00:00:00:07 - 00:00:20:22 Kate Hi. I'm Kate, and this is sake for life. Are you interested in starting a new habit? Or maybe breaking an unwanted one? Have you ever started a new habit and then within about a week or two realized you're not doing it anymore? Or are you having trouble kicking an old habit that you just find yourself doing again and again? 00:00:21:16 - 00:00:50:02 Kate In any of these cases, you're not alone. Forming new habits, breaking unwanted habits, and sticking with the change can be very challenging. But luckily, we are here to help. And there are lots of science backed techniques to help you succeed in this section. We're going to discuss what habits are and how they're formed, the difference between habits and goals, and why habits are so important. 00:00:51:00 - 00:01:13:29 Kate What is a habit? A habit is a routine or a practice that you perform regularly. It's so automatic that you often don't think about each step of the process. You simply do it. Our habits can also be automatic responses to certain situations. For example, when you eat a meal a habit might be putting your food on the plate instead of the table. 00:01:14:04 - 00:01:44:25 Kate It's not something you think about. You just do it. How are habits formed Psychologists define habits as behaviors that are automatically prompted by situational or environmental cues or signals. In a nutshell, we form habits by repeatedly performing a behavior in a particular situation until our mind creates a link between that behavior and the situational view, the behavior then becomes an automatic response to the cues. 00:01:45:04 - 00:02:15:17 Kate The stronger the association, the more automatic the behavior becomes. How are habits different than goals? Goals are the targets we want to reach. The results or the outcomes that we're aiming for. Setting goals helps us use our time and energy to make the most of our lives. On the other hand, habits are the everyday behaviors that either support or interfere with our progress toward our goals. 00:02:17:17 - 00:02:38:14 Kate For example, if I set a goal that I want to read 12 books this year, I'll probably want to form a reading habit such as reading for 15 minutes every day. So I've set up a structure that will allow me to achieve my goal. But we don't only build habits for the purpose of reaching concrete goals like reading 12 books. 00:02:38:23 - 00:03:04:16 Kate We might also build habits around things that reflect our values. For instance, I might value expressing gratitude and I might turn that into a habit by writing down three things I'm grateful for every day. Some habits also help us keep our lives organized and free of stress. An example of this in my life is rinsing the dishes and getting them into the dishwasher right after dinner. 00:03:04:24 - 00:03:31:27 Kate This way I don't have to think about it later. I can just enjoy the rest of my night with my family. So goals give us the direction and something to aim for, and habits give us the means by which we achieve those goals. Express our values and live the life we want to live. Why are habits so important Research has found that about 40% of our lives consists of repeated behavior. 00:03:32:16 - 00:03:57:00 Kate That means that half of what we do every day is a habit So making small changes in the routines and behaviors that you perform every day can have a huge impact on your life. Those small changes compound over time and can produce amazing results. As the saying goes, Rome wasn't built in a day and neither is your life. 00:03:57:08 - 00:04:23:21 Kate Habits are the key to making small, gradual changes to achieve the life you want to live. Here are the key takeaways about what habits are and why they are so important Habits are the regular routines and practices we do unconsciously. They're formed through repeated association between a behavior and a cue A goal is your target the desired result or outcome you're aiming for. 00:04:23:24 - 00:04:46:17 Kate Whereas habits are the daily behaviors we do to reach our goals and live our lives the way we want to. Close to 40% of our life is spent on repeated behaviors. So if we change our habits, we change our lives one step at a time. So how do we form new habits? To find out more. Join us in the next video.