The Power of Habit

According to Charles Duhigg (The Power of Habit, Prologue pg. xvi), the study of habit goes back centuries. Educators, psychologists, scientists, and (more recently) marketers have all studied how people change their behaviors and why they turn those behaviors into habits in the first place. As someone who has tried to change her eating and exercise habits many times (and sometimes with success) over the last ten years or so, the idea of habit interests me very much.

In her book Home Education, Charlotte Mason talks about how habits form the core of a good education.

While not using the word habit specifically, the Bible discusses the idea of habits. Our habits can be sinful or honoring to God, just like every other area of our lives. And, the gospel applies to every area of our lives, including how we educate our children, the daily routines we follow, and how we choose to use our time.

As I’ve read through The Power of Habit, so many other sources that talk about habits came to mind. In the rest of this post, I’ll share some quotes from and information about those resources and my thoughts about how they all relate.

Habits

“All our life, so far as it has definite form, is but a mass of habits,” William James wrote in 1892.
The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg, Prologue pg. xv

Charles Duhigg tells a story about a major in the army “conducting an impromptu habit modification program in Kufa” (Prologue pg.xvii). The city of Kufa (located in Iraq) experienced riots that ended in violence almost every time, and the officer had a strange idea about how to stop the riots from escalating. Right before violence broke out, food vendors showed up. This kept people stationed at the riots instead of going home. The army officer talked with city officials. He asked that they prevent the food trucks from coming. When they did so, the riots stopped escalating to the point of violence. The rioters went home to eat instead of stay where they were. When Charles Duhigg interviewed the major, he said,

“Understanding habits is the most important thing I’ve learned in the army,” the major told me. “It’s changed everything about how I see the world. You want to fall asleep fast and wake up feeling good? Pay attention to your nighttime patterns and what you automatically do when you get up. You want to make running easy? Create triggers to make it a routine. I drill my kids on this stuff. My wife and I write out habit plans for our marriage. This is all we talk about in command meetings. Not one person in Kufa would have told me that we could influence crowds by taking away the kebab stands, but once you see everything as a bunch of habits, it’s like someone gave you a flashlight and a crowbar and you can get to work.”
Prologue, pg. xix

I especially like how this quote ends–“it’s like someone gave you a flashlight and a crowbar and you can get to work.” Paying attention to our habits exposes the reasons behind our behavior, the way a flashlight lights up dark places, and provides the tools we need to change our behavior, the way you would use a crowbar to pry items apart.

Of course, true and lasting heart change only comes through the work of the Holy Spirit, but we can thank God for the means He gives us to work alongside Him.

Habits and Education

“Habit is TEN natures!” If I could but make others see with my eyes how much this saying should mean to the educator! How habit, in the hands of the mother, is as his wheel to the potter, his knife to the carver–the instrument by means of which she turns out the design she has already conceived in her brain.”
Charlotte Mason, Home Education, pg. 97

Charlotte Mason goes on to say: “The formation of habits is education, and Education is the formation of habits.”

This idea from Charlotte Mason confused me at first. I bit my nails for years, a bad habit, and tended to think of habits in a negative context. Until I really started considering my own behavior as an adult, I never thought to cultivate “good” habits. Strange, I know. Some good habits Charlotte Mason encourages mothers to teach their children include attention, obedience, neatness, schedules, manners, physical fitness, and my favorite: music! She says, “The problem before the educator is to give the child control over his own nature, to enable him to hold himself in hand” (pg. 103).

I read the book The First Days of School: How to Be an Effective Teacher by Harry K. Wong and Rosemary T. Wong just after I graduated college (I received the book as a gift from one of my cooperating teachers). This book made a huge difference in how I perceived classroom management. Although I don’t remember the book using the word “habit,” essentially the book is about creating habits that your students will stick to every day, therefore proactively preventing disruptive behaviors. A daily classroom routine could look like this:

Walk into the classroom. Take your seat. Answer the question on the board. Discuss with your partner. Read the chapters written on the board. Answer the review question. Choose something quiet to do at your desk until the bell rings.

Creating habits like this in the classroom helps students feel secure. They know what’s coming, and there are no surprises.

I used the same tactics when I substitute taught. I wrote my name on the board and the day’s activities in order from start to finish so the students knew what to expect. I greeted every student as they walked in the door and took special care to learn all of their names, including pronouncing them correctly the first time I went through the attendance list. (If I wasn’t confident on a pronunciation, I said, “This name is spelled ______. Can you tell me how to say it?”

As you can imagine, we have a homeschool routine, too!

Habits and Parenting

A few years ago, I went to a conference and heard Kathy Koch speak about parenting. She’s absolutely wonderful! The item I remember the most from her talk comes from the idea in the Bible about putting off the old self and putting on the new. [1] In other words, getting rid of bad habits and replacing them with good ones. Charles Duhigg describes this idea as the “habit loop”: Cue, Routine, Reward. When we put off the old self and put on the new, we change the Routine part of the habit loop.

A bad habit loop might look like this:

A parent says “no” to a child (that’s the Cue). The child has a temper tantrum (that’s the Routine). The parent gives the child attention (the Reward).

A good habit loop might look like this:

A parent says “no” to a child (Cue). Instead of having a temper tantrum, the child says, “I’m angry. Can we talk about it?” (Routine). The parent gives the child attention–they talk about it (Reward).

Charles Duhigg and I differ a little bit about how the change in Routine takes place, but Kathy Koch and I completely agree. A change in Routine takes place through discipling children to run to Jesus to help them put off the old self (temper tantrum) and put on the new (talking about it).

You can apply this idea to your own behavior, too.

Habits and Mental Health

“Habit is ten natures” If that be true, strong as nature is, habit is not only as strong, but tenfold as strong. Here, then, we have a stronger than he, able to overcome this strong man armed.
Charlotte Mason, Home Education, pg.105

When my PPD/A was terrible after I had Ruthie, I read a book that I borrowed from my sister about Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT). While I don’t completely agree with all the tenants of CBT, I did like the idea that our behaviors–our habits–affect our mental health. By changing our behaviors, we can begin to change how we feel about our life situations.

I think Psalm 30 illustrates this point well. We continue to praise God even in the midst of suffering. We continue to spend time in His Word, applying Scripture to our lives, praying, and meeting with our brothers and sisters in Christ. These behaviors don’t heal us instantly, but they do continually draw our attention back to Christ, the best healer and truest friend.

Charlotte Mason points out that habit is strong, stronger than nature. When depression and anxiety uproot our innermost being, we can combat this nature with the habit of looking to the gospel for hope and healing instead of retreating deeper inside ourselves. Then, in the words of Elisabeth Elliot, we can “do the next thing.”

Conclusion

Habits are powerful and they shape our lives. The study of habit applies to all sorts of different fields: education, parenting, mental health, and more. The only path to permanent change begins with the work of the Holy Spirit in our hearts as we apply the gospel to every corner of our lives. We grow “rooted and built up in him and established in faith.” [2]

What habits would you like to cultivate in your own life? What do you do already that works well?

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As a fun way to end this post, I thought I’d share this recent article I read by Reagan Rose of Redeeming Productivity: 5 Bad Morning Habits You Should Quit Right Away. In addition to working on losing weight, I’m trying to figure out how to create a morning routine that honors God. This article contains some great practical ideas to get started. I hope you find them helpful, too!

[1] Ephesians 4:20-24, Colossians 3:8-10
[2] Colossians 2:7