arr2ais Beter than Belore: A Psychological Feld Guide fo Harnessing the Transformative Power of Hai | Brain Picking bout ‘support contact bookshelf newsletter literary jukebox original art ‘sounds newsletter Brain Pickings has a free ‘wookly interestingness gest. It comes out on ‘Sundays and offers the ‘wook’s best articles, Here's an example. Like? Sign up. Name Email donating = loving Brain Pickings remains free (and ad-free) and takes me hundreds of hours @ month ‘to research and write, and thousands of dollars to sustain. Ifyou find any Joy and value in what | do, please ‘consider becoming @ Member and supporting with 2 recurring monthly donation of your choosing, between a ‘cup of tea and a good dinner: ¥ 87/ month You can also become a one- time patron with a single donation in any arnount: labors of love Better than Before: A Psychological Field Guide to Harnessing the Transformative Power of Habit by Maria Popova How to lay a steadfast foundation for “the invisible architecture of daily life.” behavior hecalledthe“enormous fi wneelot Better Than Before society." Inthe century since, our civilizational Se love affair with habit has only intensified — S we've become besotted with the daily routines Mostering the Heb ofluminaries and transfixed by the psychology utero ae Menonrcurcuniines Betarmuchaswe Gretchen Rubin Tusa these shiny routines and beneficial wig behaviors, we slave an enormoualy bard time changing our habia, And yet ax Mary Oliver memorably wrote, “The patterns of our lives reveal us. Our habits measure us." al In Better Than Before: Mastering the Habits of Our Everyday Lives (public library}, Gretchen Rubin picks up where James left off, integrating a wealth of insight from psychology, sociology, and anthropology in an illuminating field {guide to hamessing the transformative power of habit in modern life. The idea for this book came from a recurring observation Rubin made in the aftermath of her last, the indispensable The Happiness Project — readers kept telling her about “before and after" pattern in their conquest of happiness, wherein the formation ofa particular habit became a major turning point. So she set out to explore the deeper mysteries of these obvious turning points — why we have a hard time forming even habits we enjoy, what separates people who are able to adopt or drop habits overnight from those who aren't, how we rationalize our ‘willful blindness to the consequences of our habits, and more. hipslvww trairpickings org2018/00230eterthan-before-grechen ubin 18An yam Naw 20m Gem tem ai tam a a a 2 a, B® Dj 2, @, 9, 4 ey > > —@ ~¢ a, 2, & >, »,-2, 2, L Beter than Belore: A Psychological Feld Guide fo Harnessing the Transformative Power of Hai | Brain Picking DAIL ROUTINE SS —— = SS TEEN mites Rubin, a self-described "kind of street scientist," writes: Habits are the invisible architecture of daily life. We repeat about 40 percent of our behavior almost daily, so our habits shape our existence, and our future. If we change our habits, we change our lives. ‘The most valuable aspect of habit, Rubin suggests, is its capacity to become an automated conservation mechanism for self-control, that enormously taxing exertion of our willpower: Self-control is a crucial aspect of our lives. People with better self-control (or self-regulation, self-discipline, or willpower) are happier and heal stronger relationships and more career success; they manage stress and conflict better; they live longer; they steer clear of bad habits. Self.control allows us to keep our commitments to ourselves. Yet one study suggests that when we try to use self-control to resist temptation, we succeed only about half the time, and indeed, in a large international survey, when people were asked to identify their failings, a top choice was, lack of self-control. ler. They're more altruistic; they have ‘And that's why habits matter so much. With habits, we conserve our self-control Although the commonly agreed upon definition of habit includes several attributes of the behavior — itis recurrent, cued by a specific context, often performed unconsciously, acquired through repetition — Rubin argues that the hipslvww trairpickings org2018/00230eterthan-before-grechen ubinarr2ais Beter than Belore: A Psychological Feld Guide fo Harnessing the Transformative Power of Hai | Brain Picking true root of habit is decision-making or, rather, the lack thereof, A habit alleviates the cognitive load of having to choose one course of action over another and, in doing so, relieves our exertion of willpower: Habits make change possible by freeing us from decision making and from using self-control td When possible, the brain makes a behavior into a habit, which saves effort and therefore gives us more capacity to deal with complex, novel, or urgent matters, Habits mean we don't strain ourselves to make decisions, weigh choices, dole out rewards, or prod ourselves to begin. Life becomes simpler, and many daily hassles vanish. Because the application of self-control itself stresses our cognitive resources, a solid infrastructure of habit matters all the more when we're under stress: When we're worried or overtaxed, a habit comforts us. Research suggests that people feel more in control and less anxious when engaged in habit behavior. .. When we're anxious or tired, we fall back on our habits, whether bad or ood... For this reason, it's all the more important to try to shape habits mindfully, so that when we fall back on them at times of stress, we're following activities that make our situation better, not worse. ‘And yet there is a fine line between alleviating the cognitive load of decision- making and succumbing to a mindless trance of existence that carries us through life. (Thave written about this previously in contemplating the crucial ‘equipoise of routine and ritual.) Touching on the strange psychology of our ‘warped time-perception, Rubin readily acknowledges this: Habits speed time, because when every day is the same, experience shortens and blurs; by contrast, time slows down when habits are interrupted, when the brain must process of a ae new information. ees a tna seninenthaalo mind Thorens onwhatitmenets etry ake and Annie Dillard's famous proclamation that “how we spend our days is, of, course, how we spend our lives,” Rubin adds: Habit makes it dangerously easy to become numb to our own existence. For good and bad, habits are the invi Me, le architecture of daily hipslvww trairpickings org2018/00230eterthan-before-grechen ubinarr2ais Beter than Belore: A Psychological Feld Guide fo Harnessing the Transformative Power of Hai | Brain Picking SUSAN SONTAG ON Love Hegrex LIFE, IF YoU DON'T LiKE Your Jon, QUIE START DOING THINGS YOU LOVE. Flor ovis mulvaing actoraee TRAVEL OFTEN; Ses uost a {He THINGS YOU CREATE WITH THEM ES ane LIFE | AND SHARE SHORT. Your Passion. Indeed, this is Rubin's most vital point — while habits require no decision: ‘making in their application, with their formation we decide our destiny; we are, as James wrote, “spinning our fates” whenever we set a new habit into motion or screech an old one to a halt. In addressing these “twin riddles ofhow to change ourselves and how to change our habits,” Rubin reflects on her own life: Habit is a good servant but a bad master. Although | wanted the benefits that habits offer, | didn't want to become a bureaucrat of my own life, trapped in paperwork of my own making. Instead, she set out to understand how we can cultivate only those habits that make us “feel freer and stronger.” She outlines the sequential interplay of conscious and unconscious behaviors at the root of fruitful habit-formation: When we change our habits, we change our lives. We can use decision making to choose the habits we want to form, we can use willpower to get the habit started; then — and this is the best part — we can allow the extraordinary power of habit to take over. We take our hands off the wheel of decision, our foot off the gas of willpower, and rely on the cruise control of habits. ‘That's the promise of habit. ‘Tobe sure, an over-reliance on habit puts us a risk of hitting the “OK plateau” of performance and personal growth, but Rubin makes room for the necessaty conscious counterpoint to behavioral cruise control: hipslvww trairpickings org2018/00230eterthan-before-grechen ubinaris Beter than Belore: A Psychological Feld Guide fo Harnessing the Transformative Power of Hai | Brain Picking must-reads ‘Arano, Seems Ur as We oe, 0 ‘Gere Ware Wit on Vacrion For a happy Ife, it's important to cultivate an atmosphere of ‘growth — the sense that we're learning new things, getting stronger, forging new relationships, making things better, helping other people. Habits have a tremendous role to play in ‘creating an atmosphere of growth, because they help us make consistent, reliable progress. .. By mindfully choosing our habits, we harness the power of mindlessness as a ‘sweeping force for serenity, energy, and growth. Muratyan, Click image for mor Rubin goes on to identify several key psychological archetypes that determine our relationship with habit, the most fascinating of which deals with how we handle the two types of expectations in life — outer (such as our work obligations and the law] and inner (such as our moral values and personal commitments}. She identifies four distinct groups into which everyone falls: + Upholders respond readily to both outer expectations and inner expectations. + Questioners question all expectations, and will meet an expectation only if they believe it's justified. + Obligers respond readily to outer expectations but struggle to meet inner expectations. + Rebels resist all expectations, outer and inner alike, Arguably the most delicate balance of inner and outer expectations takes place in intimate relationships, where we constantly tussle with the polarizing pull of retaining our individual habits, which help us maintain our sense of identity, and negotiating shared habits, which bring us closer together into coupledom. Ina sentiment that calls to mind a lament from young Susan Sontag's diary regarding her unhappy marriage — “In marriage, Ihave suffered a certain loss of, personality,” she wrote on Valentine’s Day in 1957 — Rubin cautions: hipslvww trairpickings org2018/00230eterthan-before-grechen ubinaris ‘etter than Before: A Psychological Field Guide o Harnessing the Transformative Power of Habit | Brain Pickings 20-Yenr-Oi> Huser S. Trovrson’s ‘Sure Aowee on How to Feo Your Purrose wo Lve a Messner, Lie (Great Wrens on me Crorve Bones or Ketone & Duy How to Wore Lese Ancur Money Changing a habit is much more challenging if that new habit means altering or losing an aspect of ourselves. But this relationship between habit and identity is largely @ matter of the same inner storytelling on which our sanity relies. Rubin writes: Research shows that we tend to believe what we hear ourselves say, and the way we describe ourselves influences our view of our identity, and from there, our habits. If | say, “Im lazy,” “I can’t resist a sale,” “Ill try anything once,” “I never start work until the last minute,” or “Im lucky,” these Ideas become part of my identity, which in turn influences my actions. In one study, one group of registered voters was asked, “How important is it to you to vote?” while another group was, asked “How important is it to you to be a voter?” The second ‘group was more likely to vote in the next election, because ‘voting had been cast as an expression of identity — “This is the kind of person | am” — not just a task to be done. Identity can help us live up to our own values: “I'm not someone who wastes time at work," “I'm no shirker,” “If say Til show up, I show up.” SHOW uP In the remainder of Better Than Before, Rubin goes on to explore what we can do to break out ofthe limiting identities we habitually lock into, why the habit- Inipslvw.ringickings org2015)0023Petethan-befre- green subiaris ‘etter than Before: A Psychological Field Guide o Harnessing the Transformative Power of Habit | Brain Pickings ‘Tie Srommast of Lee: Seca on Buswass a Tie Ar oF Lune Wine Ramer Thaw Lime Lovo &3 explore activism adverting animation art books children's BOOKS ccttorain creativity identity pipeline flows in two directions in interpersonal relationships, and how ‘we can begin to lay the foundation of fruitful habits. Complement it with Mary Oliver on habit and the cognitive science of the ideal daily routine. Donating = Loving Bringing you (ad-free) Brain Pickings takes hundreds of hours each month. 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