Micro habits, the little things we do every day
As you sit reading this blogpost, close your eyes for a second and feel your body. The way you are sitting now, is probably the way you always sit. Maybe hanging to one side a bit more, maybe rotating your spine in some way. Are you sitting symmetrical?
The way we sit is just one of many things that have become habits. Our lives are filled with thousands of these micro habits we normally call “it’s just the way I do that”. Every time you brush your teeth you do it roughly in the same order, with the same motions and while standing in the same pose. And how about grabbing the toothpaste, twisting off the cap, putting it back on again.
Most of these habits have developed because they seem the best way to do things. It’s perfectly okay to have these although they offer one small problem: We do things on the automatic pilot. Have you ever driven back home because you don’t know if you locked the front door you’ll know what I mean.
Everything you do, do it consciously.
A great way to jolt your brain a bit and get out of the daily grind is do everything differently. The easiest way to do this is to do everything with the other hand for a change. Immediately you have to think about every motion you make. Pick up your computer mouse and put it on the left side of your screen. Now goof around a bit and see if you can match the precision and speed you normally have with that mouse cursor.
But why do you want to get of autopilot
It’s fun Or at least, it can be fun if you let it and don’t get frustrated that things go so much slower. Do them enough and things will speed up greatly.
Your brain will benefit from it As with anything in our body the phrase “use it or loose it” also applies to our brain. It’s always a good idea to stimulate the brain and let it experience new things.
Adaptation You’ll learn more ways of doing things, maybe making for some good laughs, maybe coming in handy when your normal way of doing things doesn’t work in this specific situation.
Variation is healthy If you always sit in the same position, your back will eventually change to accommodate that posture better. You’ll probably develop a scoliosis because of it. Always carry a backpack over your right shoulder only and in a few years your back will show this habit, even if you’re not wearing the pack at that time.
The single downside as I mentioned is that things will most certainly go slower. We have fine tuned our micro habits to perfection and sometimes we’ll have spend thousands of hours during our life so far in doing things in this particular way.
I have compiled a short list of daily activities that you might want to take a closer look at to see if there are any micro habits in there:
- toweling off after taking a shower
- getting dressed
- putting on your seat belt
- turning around
- opening a door
- chewing your food
- going to the toilet
- grabbing your wallet
Now this is were zen comes in again. Zen has the deliberate practice of getting off auto pilot and being fully aware of what is going on. Everything you do, do it consciously. For the remainder of the day I would like you to give it a try. Do every little thing with deliberation, pay full attention to every movement you make. Zen goes even deeper into this claiming that every situation is new and unique. So every situation deserves it’s own way of handling it. Brushing your teeth today is not the same as yesterday. So why do it the same way? They call it beginner’s mind. Seeing everything for what it really is: totally new and unique.
You’ll probably get confused at some stage because now you’re using a different part of the brain to do these tasks. As I said, it’s a great way to jolt the brain a bit.
Have fun!
And, of course, an even more important reason to change those habits is that they are the things that keep you mediocre. The creators of your comfort zone and the barriers to becoming all you have the potential to be.
Well said!
These habits are the things that keep us down. Eventually getting stuck in our ways. Our ways create our comfort zone indeed. (This becomes very clear when you work with someone who has a form of autism.)
Thanks for another insightful comment Ralph, I really appreciate you thinking with me here.
Thank you Christiaan for making my brain check back in for a moment or two. As I started to read this post, of course I sat up straight, rolled back my shoulders and tried to stay aware of my body till the end of your post. It’s so easy to unplug while you’re doing daily activities, i.e. when you start falling asleep eating breakfast I think it’s a sign that you need more sleep or live more consciously (at least for me)! I’ll try that at tomorrow’s breakfast ;)
Does it seem that people tend to favor their dominant side when doing micro habits (that’s what I always assumed)?
Keep it up, always make me think.
It take a lot of time for a new body position to become a habit. The therapy I’m licensed to give people centers around teaching people new habits in moving. (Healthier ways to sit, walk, pick things up, dance….) For the body to fully adjust to the new habit (and getting all the muscles to the right length for the job) can take up to 6 months. That is, between 9 and 18 sessions with roughly one session a week followed by continued practice by the client at home without further intervention.
Most of the times the dominant side indeed is the favored side. The exceptions however are habits that have their roots in an old injury or pain, an unsymmetrical workplace or even something as simple as having the mouse of your pc on the right side of the keyboard while working on a table that is an inch to high. Resulting in constantly raising the right shoulder or leaning to the left in order to get your hand on the mouse.
Actually this makes me think: Don’t left and right handed people both have their computer mouse on the same side of the keyboard?
There are so many examples of where things can go wrong here, so many small things. Most of them are no problem at all. They only become a problem if the body starts protesting (=pain)
I hope to keep you thinking, and if you have any questions please do ask them.
I don’t have any experience with autism and in my ignorance never really thought much about it. You comment gives me a better understanding and also more reason to fight the comfort.
Question. Once you teach yourself a new habit, are you not back where you started?
I think that depends on the habit you form. The habit of examining your habits and realizing that you are on auto pilot wouldn’t be a habit to break in this way. Habits certainly can be a good thing and some of them really are useful. As long as you know some things are done without thought that with some thought might be done differently and you explore these options every once in a while it’s perfectly okay to stir your coffee clockwise.
Just know those habits are there and tackle them every once in a while to jolt your brain. Maybe stir the coffee clockwise, but try and really feel the resistance of the sugar in the mug.
Get off autopilot and do things deliberately is the bottom line here.
Thanks for the question, I hope this answer satisfies it.