How repetition creates habits
3 ways to re-think repetition
When you think of habit hacks, you think of ways to get around how humans normally operate. Some insight or new way of thinking to break through convention.
And that’s a good thing. One of the wonderful things about the modern day information age is the wealth of knowledge at your fingertips that can help you make marginal improvements on every part of your life. Never give up trying to crack the code.
But sometimes...old school works.
And when it comes to creating a positive habit, old school repetition is one of the best ways to succeed.
Repetition
First off, why do I keep saying “old school?”
Well, that’s because old school is cool. Everybody likes to be old school.
When you’re old school, it means you appreciate simple wisdom. Bread and butter. Meat and potatoes. Nothing wrong with the new stuff, but don’t forget the old stuff that works too.
Because you can always do both.
Now I’m gonna say something a little offensive.
Here goes…
Think stupid.
Or better yet, don’t be afraid to think stupid.
What do I mean by that?
Take investing for example. Peter Thiel once said that “as an investor, you want to find things that are so stupid that other investors are embarrassed to invest in them.”
What he meant was that there are all sorts of fancy and complicated investment strategies out there, but if you just invest on the big popular stocks, like Facebook, Google and Apple, then you’re gonna make a ton of money.
It doesn’t take a genius to succeed. But unfortunately a lot of people are trying too hard to be a genius that they don’t do the obvious thing that works.
So again I’ll say it. Repetition works. Are there a lot of fancy tricks and cool info on how the brain works that no one else knows about?
Sure. And don’t be afraid to try those things. But at the end of the day, don’t be afraid of the simple solutions either.
Here are 3 ways to think about repetition that will help you put it into practice.
- Repetition Reduces Anxiety
- Repetition creates neural pathways
- Repetition creates identity
Repetition reduces anxiety
Anxiety is the mindkiller. You want to do everything you can to get rid of anxiety.
Repetition is an easy way to get rid of anxiety.
Think about anytime you’ve been in a new situation. Something you’ve never done before. You’re constantly thinking “what do I do now?”
There’s a reason why almost every culture has a tradition for everything. From how to make coffee to how to bury a body.
When you’re in a stressful situation, it’s helpful to have it all thought out beforehand. “Do this, then do that. When this happens, do this.”
When you have a routine set up for activities, you don’t have to think. And thinking creates stress. Routines reduce friction. And friction is one of the main things that keep you from getting over that next hurdle.
It’s awfully hard to wake up on a cold morning to get to the gym. But when you have a routine set up.
Walk the dog. Start the coffee. Check email.
It’s a lot easier to actually get up and moving. And it reduces the friction to just stay in bed.
Repetition creates neural pathways
Let’s talk about the brain.
Everybody loves talking about the brain.
How powerful it is.
How we’ve only tapped 10 percent of our brain power or whatever.
Have you ever read an article about the brain, thinking you’re gonna learn some juicy new fact about the brain’s untapped potential.
Raise your hand if this has ever happened to you.
For me? Guilty as charged.
Look. The brain is sexy. We love learning about the brain and how crazy powerful it is. The brain seems like magic sometimes.
But you know what? The brain is also just a lump of meat. In a lot of ways, the brain is like a computer program. It does what it’s told. If this -> then that.
How many weird habits do you have just because that’s the way you’ve always done things?
The crazy thing is, if you do something, the brain just forms habits.
Now, it may not be as simple and cute as 21 days to a habit. But if you do something enough, your brain will create a habit.
That’s because when you act, your brain fires neurons. Fire those neurons enough, and you create new neural pathways. What the hell does that mean?
It means if you do something enough, your brain will automatically trigger it. Simple as.
Repetition creates identity
When you do something over and over again, it becomes part of who you are. And the more you identify with a certain habit, the easier it is to do it.
It’s that simple.
Have you ever met someone from your hometown, born and raised, but they root for a football team from across the country? Because their dad did? Or someone used to live there thirty years ago? So they’ve just always done it until it’s part of who they are?
Yeah. If you’re a sports fan, then we’ve all known someone like that. And the explanations never really make sense.
Except they do. Because all it takes to shape identity is repetition. When you do something over and over again, inevitably it becomes a part of you.
And when something is a part of your identity, it’s easier to do.
So do it.
Just do it.
There’s a reason why it’s the Nike motto. Because it’s powerful. Because it works. Just do something over and over and it will become a habit.
Break it down
Wait a minute though. It’s not always that easy. You can’t just pick a hard habit and expect it to become natural through repetition.
You’ve got to break it down.
Pick a habit. Break it down into smaller parts. Start repeating the smaller parts over and over until they become natural. Then work from there. You can’t do it all at once. But when you break down that habit you want into smaller parts, you’ll be able to repeat each part until it becomes a habit.
And it's repetition that creates habits.
Just do it. Hit repeat. Get it into your brain until it’s natural. Until it feels weird NOT to do it.
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