Bad habits at work can be destructive to company culture and productivity, yet we all have them. The good news is that findings have shown we can break our bad habits. The process can be difficult, but worth it.
To start, let’s examine how bad habits form. According to the National Institute of Health, there are two primary reasons. First is repetition. “If you do something often enough . . . your brain decides it can stop wasting precious neurons thinking about it so it checks out and goes on vacation,” according to Wellcast. Basically, our brains go on autopilot. The second reason is positive reinforcement of enjoyable feelings that result from repeating these habits. Our brains release the pleasure feeling hormone dopamine.
Researchers from the University of California found the brain’s circuits that control habit- and goal-directed actions constantly battle for dominance within the part of the brain that makes decisions. “A good balance of habitual and goal-directed actions helps with everyday functioning and task management. We need to be able to make routine actions quickly and efficiently, and habits serve this purpose. However, we also encounter changing circumstances, and need the capacity to ‘break habits’ and perform a goal-directed action based on updated information,” FastCompany reports. When we have bad habits that are entrenched and deeply rooted in our work lives, adjusting to a changing condition can become very difficult. As a result, agility and productivity can suffer.
There are ways for everyone to break bad habits.
- The first step is to identify what your bad habits are. This can be accomplished through a 360-degree evaluation from supervisors as well as direct reports. The feedback can potentially be hard to accept, but it is part of an overall difficult process that can reap rewards.
- Once the bad habits have been noted, the next step is to figure out the triggers that cause the bad habit and come up with ways to avoid them. Removing associations can help with this. “If your office is close to a few well-stocked candy dishes, for example, change your route and stock your own drawers with healthy food.”
- We also need to replace the bad habits with new habits by reprogramming and reframing our brains. “You want to teach your brain, by repetition, to learn a new habit.”
- In terms of goal-setting, Chip Heath, co-author of the book Switch: Hot to Change Things when Change is Hard, recommends taking a segmented approach that is gradual rather than taking on the entire process at once. “What employees can do instead is to shrink the change by breaking up goals into more manageable chunks while rewarding ourselves for reaching the smaller milestones. Some easy successes can make it easier to complete the entire goal. . . ”