{"id":16927,"date":"2019-05-31T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2019-05-31T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/understand-how-your-brain-works-to-develop-better-habits-in-the-office\/"},"modified":"2022-04-18T14:04:34","modified_gmt":"2022-04-18T19:04:34","slug":"understand-how-your-brain-works-to-develop-better-habits-in-the-office","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.planview.com\/understand-how-your-brain-works-to-develop-better-habits-in-the-office\/","title":{"rendered":"Understand How Your Brain Works to Develop Better Habits in the Office"},"content":{"rendered":"

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If you want to change a habit that gets in your way, get ready to battle your own brain. The mind that creates good habits is the same one that thwarts them.<\/span><\/p>\n

Imagine an automatic response that you want to change. Say, for instance, obsessively checking email throughout the workday instead of setting aside blocks of time to read and respond. To cut down on the distraction, you might try a new routine, but it fails to take root. <\/span><\/p>\n

You are not alone. Roughly 54 percent of people who resolved to change their ways failed to make the transformation last beyond six months, and the average person made the same life resolution 10 times over without success, according to <\/span>research<\/span><\/a> by the <\/span>Journal of Clinical Psychology<\/span><\/i>.<\/span><\/p>\n

The mind is not easily won. Your intentions and rules are not enough to convince it to change. \u00a0Understanding how the brain works for maximum efficiency reveals the obstacles we face in cementing a new habit \u2013 and the path to conquering them.<\/span><\/p>\n

Neuroscience and Me<\/b><\/h4>\n

When the brain gets in the way of change, it\u2019s only doing its job. Our mind is an optimizing machine. By setting much of our actions on autopilot, we free up space for more difficult thinking.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cYour brain wants to find routines that have succeeded in the past and allow you to repeat those actions again in the future without having to think about them explicitly,\u201d writes Art Markman, professor of psychology and marketing at University of Texas at Austin in <\/span>Fast Company<\/span><\/i><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Repeated reactions form neuronal connections. Each time you behave a certain way, that pattern gets stronger. A habit forms, set in motion by a trigger, which induces an action, which we reinforce with a reward.<\/span><\/p>\n

Despite your efforts to confine social media use to downtime, there\u2019s a reason you feel the urge to check in throughout the workday.\u201dThe brain\u2019s reward center keeps us craving the things we\u2019re trying so hard to resist,\u201d according to researchers with the <\/span>National Institutes of Health<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

NIH-funded scientists discovered another way our minds fight change. When you substitute a new habit for an old one, your brain doesn\u2019t erase the original behavior. Both of them remain. The good news is that you can give the new ones center stage while nudging the old ones into the background.<\/span><\/p>\n

Break the Chain<\/b><\/h4>\n

Successfully replacing one entrenched behavior for another involves rewiring. \u201cIf you want to change how you work or a bad habit, you should have a clear exit strategy to break out of the chain,\u201d writes <\/span>Thomas Oppong<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

By bolstering your plan with a few supports, and giving a new habit two months to become ingrained, you can trick your brain for the better.<\/span><\/p>\n