In today’s lesson, you’ll learn how triggers can build positive, effective routines.
Video Lesson
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Time: 4:11
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Click full screen (lower right corner) to increase the size
Lesson Summary
What are triggers?
Triggers cause an event or situation to happen.
A trigger is what tells your brain to go into automatic mode. It’s the first step in any habit.
For example, you don’t actively think about brushing your teeth, do you? Of course not. When you pick up your toothbrush, a trigger tells your brain, “Hey, it’s time to brush my teeth.”
Triggers help us perform complex tasks—like cooking, driving, and brushing our teeth—without frying our brains. Once we develop a routine, we don’t have to think about each action; it just happens.
Habit loop
In his book The Power of Habit, Charles Duhigg reveals the three steps in what he calls a habit loop.
Those steps are:
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The Trigger (or Cue): the event that starts the habit.
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The Routine: the habit or behavior that you perform.
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The Reward: the benefit associated with the behavior.
Duhigg explains that once you create a new habit, it does not require conscious effort to continue.
In other words, good habits help you achieve your goals—without thinking about it.
That’s right: self-improvement on autopilot.
As we saw earlier, you start the day with a finite amount of willpower. And when you create positive habits, you preserve willpower.
But the opposite is also true. Bad habits drag you off-course—and getting back on course drains your willpower.
To change a habit, Duhigg explains, you need to:
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Identify the trigger.
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Identify the true reward.
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Replace the routine.
Batman example
Senario 1:
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The trigger: Seeing the Joker.
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The real reward: To escape the pain of dealing with the Joker.
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The routine: Drinking bourbon.
Senario 2:
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The trigger: Seeing the Joker.
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The real reward: To escape the pain of dealing with the Joker.
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The routine: Arrest the Joker.
Key point: Whenever you want to change a habit, identify the trigger, the real reward, and the routine—then swap the destructive routine for a positive one.
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