habits for the next 21 days and then testing them out for the next 21 days

steps:

1- write 6 things you’d like to do every day for 21 days

2-what phase of the day do those things fall into?

Depends on what they are and how they relate to each phase

3-Expectation to complete 4-5 things of those each day 

You can chunk these habits into 2 days ie do these habits in a span of 2 days then reset the habits

instead of having 24 hours to do these habits you have 48 hours then reset

4-After the 21 days of learning you test yourself for the next 21 days, how?

You stop deliberately engaging in those 4-5 habits and see how many are automatically 

incorporated into your schedule, you are naturally doing 

why do you test yourself?

1-To Assess how deeply you rewired your nervous system

to be able to perform these habits of the previous 21 days 

2-To assess whether or not you can make room for new habits / more habits 

You might find that you did 2 consistently and 1 sporadically

and 3 that you didn’t do

in those 21 testing days, you see whether or not

you can continue to perform those habits

if you can do them effortlessly and reflexive

Then and only then can you add more habits in 

If the 21 testing days didn’t end up making them reflexive

you repeat the 21 days of testing again and again

And only after they become reflexive you can start learning new habits 

In a year timeline it can look like you start the year learning those habits

and for the next couple of months or more

you repeat them until they become reflexive then you start new habits

Features of the plan

• Built-in failure  by not doing all 6 habits
• lack of compensation and punishment for missed days
• Hait slip by not doing all 6 habits
• A high-intensity program that involves testing yourself 

That makes the system adaptable to the real world 

Collapse the phases system and All the tools you learned in this program 

in doing so, there’s a high probability that the habits will have context dependence

and take progressively less and less limbic friction to perform them

comment how did you find this post?

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this post is part of start the Year Strong series

All of these posts have an aim to help you prepare for the new year and start the year strong

here is the list of all the articles at start the year Strong series

• How To Get Ready For The New Year
• How To Reflect On The Past Year
• How To Set Goals That Actually Work
• How To Make A Plan To Reach Your Goals
• How To Set And Build New Habits
• 3 Mindsets You Need To Succeed At Every Goal
• Can’t Get Myself Motivated? 3 Powerful Ways To Get Motivated
• How To Beat Procrastination Tips: 5 Strategies Based On Science

to your success

Wafaa