Comments on: Habits, decisions, and results http://www.daveswhiteboard.com/archives/2764?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=habits-decisions-and-results Dave Ferguson's interests, ideas, notions, tangents Sat, 17 Jul 2010 15:10:39 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0 By: Dave http://www.daveswhiteboard.com/archives/2764/comment-page-1#comment-15339 Dave Thu, 24 Sep 2009 20:30:33 +0000 http://www.daveswhiteboard.com/?p=2764#comment-15339 Part of what that second principle meant is that, once a habit's established (either deliberately, or as a result of an association found rewarding), the habit response (the behavior) will occur without any thought about the goal. If you started buying the paper to idle over it with your coffee, paper-with-coffee will become a habit that will tend to persist even if you have the new goal of saving money (and thus not buying the paper). I'm still working through the article in terms of the dynamic between habits and goals. If the connection were simple, we'd all have only good habits. The reframing is certainly a part of it--but I'm thinking that the various performance contexts matter. For example, you might produce certain behavior at work, in particular situations, but completely different behavior at home, although the conditions might seem similar. (The do-it-now manager who lets his spouse handle all the housework, say.) Longstanding habits may be very difficult to change, and we may not really be able to <i>replace</i> them with another (habitual) behavior. The best we might hope for is the ability to <i>choose</i> that alternative behavior deliberately because we recognize the context giving rise to the old habit. In part this explains why I hardly ever have potato chips in the house. Part of what that second principle meant is that, once a habit’s established (either deliberately, or as a result of an association found rewarding), the habit response (the behavior) will occur without any thought about the goal. If you started buying the paper to idle over it with your coffee, paper-with-coffee will become a habit that will tend to persist even if you have the new goal of saving money (and thus not buying the paper).

I’m still working through the article in terms of the dynamic between habits and goals. If the connection were simple, we’d all have only good habits.

The reframing is certainly a part of it–but I’m thinking that the various performance contexts matter. For example, you might produce certain behavior at work, in particular situations, but completely different behavior at home, although the conditions might seem similar.

(The do-it-now manager who lets his spouse handle all the housework, say.)

Longstanding habits may be very difficult to change, and we may not really be able to replace them with another (habitual) behavior. The best we might hope for is the ability to choose that alternative behavior deliberately because we recognize the context giving rise to the old habit.

In part this explains why I hardly ever have potato chips in the house.

]]> By: bfchirpy http://www.daveswhiteboard.com/archives/2764/comment-page-1#comment-15332 bfchirpy Thu, 24 Sep 2009 16:15:05 +0000 http://www.daveswhiteboard.com/?p=2764#comment-15332 Just jumped from reading this - http://usablelearning.wordpress.com/2009/09/22/daniel-pink-and-framing-the-task/ - at Usable Learning to your post. If habits are cued by context, endure despite fading goals (which they nevertheless interact with) AND you can develop the reframing technique described by Usable Learning then it would seem that 'improving' habit could itself become a habit. One could become a true 'progressive'. You could become to habit what Houdini was to mentalism. You could become a habit ninja. Just jumped from reading this – http://usablelearning.wordpress.com/2009/09/22/daniel-pink-and-framing-the-task/ – at Usable Learning to your post.

If habits are cued by context, endure despite fading goals (which they nevertheless interact with) AND you can develop the reframing technique described by Usable Learning then it would seem that ‘improving’ habit could itself become a habit.

One could become a true ‘progressive’. You could become to habit what Houdini was to mentalism. You could become a habit ninja.

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