Habit Formation

Notes

Habit formation is how certain actions are converted from energy intensive actions to ones that are done automatically. First of all, it's worth noting that the reason our brain converts things into habits is to save energy. It "knows" that if we are repeating an action it must be useful or important, so why not make it easier to do? Caching. It turns from a concious thought into an automatic process, moving it from System 2 to System 1 and constantly reinforced through The habit loop.

Habits will probably not form for actions that are difficult, i.e involves much Friction or require Critical Thinking of any sort.

Similarly, since habits are all about repeatability, they are easier to form for small, fun activities.

Habits usually require a Cue, a signal for the brain to start the automated action. If we use Environmental design wisely, we can choose which cues exist in our environment so that we could enable/prevent certain habits from occurring.

Habits are a good way for creating routines for a better lifestyle, instead of relying on our limited willpower

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Overview

🔼Topic:: Habits (MOC) 🔼Topic:: Human Brain ↩️Origin:: Atomic Habits (book) 🔗Link::