Habit Basics
A behavior that becomes automatic from repeating it often.
Habit
The feeling, time of day, people, place or whatever you did just before a habit that reminds you of doing that habit is called a ____________.
Cue/Trigger
TRUE OR FALSE: Habits are something we are born with. We cannot choose our habits.
FALSE: We can choose our habits, good or bad.
Give TWO examples of annoying behaviors that could be habits you want to crush.
Answers will vary.
Nail biting, eating junk food daily, not turning off the lights, pen top biting, talking in class, etc.
Habits that have negative effects on our lives that we want to work on eliminating.
Habits to crush
What trains our brains to do the same thing over and over again?
The habit loop.
TRUE or FALSE: Our habits have the same impact on our lives as one-time events.
FALSE: Habits have long-term effects while one-time events have short-term effects.
Give TWO examples of harmful behaviors that can be habits you want to crush.
Answers will vary.
Not wearing a seatbelt, jaywalking, not looking both ways before crossing the street, texting and driving, spending your money on things you don't need, etc.
Habits that improve our lives that we want to work on regularly.
Habits to nurture
What usually makes us want to change a habit?
HINT: It usually is what follows the satisfaction in habits that we want to crush.
If we experience negative side effects.
TRUE or FALSE: It is easier to change our habits when we are younger.
TRUE. It is easier to change our habits when we are younger because we are more open to learning new things and aren't "stuck in our ways" as much.
Give ONE example of a habit to nurture.
Answers will vary.
Anything that can improve your life that you want to keep doing.
A behavior of a habit leads to a sense of _______________.
HINT: It's the reason we keep doing it!
Satisfaction
In the habit loop, the action of the habit is called _______________.
The behavior.
TRUE or FALSE: Most people want to change their habits in the following areas: Health, Money Management, Productivity and Relationships
TRUE. People typically want to improve their physical and mental health, save more money, be more organized and have healthy friendships and relationships.
Give ONE example of a habit to crush.
Answers will vary.
Anything that you want to eliminate or stop doing that has negative effects on your life.
Name the 4 parts of the habit loop IN ORDER.
Cue, Behavior, Satisfaction, Negative Side Effects
What can help to motivate us to stick to a new habit we want to nurture?
A small reward.
TRUE or FALSE: The habit loop only trains our brains for bad habits (habits to crush).
FALSE: All habits follow the habit loop including habits we want to nurture and crush (good and bad).
Jane wants to stop biting her nails. She bites them when she is nervous during tests at school. It calms her down, but her hands look ugly and no one wants to touch her hands. Despite this she continues to do this every test. Name the CUE, BEHAVIOR, SATISFACTION and NEGATIVE SIDE EFFECTS of this habit loop.
CUE--when she is nervous during tests
BEHAVIOR--nail biting
SATISFACTION--it calms her down
NEGATIVE SIDE EFFECTS--ugly hands, no one wants to touch her hands, losing friends