Habit Rewards
In a previous post, Triggers, I discussed a method of helping you remember to do various actions. That is really only one step one of the process of creating a habit.
Another step that is very important is rewarding the process that you want to create into a habit.
If we do something, even an action that we want to turn into a habit, and we don't reward ourselves, the positive feedback that wires our brain isn't as effective. To make a stronger habit circuit in your brain, it's important to add a habit reward to the process.
Habit Reward
So what is a habit reward?
It's very simple. When you do something that you want to turn into a habit, something that you want to do automatically, you have to rewire your brain circuitry. This is done in the brain with neurochemical transmitters (enough biology for this post...) creating a positive feedback loop. The best way of doing this is to reward yourself after doing something you want to make a habit.
A habit reward can be anything that makes you feel good about what you just did. It can be something physical (i.e. giving yourself a cookie) or it can be psychological (i.e. giving yourself a "mental" atta-boy!)
The important part about this is to (a) actually GIVE yourself a reward that means something to you and (b) give it consistently after the behavior and (c) give is immediately after the action you want to rewar...