Jack Morris - The habit handbook: control your habits, command your life. Use the power of habit to ensure effective lasting changes to your health, wealth and mindset

People are often impatient when it comes to the formation and reinforcement of habits. Everyone wants a quick fix that will readily incorporate their desired habits to their current routines, but it is not as easy as it sounds.

The simple truth is that habits take some time to stick. According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, the definition of habit is:

1. a behavior pattern acquired by frequent repetition or physiologic exposure that shows itself in regularity or increased facility of performance; or
2. an acquired mode of behavior that has become nearly or completely involuntary.

Take note of the key phrases: behavior pattern, frequent repetition, and acquired mode of behavior. These phrases imply that it takes time and effort to form a habit and to actually live by it.

Another tricky thing about the formation of habits is that it does not have a singular formula that will apply to every person in every situation. For example, the habit of regularly going to the gym will be different between a person who is physically active and a person who is mostly sedentary. At the same time, the habit of regularly going to the gym has a different formula from the habit of quitting smoking. In other words, if you are looking for a proven formula that will specifically work in your situation, you might be wasting your time.

However, do not lose hope just yet. There is a general framework that will help you calibrate the process to your own situation and variables. This general framework comes in two parts: 1) the 3 Rs, which we will discuss at length in .

Basically, the formation of a habit is determined by a neurological loop that is defined by the 3 Rs: Reminder, Routine, and Reward. This loop was identified by researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). According to their study, the 3 Rs of habit will help you understand how a cycle or routine becomes a habit. They can also help you identify the ways with which you can change a current habit or create a new one.

When you have familiarized yourself with the 3 Rs and are ready to break the cycle, you then proceed to the next step, which is to set a plan for yourself. What can you do differently? How do you implement changes? How can you make these changes stick? We will answer these questions later on.

For now, you have to understand one thingYOU ARE YOUR HABITS. You are defined by your routines. Your productivity, contentment and happiness are, in large part, affected by how you run your life.

And so, you are faced with a choice: Do you control your habits or do they control you? You have to understand that once a habit is formed, it turns into an almost involuntary action, if not at all. Therefore, once you have cemented a habit into your everyday routine, you have little to no control over it. It becomes a part of you and, at times, may actually take control of you.

The most obvious example of a bad habit is smoking. If you have enjoyed smoking since you were young, it will be hard for you to stop it now. Even though the effects of this habit to your health are detrimental, it has effectively taken hold of you. Breaking the cycle will need serious commitment and it is possible that you may fall back to the same routine once in a while.

The same goes with procrastination. Believe it or not, finishing tasks in the nick of time is almost always a habit that has formed over many years. If you feel like you are always in a rush to get things done, then procrastination is a bad habit that has effectively taken control of your life.

However, this control is not inherently bad. For example, if you have formed a habit of taking a morning stroll every day, it is actually good for you. It can be your form of exercise or it can be a way for you to relax your mind before you face the day ahead. Other good habits include cleaning your house every weekend, going to the gym regularly, and enjoying a warm bath to unwind after a hard weeks work.

It may be challenging to create good life-long habits that will have a positive effect on your physical, mental, emotional, and social health, but you should not give up. There are steps that you can follow to break your bad cycles, and we will discuss just how to do that in the next chapter.