{"id":13944,"date":"2025-07-31T12:38:44","date_gmt":"2025-07-31T04:38:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peepor.net\/pint\/blog\/?p=13944"},"modified":"2025-07-31T12:39:19","modified_gmt":"2025-07-31T04:39:19","slug":"the-power-of-habit-why-we-do-what-we-do-and-how-to-change","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/peepor.net\/pint\/blog\/?p=13944","title":{"rendered":"The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do and How to Change"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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I got this book written by Charles Duhigg while waiting to board the plane at the airport in Bali back to Singapore. Didn’t have anything else to do, and it was possibly something I needed to read to push myself a little bit more at that point in time. So here goes.<\/p>\n

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The book provided a lot of concrete examples about why habits are difficult to change. Through these examples, the author identified the patterns behind how a habit is formed (through a habit loop), starting with cues, which leads to routines, and then rewards; that if we want to change our habits, we will need to first identify what the reward and the cue is, and then what the routine is.<\/p>\n

That’s one way. It sounds easy, but is difficult to execute because a lot of times, habits become so ingrained as part and parcel of our life, we don’t even realise we are doing it already. I think about the things I do from the moment I wake up – from heading to the toilet to put on my contact lens, to pee, to brush my teeth, and then preparing breakfast – taking out the cups to pour water and milk in them, switching on the microwave to heat up the buns, waking the little one up, brewing my coffee for work, doing sit-ups and crunches while waiting for him to finish his breakfast (etc etc). I go into the toilet and I immediately know what needs to be done without much conscious efforts; I go into the kitchen and things get whipped up by my own hands without me putting in much thoughts; I come back up to the house after sending him off and plunge straight onto the sofa – that’s the reward that I look forward to at the end of my morning routine. It’s become a habit loop without me even realising it.<\/p>\n

And this powerful loop is the one that could prevent us from getting lost if we have dementia next time because it’s become impressed upon into a part of our brain (I can’t remember which part). It is the loop that, once we can identify and change, can help us break away from undesirable habits and become even more successful or better than we are now. Depending on which habit we want to change, it may take a while to identify what it is but once we do that, we are already halfway to a better life ahead.<\/p>\n

The author also emphasized how making one small change in our habit could potentially have a chain of positive impacts on our life in other ways, because one small thing could lead to another. This cannot be more true.<\/p>\n

I got inspired and decided to make a few deliberate but small changes in my life. One of it is my jogging habits.\u00a0I am also trying to reframe my boy by getting him to identify cues that make him upset in school and outside school, and the rewards he want to have if he does something right. It’s not easy, because his mind is not mine, but getting him to understand why he gets upset (and thereafter gets into trouble) could help him a lot in time to come given how boring and monotonous school is going to continue to be. Might as well change that habit loop and get him to enjoy school life a little bit more while he’s at it.\u00a0<\/p>\n

There are a lot of other things I’m thinking of doing to improve my current lifestyle by changing my habit loops. One at a time – I believe I can get there. Looking forward to the upcoming changes in my life \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

I recently shared this analogy cited by the author in the book with my team:\u00a0<\/p>\n

There were these two young fish swimming along and they happen to meet an older fish swimming the other way, who nods at them and says ‘Morning, boys. How’s the water?’ And the two young fish swim up for a bit, and then eventually one of them looks over at the other and goes ‘What the hell is water?’<\/em><\/p>\n

The water is habits, the unthinking choices and invisible decisions that surround us every day – and which, just by looking at them, become visible again.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Thank you Charles Duhigg for writing this book. I enjoyed reading it – it was a page turner. I learned a lot about myself too through the examples you gave. If my boy manages to change his habits one day and become a more positive person, I’ll definitely write to you to let you know \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

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