How the Habit Loop Helps You Break Your Bad Habits

If you’re anything like me, you have at least 1 or 2 bad habits that you’d like to change. In this short video, bestselling author Charles Duhigg shares what he calls “the habit loop.”

According to Duhigg, every habitual behavior involves three elements:

• Cue – some trigger that makes the behavior unfold automatically.
• Routine – the behavior itself.
• Reward – the benefit derived from engaging in the behavior.

As he describes so well in this video, if you want to break a bad habit, the trick is to learn to recognize the Cue, and replace the undesired behavior (Routine) with a more desirable behavior that delivers a similar Reward.

This is a simple – but powerful – framework for understanding habitual behavior and how to change it. For more, see The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business, by Charles Duhigg.

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By Michael D. Pollock

Michael D. Pollock is a behavior change coach and writer who helps people break stubborn patterns, rebuild self-trust, and create lives that reflect who they truly are. His work explores the intersection of habits, identity, psychology, neuroscience and deep personal change.