Usually when we want to achieve something, we try hard to build some
habits, as we’re told that habits are the fundamentals of success.
However, if we examine the functions of different parts of our brains,
habits turn out to be something that hinder us in achieving our goals
rather than assisting us. When we’re practicing our habits, we’re
actually using the primitive brain, which is not the preferred one for
achieving goals…Here’s why.
First we need to understand how our primitive brain works.
The “Primitive Brain”
The human primitive brain, otherwise known as the
limbic system, has
developed over millions of years. Our ancestors had three straight
forward goals that they needed to keep in mind if they were going to
survive. These goals were:
- Find food
- Find a mate
- Stay safe from predators
Humans
had only their superior intelligence to rely upon. Unlike other animals
we did not have great strength or speed, sharp teeth or the like. The
primitive brain developed in such a way to help us achieve these three
goals.
When we saw the possibility of acquiring food we
experienced high energy levels that prompted us to go after the food.
When the potential to reproduce presented itself we experience great
desire, and when we felt that we had pushed ourselves too hard we felt
the desire to rest.
So our primitive brain is constantly telling
us to seek out food and sexual pleasure; it also tells us to rest rather
than motivating us to do some exercise.
On the contrary, the modern brain tells us to control ourselves…
The “Modern Brain”
The modern brain, otherwise known as the
pre-frontal cortex, developed
after many years trying to survive on one’s own. People decided that it
would be easier to achieve the three goals of survival if they worked
as a group; thus tribes were created.
As humans started to
cooperate and work as a group they needed to learn how to cooperate and
work in unison. This meant that it was necessary to learn control over
certain actions. Social rules were developed, such as:
- Do not seal someone else’s food
- Do not take someone else’s mate
- Respect others’ property and do not try to steal their shelter
To
respect these rules and make sure we did not break them we need to
develop a new type of intelligence. This intelligence would be used to
control the basic desires of our primitive brain. The new intelligence
may be referred to as self-control.
So it is up to the modern
brain to override these primitive drives and to steer us towards higher
goals. We constantly experience a fight between short-term desires and
long-term goals. It is up to the modern brain to consider the
consequences of our primitive desires and to make decisions that will
help us in the long term.
So How Do Habits Hinder Us?
Habits
are formed in the primitive brain and as such do not require thoughts.
When we try to use habits to attain our long-term goals we are, in
effect, telling our short-term brain to take charge. And the short-term
primitive brain has different aims to the long-term modern brain. So the
result will not be in keeping with our higher aims.
When you set out to help your modern brain achieve its goals do not aim to create new habits.
You
may have tried meditating at some point in your life and no doubt you
experienced the difficulties associated with maintaining focus on one
particular thing, for example your breath. Trying to force yourself to
concentrate on something will often prove futile. This is because we are
fighting a reward-based learning process that is caused by positive and
negative reinforcement. A habit is formed when, for example, we see
food, eat it and decide that it tastes good. For human being calories
equal survival. We remember the rewards we experienced after we ate the
food and repeat this process. It goes as follows: trigger behavior
reward; see food, eat food, feel good and repeat. Then what should we do
instead of building habits?
Use Curiosity to Break Unwanted Habits
In
an experiment researchers told people instead of forcing people to, for
example, quit smoking, they told people to be curious about their
habits. They actually told people to smoke and be really curious about
it. One of the participants said: “Mindful smoking: smells like stinky
cheese and tastes like chemicals,YUCK!” She had decided on a cognitive
level that smoking was bad for her. She was no longer captivated by her
habit.
When the prefrontal cortex is not engaged we tend to fall
back into old habits. When we are tired, stressed or involved in making
tough decisions we can easily fall back into our old ways. Curiosity
helps us take notice of our experience rather than trying to get rid of
the experience (habit).
As it says in the article titled: Using Curiosity to Break Bad Habits:
“What does curiosity feel like?
It feels good. And what happens when we get curious? We start to notice
that cravings are simply made up of body sensations — oh, there’s
tightness, there’s tension, there’s restlessness — and that these body
sensations come and go. These are bite-size pieces of experiences that
we can manage from moment to moment rather than getting clobbered by
this huge, scary craving that we choke on.”
When we are curious we
stop fearing our habits and reacting automatically to our habitual
patterns. We activate our modern brain and are able to reflect more
effectively on what we are doing in a scientific and isolated way. So
next time you experience an unwanted habit or find yourself focused on
short-term goals try to engage your long-term modern brain and become
curious about what you are doing.
Helpful Guide
Having a goal without good strategies cannot help you achieve what you want. However, with
Lifehack Goal Setting System,
you can efficiently attain the best result of your desire. For every
goal you add, you will receive practical and useful articles that guide
you through the process and achieve remarkable outcomes.
To start with, you can try these health goals:
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