The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. While this timeless piece of wisdom from Lao Zi (老子) is uncontested in its truth, the first step is easy. It’s the other 999.99 steps we need to contend with. Research on habit formation and breaking focus on the science of deliberate vs. impulse driven decisions, strength and plasticity of neural relationships and how rewards influence them.
Making and breaking habits is really hard. Our habits form who we are. They become our character and changing them can feel near impossible. Summing up the science in lay terms:
- Doing what you know… There’s comfort in the familiar so we gravitate to those things. Can we create comfort in the unfamiliar?
- … and knowing what to do. Mastery of a skill begets using that skill. Developing new skills take time and the learning curve can be steep.
- What if it _______ (hurts, is boring, sucks, isn’t as much fun… fill in the blank). Fear of the unknown can wreak havoc on the journey to a new habit. How can we replace this narrative?
These apply equally to professional and personal lives. I’m particularly interested in habits at this moment of midlife rebirth. (Habits in progress — writing regularly, moving more, drinking less, sleeping more.) We have the opportunity to do so much at any stage in life— who we are and our journey is created by the things we do every day.
“How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives.” Annie Dillard.
First drafted Sept 5, 2017
The Objective Co 