This article covers a phenomenon named "Synaptic Pruning" which might have helped you a lot in the past when you did not realize it then,The Psychology of How it works & How to make that phenomenon work for you.You'll know why people say practice makes perfect and you'll start preaching it too !
You have used Synaptic Pruning..(or..We have.)
In the good old days of our school life,we had the habit of taking bath after coming back to freshen up the evening.However,when we feel deprived of a benefit of something that we used to get before,We say."I used to do this after i do this and felt more happy" now that I am no longer doing that,I feel I need to figure out a way to do it again.
If you are somewhere between the ages of a late teenager who has a change of environment from school to college or college to work,you can pretty much relate to something or the other right now.
If you weren't able to relate to that,think if you can relate to this.If you had gone through a medication of any sort,you might have been asked to intake it either before or after food.This was easy to catch up with since it had a cue to it or a regular habit for it which is eating your meal and eating the tablet was just a follow up.
The Principle of how we are going to put the Synaptic Pruning phenomenon to use for our advantage is called "Habit Stacking" I found this in the book " Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones" by James Clear which is a New York Times Best Seller.
Psychology of it.
Every habit is built on repetition but habits are easier to build when they are stacked.Don't worry you won't face a stack overflow in this case ( Coder here :) ).
But you can pretty much stack a new habit using a previous existing habit as a cue. I've personally did this for a longer chain.I have my morning prayer,followed by my Quran reading,followed by my non fiction book reading.
That was a part of my quarantine morning routine.(Click here to know more).
So about habits, almost everything you do daily is a repetition of a habit.That is why there are good and bad habits.Your brain builds more neural connections in your brain that helps it to take lesser effort each time you do it again and for the habits you didn't do,it removes the neural connections because it assumes them to be useless.
The Brain does not know what is constructive and what is destructive for your life. All it knows is to strengthen up the neural pathways of the frequently used areas to give maximum output.This is why Practice makes perfect.
In other terms, Synaptic Pruning is the biological change that leads to skill development.
Take Advantage of Synaptic Pruning.
Now that you've known this secret,let me guide you through on how to take advantage of it in a way that is useful for you.
- Write down the new habit/habits you want to achieve.
- Write down the tasks you know you'd do on a daily basis.
- Try to find an appropriate and reasonable way to fit in a new habit by making an existing habit as a cue.
- Run an imaginary movie in your mind of you following them and being happy at the end of the next day,while you are on the bed the previous night.
As you get started with this new habit of habit stacking,you'll eventually do a lot of hidden cues to help organize your day better,doing all the stuff you wanted to do.
I have a dedicated article for cues.Do check it out :) .
Thanks for reading.And as always,
Stay Safe & Wash Hands Regularly.
Even if the Corona Virus Pandemic is over,Let us keep following the habit we were forced to learn. :)