Why is so hard to change a habit
Did you know it can take anywhere from 18 to 254 days for a person to form a new habit? And that 8 out of 10 times you are likely to fall back to your old habits?
But why??
Our mindsets are based on a series of stories we have created throughout our lives, the upbringing we have had, our education, society, media and other personal experiences and trauma. These beliefs can create unwanted and negative thoughts and emotions, limiting self-beliefs and lack of confidence. Neuroscience tells us that our stories and habits are rooted in our deep brain structures known as the basal ganglia.
This part of our brain (our subconscious) uses up the majority of our brain capacity, around 90%. Our brain carries out these habits on autopilot, leaving the brain space to think about other things, to save energy. How many times have you driven home from work or cleaned your teeth and not realised? Research by Duke University found that 45% of daily behaviours are automatic – that is almost 1 out of 2 minutes doing something you are unaware of.
The prefrontal cortex part of our brain is our executive function, this is where new habits are formed, and this takes up around 10% of our brain capacity. This is why our brain likes to stick to old ways and habits that are easy and can be carried out on an auto pilot.
There is also this part of the brain called the reticular activating system (RAS). The RAS acts as a gatekeeper for sensory information entering the brain. It filters out irrelevant stimuli and amplifies important or novel ones. This selective attention allows us to focus on what's important while disregarding background noise.
The RAS can create attention biases based on our past experiences and beliefs. If we have a habit of paying attention to certain types of stimuli, the RAS may continue to prioritise those stimuli in the future, reinforcing the habit. For example, if you have a habit of checking your phone whenever it vibrates, your RAS may amplify the sensation of vibration and make you more likely to check your phone frequently.
So you can see how changing habits is damn hard.
However there's good news… neuroplasticity - meaning we can form new pathways … and over time the more we consciously choose these thoughts and these actions we deepen these new pathways and create new habits and behaviours.
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