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Unlocking the Power of Habits

Change isn’t about perfection or relying on motivation. Change is all about small behaviours repeated consistently… your habits. Wendy Wood, a behaviour scientist, defines a habit as “a sort of a mental shortcut to repeat what we did in the past that worked for us and got us some reward”. Understanding habits can help us to change our behaviour and help us to not only achieve our goals, but also lead us to our vision.

How Habits Work AKA The Habit Loop

Every habit, helpful or unhelpful, follows a four-part loop as described by James Clear in Atomic Habits:

Habits can either move you closer to your health goals or away from them.

Helpful vs. Unhelpful Habit Examples:

Small Habits Are Built Faster:

It’s a myth that it takes 21 days to form a habit. Some habits (particularly those that offer instant gratification) can happen in just a matter of days or weeks, whereas others can take months if not years to feel solid.

Small habits that provide immediate positive feedback are the easiest to form. In contrast, big changes often require significant effort and perfect conditions (time, energy, resources) making them harder to maintain. Breaking habits into small, manageable steps helps to:

• Reduce resistance: Small steps feel achievable
• Build momentum: Completion creates a sense of accomplishment
• Create consistency: Repeating small actions makes the behaviour more automatic
• Build confidence: Success with small changes strengthens your belief in your ability to change

Repeated small actions are often more effective and sustainable than drastic changes. Just as someone may learn to play an instrument through many small, progressive steps, the same principle applies to health habits, whether meal prep, exercise, or any other behaviour. Consistent, small actions add up to lasting results.

How To Create New Habits:

By understanding the steps of habit formation, we can intentionally form new ones.

Once you’ve identified a helpful behaviour from the experiments you have conducted, you can start turning that behaviour into a habit by using the habit loop to your advantage.

Cue > Craving > Behaviour > Reward

• Step 1: Choose a small specific behaviour (ask yourself: “could I do this even on my busiest of days?”). You may default to thinking you should start with a meal prep goal such as “I’ll meal-prep for every day of the week”. Try something smaller, like “I will chop one vegetable to take with my lunch”.
• Step 2: Anchor the habit to a cue. Pick something you already do to anchor this behaviour to, like “I will chop one vegetable after I finish unpacking the groceries”.
• Step 3: Make the behaviour desirable to create a sort of craving. Connect this behaviour to a feeling or something you value - “I will feel pleased that I have got a head start on the week”.
• Step 4: Reward yourself. Celebrate each win - tick off your habit on a tracker or actively give yourself credit for practicing your new habit! Check out our resource on the value of giving yourself credit in the resources section.

You can also use this tool to reverse engineer less helpful habits by looking at your current habit and identifying if there are any alternative behaviours you could experiment with that may address the craving you are responding to.

Unhelpful habit loop

• Cue > feeling tired
• Craving > needing an energy boost
• Behavior > have a sweet snack for a sugar hit
• Reward > feel more energized (followed by an energy crash)

New habit loop

• Cue > feeling tired
• Craving > needing an energy boost
• Behavior > take a step outside for some fresh air
• Reward > feel more energized

Now it’s your turn to experiment with a habit loop:

Write down your habit formation plan.

1. Cue
2. Craving
3. Behaviour
4. Reward

Connecting your habits with your vision:

It is easy to lose sight of the reasons behind the behaviours we are putting in place but remember

"Every action you take is a vote for the type of person you wish to become"​
- James Clear​​

If you want to explore habit formation in more depth, let your Constant Health dietitian know.

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References:

Wood, W. Good Habits, Bad Habits: The Science of Making Positive Changes That Stick.

Clear, J. Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits and Break Bad Ones.

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