What is the theory of habit formation?

As you start to settle into things and get into the groove you are beginning to form habits. As humans, our habits are incredibly powerful forces in our lives. Habits can either work for us or against us and people that have learned to harness the power of positive habits tend to be highly successful (and happy!)

Today, let's hack into our hardwiring and discuss the power of habits! 

Firstly - what is a habit? Let's get the definition out of the way. A habit is an acquired mode of behavior that has become nearly or completely involuntary.  Meaning that we all engage in behaviors that are involuntary. We don't plan them, think about them, or dwell on them. They require no mental effort, they just happen. Of course some habits are bad and hard to break and some are good and hard to get started. 

Our brains are hard-wired to form habits, because they reduce mental workload. Using a computer analogy, they are basically a program that runs in the background, allowing our brains to focus on other more complicated tasks. The brains cue and reward mechanisms drive habits in some of the most powerful chemical pathways. Addiction and vices are examples of deep set neurological pathways.  However, habits are learned and the wonderful thing is - we can modify our lives by modifying our habits. 

In vet school you are forced into a new environment with new routines- it's a time were many new habits are forming. 

We’ve discussed creating a budget, and now it’s time to turn that budget into a habit. 

While we’re at it, we should look at other healthy vet school habits. 

Are you developing good habits in:

• Note taking?
• Paying attention in class?
• Attendance in class?
• Regimented studying?
• Or are you cramming for tests?

What about the nutrition, physical, mental, and spiritual habits that you have?

• Practicing good sleep habits? 
• Eating regular, healthy meals? 
• Exercising? 
• Engaging in stress reduction activities? 
• Spending time with family, pets, friends and loved ones?

All of these are habits that most students don’t give much thought, but these behaviors define our lives, health and wellness, and success. 

It’s very tempting to focus all of your energy on the next test and lose sight of the bigger picture. We know that being a veterinary school student is incredibly demanding and stressful!

Now, we’re asking you to add another layer to your busy day. Many veterinarians and students comment that they are very fearful of living paycheck to paycheck and being in constant suppression from debt. 

There is an answer to breaking this mold and it starts with healthy financial habits. 

Just like developing healthy classroom and study habits, now is the time to develop desirable financial habits. How do we integrate budgeting into your habits? 

Let’s start with the steps to take when developing a habit: 

1. Decide on a specific habit 

• • • Cue

• • • Routine 

• • • Reward 

Let’s use Jill as an example. Jill is a 1st year veterinary student and knows that healthy financial habits hold the key to long term success, but also knows that “getting better at finances” is not a specific habit. She picks a specific and achievable habit - tracking, categorizing and analyzing her expenses once per week. 

She knows that she always goes to the grocery store on Sundays to prepare for the week. She decides that after picking up the groceries this week (cue), she’s going to download her credit card and bank statements, categorize her expenses and compare them against her budget to keep track of her spending (routine). 

Lastly, Jill knows that she must set a reward to make the habit stick. This seems silly at first, but she’s seen it work with her study habits and exercise routine. She really enjoys a certain streamed series and tells herself that she can only watch it after developing this routine. Science tells us that this routine needs to be kept up for around 8-9 weeks to really become ingrained as a habit. Jill knows that she will go through an internal struggle, and fight not to fall back into her old habits. She has to keep telling herself that she’ll be thankful in the long term.

Again, the essence is to tap into the hard wiring of our brains, acknowledge the struggle but use our intense need for reward and the strong cravings that can change our behavior and form new habits. 

Habits to Follow While in School

While in veterinary school, I encourage you to form healthy habits. Your habits define who you are and your present and future success! Plus, healthy habits make wellness so much easier to achieve. 

What are we talking about? Your habits for class time, studying, exercise, self care and of course your financial wellness are all super important to your overall wellness. 

Take a few minutes to reassess how you:

1. Prepare for class, 
2. Perform while studying, 
3. Exercise with consistency
4. Practice self care, and 
5. Take care of your finances with a financial routine. 

Do you need some improvement in any of these areas? It’s all good, we all do, and now is the time! 

Here’s three habit shortcuts to take advantage of: 

1. Using something novel, to start a new routine and habit are keys to making them stick. (Vacations are also another time to shift routines, but we won’t go there today.) Having a break in your old habits, makes forming a newer, healthier habit easier. 
2. Understand the “Habit Loop.” The habit loop is a well researched pathway of ROUTINE - CUE - REWARD. Use the loop to hack habit formation. The easiest approach for me is to build rewards around my study times. For example, “if I finish reviewing my notes before 5pm, I’ll go for a 20 minute walk outside.” Pretty soon, a habit, reviewing class notes the day of delivery forms. (This is another study hack, taking active notes and then reviewing them the same day greatly improves retention) 
3. This is new to you - the practice of Habit Stacking. Habit stacking is where you use another habit as the trigger or cue for the new habit you want to form. Here’s the classic habit stacking example - if you want to remember to take vitamins daily, find a daily habit you already have. Coffee every morning? Perfect. Put your vitamins next to your coffee pot. 

Here’s a financial example, if you want to review your budget on a weekly basis then find a weekly habit you can “stack” on. It may be your weekly clothes folding, your trip to the grocery store, or a chat with your sister on Sunday afternoons. Place the triggers together. Maybe put a copy of your budget, in the hamper, or next to your grocery list. Have your sister remind you. This way you know you have the time and the reminder in place. Then, after you’ve done the weekly budget, give yourself a reward! By a few weeks into the semester you'll have the routine and habit down and budgeting will be as painless as clothes folding. (Ouch). 

These seem incredibly simple, because they are! Keep in mind that some PhDs spend their entire career researching these habit formation hacks. They work because they are simple.

Bottom Line - you have to want healthy habits and have to make the commitment to succeed. These are just little shortcuts to make the process easier and faster. It just so happens that this week is the perfect time to reassess your habits and start newer, healthier habits.