The Habit Loop

Written By Annie Belott, M.Ed

Mid-fall check-in time!

How is your current routine holding up? Is there a task or action that you’ve been wanting to incorporate into your routine, but it’s just not sticking? Are there some elements of your current routine that you wish could be adjusted? 

Habits, by definition, are settled or regular tendencies or practices. The behaviors and actions that we incorporate into our daily routines, if done deliberately and consistently, will eventually be able to be completed on autopilot. Little conscious thought will need to take place once an action, activity or behavior is done routinely. 

So, how can we incorporate new habits into our fall routine or ensure that the behaviors or actions in our current routine stick? Have no fear, the habit loop is here!

Repeatedly engaging in this 3-step process will help cement new habits and/or reinforce existing ones.

  1. Cue - The kickstarter to a habit. A specific trigger that alerts your brain to start an action or habit. Cues can fall into the following categories:

    • Time of day

      • Example: A 7am alarm is set for every morning to get out of bed and begin the day

    • Location/Environment

      • Examples: Walk by the same Starbucks on the way to work and buy a coffee or enter the gym and start your workout at the same machine 

    • Preceding Event

      • Examples: Phone buzzes and you check your notifications or floss your teeth after you finish brushing them

  2. Routine - The automatic or repeated behavior that gets triggered by a cue aka the habit!

    • Create a checklist of the actions and behaviors that you want to accomplish

    • Identify the negative and positive habits that occur by a cue - do you want to keep that behavior or adjust it?

  3. Reward - The reinforcement that encourages the habit to continue

    • Implement immediate, small rewards

    • Determine a few options to use as a reward and see which has the greatest impact     

Now that we have the understanding of how the habit loop works, try using a habit tracker app - Habitify, Streaks, Habit Rabbit - or a habit tracking sheet to measure whether you are consistently completing the particular behavior or action that you want to turn into a habit. Habit tracking adds a layer of accountability to solidify those habits as part of your routine!

Annie Belott, M.Ed

With over nine years of experience working in academia, including university settings, Annie has worked with various student populations including individuals with disabilities, first-generation students, and student-athletes. She focuses on strategies to improve upon time management, procrastination, test anxiety, self-testing, learning styles, etc.

From 2016 to 2020, Annie worked as a Learning Skills Specialist at Georgetown University. Here she oversaw the implementation of academic support services to all students on campus, specifically individual consultations with students seeking assistance with their study habits, tutoring for foreign languages, and study skills workshops/webinars.

Annie has worked for Life Solved since the Fall of 2017 and recently transitioned to a full-time position with the company. She continues to work with students from middle school through the collegiate level to improve upon their organizational systems, test-taking and self-testing strategies, and help students create effective study schedules to make workloads manageable.

Annie has a Bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education from Salisbury University and a Master’s degree in Multicultural Special Education from the University of Texas at Austin.

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