Bad habits are often what get us stuck. Ideally, we see what’s happening (I can’t afford my
speeding tickets), and we adjust (drive slower). But sometimes we recognize the bad habit and
choose not to do anything about it, willing to live in stuckness (think procrastination). Then
there’s the bad habit we don’t even know we have. These are some of the hardest stuck
moments to solve. We know something isn’t working for us, but can’t pinpoint our role in it.
It’s these hidden bad habits that also hold the most potential. If we can shine some light on
them, understand them, and own them, then we can replace them with good habits. And that
means we get stuck less often or for not as long.
There are three defining characteristics of a habit, according to Jeremy Dean, author
of MAKIN G HA BI T S, BRE AKI NG HABIT S:
When we think about bad habits, the first ones that spring to mind are actions like nail-biting,
smoking, or eating too much cake. But we have other not-so-good habits that we may not
realize we’re doing, like how we respond to certain types of people or situations. It could go
something like this: You’re eight weeks into a new romantic relationship and happy, happy,
happy about it. But in the following weeks, your mate hasn’t been able to call or come over as
often. As your time together dwindles, you begin finding fault after fault with him, and now you
feel stuck in a relationship you want out of. From the outside looking in, we conclude that lack
of attention led to the intense criticism. We might even see a pattern of this in your life,
whether it’s personal relationships, jobs, or activities. But for you, on the inside, it’s harder to
connect the context of being ignored with your response (or habit) of fault-finding. So how do
we make that connection?
It takes active self-observation. Think about how you spot trouble patterns in others, like the
example above. You step back and consider a wider scope of time and behavior than the
situation at hand. And then you identify similar instances. Every time this happens, she does
that. Turning that kind of eye on yourself takes courage and honesty. But if you get stuck in the
same way often, this is a great first step toward undoing that hidden habit.
Try this: Make a list of all your past stuck moments and then come up with possible triggers for
each of them. Think about how you felt, what others said and did, what you thought, how you
reacted, what you said, how you got unstuck (if you did). You may start to see patterns, but
most likely, you’ll have to keep adding to the list with new stuck moments before the insights
emerge. It also may help to get input to your list from someone who knows you or the
situations well.
If you use the Unstuck app regularly, much of this work is already done. You can go back to your
past stuck moments and review your feelings, thoughts, and actions. You may even want to
diagnose stuck moments you had before you got the app so you have a full record.
In either case, find the behavior pattern of “when this happens, I do this.” As a thought starter,
below is a list of the 11 ways we believe people get stuck. With each, we’ve included a list of
possible habits that may emerge in these situations. If any strike a chord, your job is to find the
trigger that causes the habit.
SWAPPING IN GOOD HABITS FOR BAD
Once we identify the hidden habit that gets us stuck, we can work on kicking it. Because habits
are an automatic response to a specific trigger, it’s nearly impossible to just stop. It’s much
more effective to replace a bad habit with a better one.
For example, if, under deadline pressure, we get stuck as a Tunnel Visionary and spend all our
time finding reasons why we can’t meet the target date, our goal would be to swap that
negative behavior with something that helps us think more positively. It could be taking a walk,
listening to a certain piece of music, talking to a colleague. You know what will work best for
you. The most important thing is that the solution should directly respond to what’s triggering
your habit, so eventually it will become automatic: I feel deadline pressure, so I will…
To help your habit swap succeed, consider following these three pointers for before, during,
and after:
Before: Catch yourself ahead of time. Take advantage of days when you’re
feeling more resolved about changing your habit to put preventive measures
in place, recommends Dean. If you know you always procrastinate with
Facebook or Twitter, schedule an app to block them during certain times. If
you overspend, deposit your money in an account you can’t access until the
weekend comes.
During: Don’t go it alone. When you’re the only one who knows about your
new habit, it’s far easier to give up. Find someone, or something like a digital
tool, that can keep you accountable as well as offer encouragement and
feedback. At times like this, there’s no shame in fishing for a few
compliments if that will help keep you on track.
After: Make minor adjustments.
If your plan works the first time out, kudos! You’ve got habit-swapping superpowers. Most of us
will slip up once or more, so we’ll have to figure out why it didn’t work. Maybe we need more
people to motivate us. It could be the good habit isn’t the right replacement for the bad one.
Like everything in life, it’s a process of trial-and-error, so you have to allow yourself to make
mistakes, understand them, and adjust the plan.
Expectations will play a big part in your success. On his website, Psyblog, Dean points out that
turning an action from intentional to automatic takes time. A recent study averaged that time
at 66 days for relatively simple habits such as drinking a glass of water every day. For hidden
habits that aren’t necessarily triggered daily, it’s wise to assume that your habit swap is going to
take longer than two months.