The issue with habits isn't a lack of knowledge about what needs to be done. The main problem is maintaining consistency.
Why is building consistency with positive habits so challenging?
I have a guess, but first...
LET'S START WITH WHAT WE KNOW: We know that we are far more likely to repeat a behavior when the experience is satisfying. Conversely, if an experience is not satisfying, we have little reason to repeat it.
This is entirely logical. Feelings of pleasure are signals that tell the brain: “This feels good. Do this again, next time.” Pleasure teaches your brain that a behavior is worth remembering and repeating.
The Cardinal Rule of Behavior Change states, "What is rewarded is repeated. What is punished is avoided."
You learn what to do in the future based on what you were rewarded for doing (or punished for doing) in the past.
- Positive emotions cultivate habits.
- Negative emotions destroy them.
GO DEEPER: But there is a trick. We are not looking for just any type of satisfaction. We are looking for immediate satisfaction.
THE MISMATCH BETWEEN IMMEDIATE AND DELAYED REWARDS
Picture yourself as a creature galloping across the African plains—like a giraffe, an elephant, or even a lion. Each day, every single decision you make has an immediate effect. You're always pondering what's for lunch, where's the best place to take a snooze, or how to dodge that sneaky predator. You're totally in the now, or at most, thinking a little ahead. You're living in what scientist call an immediate-return environment because everything you do delivers straight-up, instantaneous results.
Now, snap back to being you—human, living in the 21st century. In today's world, a lot of the choices you make don't give you instant gratification. If you're smashing it at work, you’ll see the fruits of your labor when payday rolls around. If you hit the gym today, maybe you'll dodge the extra pounds next year. If you stash your cash now, you might just have a cushy retirement a few decades down the line. You're living in what scientist call a delayed-return environment because you can work for years before you see the returns on your hard work.
The human brain did not evolve for life in a delayed-return environment. The earliest remains of modern humans, known as Homo sapiens sapiens, are approximately two hundred thousand years old. These were the first humans to have a brain relatively similar to ours. In particular, the neocortex—the newest part of the brain and the region responsible for higher functions like language—was roughly the same size two hundred thousand years ago as today. You are walking around with the same hardware as your Paleolithic ancestors.
It is only recently—during the last five hundred years or so—that society has shifted to a predominantly delayed-return environment. Compared to the age of the brain, modern society is brand-new. In the last one hundred years, we have seen the rise of the car, the airplane, the television, the personal computer, the internet, the smartphone, and Beyoncé. The world has changed much in recent years, but human nature has changed little.
- James Clear
Like other animals in the African savannah, our ancestors spent their days dealing with serious threats, finding food, and seeking shelter from storms. It was logical for them to prioritize immediate rewards. They were less worried about the distant future. Over thousands of generations in this immediate-return environment, our brains evolved to favor quick benefits over long-term ones.
Behavioral economists refer to this tendency as time inconsistency. That is, the way your brain evaluates rewards is inconsistent across time. You value the present more than the future. Usually, this tendency serves us well. A reward that is certain right now is typically worth more than one that is merely possible in the future. But occasionally, our bias toward instant gratification causes problems...
- Why would someone smoke if they know it increases the risk of lung cancer?
- Why would someone overeat when they know it increases their risk of obesity?
Well, once you understand how the brain prioritizes rewards, the answers become clear: the consequences of bad habits are delayed while the rewards are immediate.
- Smoking might kill you in ten years, but it reduces stress and eases your nicotine cravings now.
- Overeating is harmful in the long run but appetizing in the moment.
Every habit produces multiple outcomes across time. Unfortunately, these outcomes are often misaligned.
- With our bad habits, the immediate outcome usually feels good, but the ultimate outcome feels bad.
- With good habits, it is the reverse: the immediate outcome is unenjoyable, but the ultimate outcome feels good.
The costs of your good habits are in the present.
The costs of your bad habits are in the future.
The brain’s tendency to prioritize the present moment means you can’t rely on good intentions. When you make a plan—to lose weight, write a book, or learn a language—you are actually making plans for your future self. And when you envision what you want your life to be like, it is easy to see the value in taking actions with long-term benefits. We all want better lives for our future selves. However, when the moment of decision arrives, instant gratification usually wins.
You are no longer making a choice for future you, who dreams of being fitter or wealthier or happier. You are choosing for present you, who wants to be full, pampered, and entertained.
With a fuller understanding of what causes our brain to repeat some behaviors and avoid others, let’s update the Cardinal Rule of Behavior Change: What is immediately rewarded is repeated. What is immediately punished is avoided.
Our preference for instant gratification reveals an important truth about success: because of how we are wired, most people will spend all day chasing quick hits of satisfaction. So how can we use this to our advantage?
HOW TO TURN INSTANT GRATIFICATION TO YOUR ADVANTAGE
The vital thing in getting a habit to stick is to feel successful—even if it’s in a small way. The feeling of success is a signal that your habit paid off and that the work was worth the effort.
In a perfect world, the reward for a good habit is the habit itself. In the real world, good habits tend to feel worthwhile only after they have provided you with something.
Early on, it’s all sacrifice. You’ve gone to the gym a few times, but you’re not stronger or fitter or faster—at least, not in any noticeable sense. It’s only months later, once you shed a few pounds or your arms gain some definition, that it becomes easier to exercise for its own sake. In the beginning, you need a reason to stay on track. This is why immediate rewards are essential. They keep you excited while the delayed rewards accumulate in the background.
What we’re really talking about here—when we’re discussing immediate rewards—is the ending of a behavior. The ending of any experience is vital because we tend to remember it more than other phases. You want the ending of your habit to be satisfying. The best approach is to use reinforcement, which refers to the process of using an immediate reward to increase the rate of a behavior. Habit stacking ties your habit to an immediate cue, which makes it obvious when to start. Reinforcement ties your habit to an immediate reward, which makes it satisfying when you finish.
Immediate reinforcement can be particularly beneficial when trying to break habits like "no late-night snacking" or "no excessive screen time". It can be difficult to maintain these habits as there's no immediate payoff when you avoid eating a midnight snack or when you decide to put down your phone or tablet. It can be hard to feel satisfied when there is no action in the first place. All you’re doing is resisting temptation, and there isn’t much satisfying about that.
One solution is to turn the situation on its head. You want to make avoidance visible. Open a savings account and label it for something you want—maybe “Leather Jacket.”
Whenever you pass on a purchase, put the same amount of money in the account. Skip your morning latte? Transfer $5. Pass on another month of Netflix? Move $10 over. It’s like creating a loyalty program for yourself. The immediate reward of seeing yourself save money toward the leather jacket feels a lot better than being deprived.
You are making it satisfying to do nothing.
It is worth noting that it is important to select short-term rewards that reinforce your identity rather than ones that conflict with it. Buying a new jacket is fine if you’re trying to lose weight or read more books, but it doesn’t work if you’re trying to budget and save money.
Instead, taking a bubble bath or going on a leisurely walk are good examples of rewarding yourself with free time, which aligns with your ultimate goal of more freedom and financial independence. Similarly, if your reward for exercising is eating a bowl of ice cream, then you’re casting votes for conflicting identities, and it ends up being a wash.
Instead, maybe your reward is a massage, which is both a luxury and a vote toward taking care of your body. Now the short-term reward is aligned with your long-term vision of being a healthy person.
Eventually, as intrinsic rewards like a better mood, more energy, and reduced stress kick in, you’ll become less concerned with chasing the secondary reward. The identity itself becomes the reinforcer. You do it because it’s who you are and it feels good to be you. The more a habit becomes part of your life, the less you need outside encouragement to follow through.
Incentives can start a habit. Identity sustains a habit. That said, it takes time for the evidence to accumulate and a new identity to emerge. Immediate reinforcement helps maintain motivation in the short term while you’re waiting for the long-term rewards to arrive.
Returning to our initial question: Why is building consistency with positive habits so challenging?
My guess, the behavior change you're trying to implement isn't enjoyable.
A habit that isn't enjoyable isn't sustainable. Simple bits of reinforcement can offer the immediate pleasure you need to enjoy a habit. And change is easy when it is enjoyable...
more tomorrow,
Hunter
Hunter