A simple definition, “an action or pattern of behavior that is repeated so often that it becomes typical of somebody, although he or she may be unaware of it”.
Whether good or bad, there are patterns in your life that you seem not to have control of. You try and try, but you seem not to figure out how it just happens.
Usually people are always concern about bad habits like smoking and drinking. Well, this write-up is not to deal with psychological addiction; but to look into how one can identify some repetitive actions that we engage in. Actions that impede our success as individuals, organisation and as an organisation.
Have you wondered why you promise yourself to go to bed early sometimes, but yet you still go to bed at the same time every day? Do you leave for work 8:00am whether you wake up 4:30am or 6:00am?
There are some unaware activities we engage in that trigger further activities in our life. It’s called a behavioural cue. E.g most smokers will tell you as soon as they finish having a meal; the next thing that follows is a stick of cigarette to step it down. In this instance the behaviour cue is the meal; same for those that will tell you they need a stick of cigarette to enable them use the restroom in the morning.
When you woke up this morning, what did you do first? Did you hop in the bathroom, check your email, or drink a class of water? Do you brush your teeth before or after you take your bath? At first these activities are conscious. Then we stopped making a choice, and the behaviour becomes automatic.
Conserving mental energy where possible has been the reason why our body subconsciously form most of our habits. “this effort-saving instinct is a huge advantage… [for] an efficient brain… allows us to stop thinking constantly about basic behaviours, such as walking and choosing what to eat, so we can devote mental energy to inventing spears, irrigation systems, and, eventually, airplanes and video games”.
How do our brains fall into habits? it comes down to a simple, three part loop: cue, routine and reward. The first, there is a cue, a trigger that tells your brain to go into automatic mode and which habit to use. Then there is the routine, which can be physical or mental or emotional. Finally, there is a reward, which helps your brain figure out if this particular loop is worth remembering for the future.
NOW:
Look through your every day routine, evaluate them, and identify which of your activities further triggers other activities that affects your productivity.
There are habits organisations even have that affect their overall productivity. Some might be the way you start your meetings, or the arrangements of your meeting agenda.
You get to the office in the morning, and you don’t get to do anything reasonable until about 12:00pm. Why? Is it because the first thing you do is to check the punchonline, lindaikeji, or facebook. Or is it because you first go to the happening department to hear the latest gist within the organisation.
I will urge you to take time out and evaluate your daily activities and check what you really don’t need to do that further creates ripple effects of unnecessary activities in your daily life.
There are habits that need serious will-power and pyschological work to get rid of. But what I am talking about here are called “Keystone Habits”, that which you can easily identify and get rid of to help improve your life, even as business owners, managers; you can look keenly into what your business activities are; and get rid of the unwanted habits that have been hindering your efficiency.
Don’t you wonder why the ladies always make most men get late to their events even when they know the time of the events days before.
Look through your daily activities today, and help yourself identify that thing that you do that impedes your productivity, and I trust you will be very happy you read this article.
To learn more about the subject, you can start by reading any of the books below:
The Power of Habit. By Charles Duhigg
Rewire. By Richard O’Connor
Author: Lu Abikoye
luabikoye@gmail.com
