 Do you want to quit smoking, tired of biting your nails? Our video game is taking precious hours of your life, then it's time to break these habits. So today, I'll be talking about the power of habit by Charles Duhigg, and explain the science of how habits work, how to break bad ones and rewire your brain, explain what are keystone habits, and most importantly, how to maintain new ones. But first, why do we even have habits? Well habits allow our brains to become more efficient. If we had to think about every single thing that we had to do throughout our days, our brains would have to be monstrously huge. The only problem is, the part of our brain responsible for habit formation doesn't really know the difference between good and bad ones. All habits have three parts, a cue, a routine, and a reward. A cue is anything that can trigger a routine. So for example, you might drink alcohol every time you're at a bar or when certain friends are around, or perhaps you might eat fast food every time you're stressed. The reward is the positive reinforcement, or that spike of dopamine that we all love. For alcohol, it could be that extra confidence or how it drowns your sorrows. For fast food, it could be the delicious taste. What's interesting is that at first, the brain experiences the spike of dopamine only once you get your reward, but over time, once the habit is formed, you experience the dopamine spike during the cue. This is why we get cravings which can be difficult to ignore. In fact, trying to resist these cravings will just deplete your willpower. So how do you break a bad habit? Well according to the golden rule of habit change, you can't extinguish a bad habit, you can only change it. First you need to figure out and become aware of the cues and rewards. One way to do this is by tracking your habits. For example, keep a journal and write down everything you eat. Record the time and describe the situation until you find a pattern. Once you figure them out, then you're halfway there. Next, find and substitute the routine part with something better. For example, I was very addicted to video games and could spend a whole day just playing one. My cues were my computer and boredom, and for me, the rewards were the feeling of progression, like seeing my character or whatever level up and gain experience. I also liked the sense of community, especially playing with friends. Now luckily, one day I stumbled upon Duolingo, a site that allowed me to learn languages and at the same time, it felt like a game. I gained experience for each language lesson and there was a big online community. Later on, I also came across Habitica, which basically turns your life into an RPG. Every good habit I do, like reading, working out, watching educational videos like this, complimenting the girlfriend and all that good stuff, I gain EXP. In every bad habit, like eating junk food, I lose HP. And again, there was a big online community. You could say it turned my life into an addictive but very productive video game. Next, Charles says it's important that we try to focus on developing keystone habits, which are habits that have the power to change other habits. Typically, people who exercise start eating better and become more productive at work. They smoke less and show more patience with colleagues and family. They use their credit cards less frequently and say they feel less stressed. There's just something about the habit of exercise that spills over. Now many people can get inspired to start a new diet or a new workout routine, perhaps even see progress. But then when things become stressful, they return back to their old ways. So how do you maintain a new habit? First, you should visualize or write down your future goals and the reward the habit provides. Like for me, I make my subscribers goal for the week public for everyone to see. Next, you should also write down predictions of future potential problems that will tempt you to give up, and then write solutions on what you'll do to overcome it. In Starbucks, they use the latte method when there's an angry customer. They listen to the customer, acknowledge the complaint, take action to solve it, thank them, and then explain why the problem happened. Starbucks among many companies train their employees to prepare for the worst. But sometimes, even having well-trained habits and preparing for the worst is not enough. You also need to believe. Tony Dungey, a Hall of Fame NFL coach, changed sports with his habit-forming methods. He didn't believe in having thick playbooks, but rather having only a handful of plays that was practiced numerous times until they became a habit. He applied the Q routine reward system. He wanted to remove the decision-making process, giving his team those extra seconds and giving them a big advantage. However, year after year, Tony could only bring his team to the playoffs. There, his team would always choke and return back to their old habits because the pressure was just too high. It wasn't until his son tragically committed suicide that sparked his team the next season to come together to believe in themselves in one another that they finally won the Super Bowl. Similarly, there's many people who are able to quit drinking, quit smoking, but experience a relapse during really stressful times. What they're missing is belief. Not only should you plan, but you should also be optimistic that change is possible that you'll get through somehow. You might even have to call upon the higher power, reach deep within, or perhaps get support from your friends and family. Now, some habits will take longer than others to form, so stay consistent. But one thing is for sure. The more you believe, the faster you'll be able to form that habit. And remember, there's no magic pill for success. So start today, be patient and enjoy every small win. But what I want to know in the comments below, what's one habit that you would like to break and what are you going to replace it with? Thanks for watching. If you liked this video, then choose one of the following. You can either A, subscribe and like, B, listen to the share bear over there and show that you care, C, check out my Facebook fan page for a chance to win a copy of the book, or D, tell me to drink poison.