3 Ways to Trigger Your New Habit

We are creatures of habit. Our days are defined by the simple repetitions we perform consciously or subconsciously. We may always drink a coffee at 2pm, read Facebook when we wake up, or go for a run on Saturday mornings. These habits don’t have to be “good” or “bad”, they’re simply who we are and have been formed for various reasons. But it’s up to us to create constructive habits for our personal growth and success. Let’s talk about how we can start our next new habit.

The basis of any habit is a three step loop:

1. Cue – These are external or internal triggers that cause us to initiate our habit. External triggers may be the clock striking 2pm for coffee time, a Facebook notification that your friend has made a post, or your fitness app reporting that your exercise has been low this week. These triggers become internalized as a habit is grown. For example, instead of waiting for the clock to strike 2pm for coffee, you instead feel your energy drop in the afternoon and grab that coffee. Or you wake up with the fear of missing out (FOMO) and check Facebook. Or you feel your legs being restless and get that run in on Saturday.
2. Routine – Whichever cue begins the habit, it produces a response from us. This is the action itself, whether drinking coffee, checking Facebook, or going for a jog.
3. Reward – After our routine, we receive the benefits of our habit. This may be a caffeinated energy boost, social information, or post-workout relaxation. This benefit motivates us to initiate the habit the next time we have our cue. If the reward is great enough, we will internalize the habit’s cues to trigger them ourselves without needing the external world.

With any habit you want to start, you thus need a great external cue to prime the pump. What types of cues support any habit and are easy to set up? Here are my top three ways to trigger a new habit I’m created:

1. Passwords – Make the creation and maintenance of passwords fun. Choose an inspirational phrase to trigger or remind you of your habit. “D0.N0t.R3@D.F@C3B00k!”, “Appreciate!Some1!”, “St@yC@lm” are all phrases you’d have to type 5-10 times a day to access your laptop. It’s a superb way to actively have to engage with your habit, and a regular cue for you. These phrases can make long, secure passwords and  as you make new habits you’ll have an excuse to change it often.
2. Alarms – Use your phone to set a fun alarm. Remind yourself to go to bed, or your morning routine. Make the messaging inspirational and add fun emojis, like “Go To Sleep Rockstar 😴🎸” or “Zen Into The Day 🧘🌅”.
3. Lock Screen Image – How often do you check your phone? Is it every hour? Minute? Second? What if every time you did you saw a trigger of your new habit? Make your lock screen image an inspirational trigger or reminder and your biggest challenge will be switching it so often as you master each new habit. To find a great lock screen image I search the internet for something like ‘iPhone yoga wallpaper’, save it to the phone, and set it as the lock screen image in settings. Often if I’m trying to get through a slog of a book, I make the lock screen the book cover to remind me to read on my phone rather than be distracted.
   

Hopefully your new habit gets off to a great start!

Learn More – Check out Charles Duhigg’s book The Power of Habit for more on the habit loop. Nir Eyal’s book Hooked shows you how to leverage habits to build amazing product experiences to keep users coming back for me.