Actions and Outcomes—Creating Your Future Through Habits

Nobody is perfect in their habits. There will always be backslides and hiccups related to the good habits we strive for and the bad habits we strive to avoid or control. Sometimes, these lapses can be severe, and depending on the habits involved, they can have significant consequences. People have all kinds of habits, but it can be helpful to think about how they impact your life. Some habits contribute to or detract from your mental or physical health; others may add meaning to your life in various ways. Some may provide spiritual enrichment or a creative outlet. Some may seem easy, while others may be a constant struggle. 

What are habits, and how should I think about them?

Much has been written about how habits can be incorporated into one’s life. One popular book about habits is The Power of Habits by Charles Duhigg, a great resource if you want to dig deeper. Here, I focus on the cues and consequences of habits. One much-quoted study defined habits as “actions that are triggered automatically in response to contextual cues that have been associated with their performance.” (1) In plain language, this means habits are actions that you associate with specific cues or triggers. These actions have consequences, which may be good or bad. Focusing on these consequences can provide insights into your actions, what cues you have and keep in your life, and what you want to achieve.

Cues for habits

Humans are creatures of habit. You wake up in the morning and brush your teeth. You get in a car and put on your seatbelt—you don’t even have to think about it. You get home from work, and you pour yourself a drink. Cues can be related to both healthy and destructive habits. The key here is becoming aware of those cues and taking some of the automation out of your life. As in all things, a better awareness of yourself and what drives you will always be positive. Awareness of cues for healthy habits can help reinforce them while understanding triggers for destructive habits can help you avoid them.

A change in context and the cues for your habits can influence your habits significantly. For example, when you vacation, you may eat differently—different times, different foods, and different amounts. These changes may lead to overeating or eating less healthy foods. That might be on purpose—you may allow indulgences on vacation—but being aware of these new and different cues and your responses to them is helpful. 

Hiccups along the way

Even with the best intentions, all of us periodically falter when it comes to our good and bad habits. If you have a significant setback, it can be easy to let it get to you. You may use the setback as an excuse to backslide further. You can avoid this by not focusing on the past—even the immediate past. Whenever you do something that you regret, it’s natural to keep focusing on that action or inaction. While it’s helpful to learn from these events and build an awareness of what context and triggers lead to this lapse, you must do this from a forward-looking perspective. A past mistake does not mean you will make the same mistake in the future. All you can control is what you’re doing now—key in on that fact and act according to your goals relating to your habits.

Making the consequences of habits real

Imagine that you can speak to your future self as if you were two different people. This image may seem hard to conceive, but if you consider how your experiences change you, you are two different people, albeit two directly connected through one person living the consequences of the other’s actions. So you’re speaking to your future self. You both know that your actions or inactions have resulted in what your future self will face. You see that person and see those consequences in their appearance, in their happiness, in their confidence, and you know that you are the one who is responsible for those parts of this person.

What would you say?

Now, take the next step and actually have that conversation through a note. Sit down and write a note to your future self. This may seem silly at first, but if you acknowledge that you’re constantly evolving and that your actions directly impact your future self, the exercise will seem logical and helpful. As you write the letter, talk about your habits and how they will impact you as you engage in them over time. Talk about your challenges with your habits and how you’re trying to meet those challenges. Make a commitment to your future self regarding your goals as they relate to your habits. 

At the top of the letter, write today’s date and the date you want your future self to read the note. If your habits have significant short-term consequences, date it six months from now. If your habits have long-term consequences, date it two to five years from now. Finally, put the note in an envelope with the date you will open it written on the front. Put it where you know you’ll be able to find it at that time. Add a reminder on your calendar to open it on that date.

Accountability can play a vital role in keeping good and avoiding bad habits. Accountability to yourself is a big part of that.

Habits and rewards

Developing and keeping good habits and curtailing and quitting bad habits is about motivation. Creating a vision for your desired outcomes and keeping that vision in your thoughts will help you to develop neural pathways that will reinforce the behaviors that will most likely achieve those outcomes. This process begins with being very specific and detailed about your desired outcomes. Develop a vision for what you want in the future that can be brought about through habits. Be clear and detailed, and include a time limit. Once you have this complete, keep it handy and read it often. Studies have shown that regularly envisioning a desired outcome makes that outcome much more likely to occur. You see actions and opportunities to support that vision more readily, and you take advantage of those opportunities more aggressively. See your desired future, and that future will come to be.

Your actions are the components that make up your life. Paying attention to your habits will help you take actions that are consistent with the life you want.

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 (1) Gardner, Benjamin, Phillippa Lally, and Jane Wardle, 2012.  “Making health habitual: the psychology of ‘habit-formation’ and general practice.” British Journal of General Practice. 2012 Dec; 62(605): 664–666.

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Artwork by Ihar Baikou