On the first day of the semester, a few students met amongst themselves and agreed that, whenever the professor raised his arms while talking, the students would nod their heads and smile approvingly at whatever he said. As the story goes, the professor was known for “talking with his hands” and making lots of gestures while explaining concepts to students. I am reminded of a popular story about a prank that college students played on their professor. The more immediately satisfying a habit is, the more likely it will be repeated in the future. This type of immediate feedback is a powerful factor in getting habits to stick. Motivated by the immediate satisfaction of making music as they walked, 66 percent more people took the stairs as they exited the subway rather than riding the escalator nearby. Each step was accompanied with a musical note. Suddenly, using the stairs was fun and surprising. When pedestrians walked up the stairs, musical tones played from nearby speakers. These engineers laid a series of sensors across a set of stairs in the subway and decorated them to resemble a giant set of piano keys. One of my favorite examples comes from a group of city engineers in Stockholm, Sweden. In other words, we’re going to discuss how to create an effective reward that makes your habits satisfying. In this lesson, we’re going to discuss some strategies for closing the feedback loop on your habits in a positive and enjoyable way. In the first seven lessons, we’ve talked about how to make your habits easy, obvious, and attractive. It is the feeling that comes with a reward – pleasure, satisfaction, enjoyment – that closes the feedback loop and teaches your brain which behaviors to remember for next time. This is why the reward is a key aspect of habit formation. The feeling of success is a signal that tells your brain that the habit paid off and that it was worth the effort. The vital thing in getting a habit to stick is to feel successful-even if it’s in a small way.
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