Mastering The Habit Loop Through The BLISSipline Technique
- Brainz Magazine
- Oct 18, 2022
- 5 min read
Updated: Aug 12, 2024
Written by: Dr. Kapil and Rupali Apshankar, Executive Contributor
Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise.
We all get caught up in daily chores, stuff that we don’t put very much thought into. Take some time to think about all the chores you currently do on a daily basis that are almost second nature.
Things like brushing your teeth, pouring a cup of coffee, and even pushing the same button on the elevator at work. These are all simple and monotonous tasks we all go through on a daily basis, but how many of them are actually proactive? How many of these tasks provide you with a sense of accomplishment?
Repetitive tasks if used wisely can be very beneficial to your personal growth. These repetitive tasks go on to become habits, simple ones albeit. Simple habits can take over aspects of your life ‒ for better or for worse.
Understanding how a habit forms is one of the best ways you can work to increase your personal effectiveness and have a more blissful moment-by-moment life.
Habits Form on a Cue-Routine-Reward Cycle
A habit is essentially a shortcut to a process that would normally take more thinking and attention. Through constant repetition, we teach ourselves to find small shortcuts in the process to decrease our overall effort. The process of having a habit will only occur when we have a particular cue.
This is how the habit cycle works:
The Cue is the trigger to perform the habit.
The Routine is the path we have taught ourselves to take.
The Reward is exactly that ‒ a reward. The feeling of a reward lights up the amygdala and sends a wave of pleasure, small or large.
For example: When Liz comes home after work, she always puts her phone and keys on the table, pours a glass of white wine, and looks through the newspaper. She then starts to relax, letting her mind transition from work life to home life.
The Cue: Arrive at home.
The Routine: Lay the phone and keys on the table, pour glass of white wine, look through newspaper.
The Reward: A relaxing, calming sensation, the sweet taste of wine, and the excitement of reading her favorite writers talking about fashion and sports.
In order to change and understand the habit, we need to interrupt at the time of the cue and provide a different reward.
Here's How We Break The Routine
Liz arrives at home like most days, yet this time, she drops her phone and keys and go straight to the shower or bath with the paper. She is then replacing the calm and relaxing sensation of a glass of wine with a warm shower or bath.
Tweaking the routine is as simple as understanding where to break the main cue of the cycle. In Liz’s case, the glass of wine is no issue, and she can easily adapt the routine in order to limit her alcohol consumption in an effort to better her health. Making small changes like this could seem a little redundant, if not futile, yet it is the small changes that make the biggest difference.
Take the example of the worker who uses the elevator every day at work. Intercepting the routine of entering the elevator and taking the stairs instead will help to improve metabolism and encourage weight loss and vitality. The reward is exactly that ‒ weight loss and vitality.
Understanding the three main components of the Habit Loop are essential in order to create new routines and better your life. When you interrupt the process of established habits, you can more easily make changes to your habits to support your goals.
Lot has been written about peak performance, high productivity, personal effectiveness – and the habit loop. Many books, many systems and many philosophies exist – and are followed by millions.
Yet, a lot of people are a far cry away from living the life of their dreams.
Here’s a simple method to change all that. A simpler method does not exist. And while may sound simple, it has been put to the test multiple times and has worked for everyone who has tried it.
The BLISSipline Technique™ for mastering the habit loop and achieving peak performance, high productivity and personal BLISS on a daily basis:
Every week:
Clearly define the “dream” in five areas of your life: your core, your body, your finances, your relationships and your work
Evey day:
Each evening, journal six most important “actions” you intend to take the next day to achieve your “dream”
Schedule these actions as appointments for your next day with sufficient time for each action and sufficient time in between each. Bonus points for tying these in with your established triggers: turning on your laptop at work, finishing your mid-morning coffee, taking your shoes off when you get back home in the evening. Get creative, you will notice you have hundreds of triggers you can positively tap into.
Each morning, begin the day by journalling the “dream”
As you go through your day, keep appointments with your “dream-actions”.
Overruns will happen, don’t move on to the next appointment before completely finishing the current one
If you run out of time before finishing all your dream-action appointments, they become the first appointments for the following day
Each evening, celebrate your “dream-action” wins
That’s pretty much it. Simple and sweet. And it works.
Try out the BLISSiplineTechnique™ for the next 21 days and see your life magically transforming. Not only will you have mastered the habit loop, but you will also have turned your life around.
And if you want to super-charge the whole process, talk to us. We are always here to hold a loving, non-judgmental space for you as you embark on your personal transformation journey.
Dr. Kapil and Rupali Apshankar, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine
Kapil and Rupali are Amazon's no. 1 bestselling authors and globally respected business and life strategists. They are founders of Blissvana, a boutique personal development, self-growth, and success studio. Their coaching methods have been proven at the highest levels of success in every dimension of human life. Kapil and Rupali's lives revolve around love, happiness, abundance, and bliss ‒ at home and work. Kapil and Rupali's purpose is to create the highest possible quality of life they can for themselves, and the people they love while helping others around them do the same.
