Somewhere Between Mindfulness and Habit by Kirk McMillan
Posted on July 15, 2013 by Kirk McMillan, One of Thousands of Executive Coaches on Noomii.
To develop new habits or break bad habits such as smoking, this article discusses the components of habits and how mindfulness can lead change.
How much of our daily life consists of habits? While some habits like exercising are beneficial to optimal living, some habits like smoking are life minimizing. Habits consistently allow our brains to minimize the amount of energy spent on activities. As habits are formed, we don’t have to process information as intently as we do the first time. I was talking with a client this week that is travelling more frequently to visit customers. He was drained by the end of the day. I reminded him that his brain was working harder. He would have to think where he was every morning, where is the bathroom, where do I go to get breakfast, how do I get to my next customer, etc. When we are in our normal routine at home, the brain works efficiently because it knows where we are and where the bathroom is located.
Not only can habits be efficient, some keystone habits can improve other aspects of our life. Take exercise for instance. When exercise becomes a habit, even as infrequent as once a week, people start changing other patterns in their life, unknowingly. These benefits range from increased patience at work, less use of credit cards, and even quitting smoking, to name a few. For the first time, one researcher, Kate Janse Van Rensburg, in the Journal of Pharmacology showed the effects of the brain on cravings for cigarettes after adopting an exercise routine. Exercise is a keystone habit that triggers change. Exercise makes other good habits more achievable.
Charles Duhiig, in his book The Power of Habits, states that habits are the result of a cue, a routine and the outcome or reward. The habit loop is the result of some craving. Alcoholics might crave relief, snack eaters may crave a break and smokers may crave stimulation. For the smoker, it may not be the nicotine that is the craving, but the craving for stimulation. For the alcoholic, it may not be the alcohol but the craving for relief that triggers the routine. Duhiig proposes that habit change lies not in the cue or the reward or the craving, but in the routine. By changing the routine, an undesirable habit can be changed to a desired habit. Instead of smoking to fulfill the craving for stimulation, the person goes for a walk, or cup of coffee or to the gym.
Becoming mindful of our habit loop is the first step to building the habits we want in our life. Mindfulness is the non-judgmental awareness of what is happening in the present moment. It is an attitude of non-judgment when we intentionally pay attention to the present moment. Mindfulness allows us to understand our cues, routines, rewards and cravings. As we spend a majority of our daily life on autopilot, we are not fully aware and awake to where we are and what we are doing. What areas of your life could be improved if you went off autopilot?
As Einstein states, “There are two ways to live our life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle”. When we live life as a habit on autopilot, we miss the miracles. Yet, when we live mindfully, in the present the moment, we witness the miracles that happen in every moment. Challenge yourself to be mindful of your cravings, cues and routines. Work to change the routine. In doing so, the new routine will establish habits that will lead to optimal living.
Kirk McMillan is an Executive Coach living in Charleston, SC.
