Habits define people whether good or bad and can impact the future if they are significant enough. The sum of behavior is the daily habits no matter how small that we practice. Decisions, thoughts, actions, and feelings are impacted by habits. We become smarter, healthier and more skilled at jobs with positive habits while negative habits have the opposite effect. Changing habits can help entrepreneurs succeed, but it can be difficult. How do you change habits and improve habits when you’re an entrepreneur?
Habit Anatomy
Entrepreneurs must understand how habits are formed and what they look like to begin breaking them and changing them. There are four phases to habits.
Prompt: There is an initial prompt that triggers doing something.
Craving: Cravings come after the prompt.
Action: You respond to the craving by acting, which is the habit’s heart.
Reward: Chemicals that make you feel good are released by the brain.
There are also blueprints for the analysis and elimination of bad habits or forming new ones.
Eliminating Bad Habits
First, let’s examine how to break bad habits. This starts with modifying or eliminating triggers. Entrepreneurs should change the event that triggers the cycle first. It can be as simple as turning off notifications or you might take a different route to work. Unpleasant responses via residual feelings might have to be dealt with even after the trigger is changed. An unpleasant response to the trigger can be introduced to avoid giving into it. Increase the difficulty to act. Extra exertion makes habits difficult to continue. For instance, hide icons on the phone so you can’t see the notifications. Habits can be made unsatisfying, like ordering decaf so the rush achieved from caffeine isn’t here.
Form New Habits
How can entrepreneurs form new habits? Remember that triggers are the start of everything. Use something automatic like ringtones or give yourself sticky notes to use as visual prompts. The prompts should be attractive enough to create a craving. There must be a way to make the habit addictive. Friction should be reduced so the new habit is more desirable.
