Module 4 · Change & break habits · Research-supported

What the habit gives you

Every unwanted habit pays you something. Name it, and you can pay yourself another way.

6 min read · Level: Intermediate · Free — no account needed to read

The problem it solves

Why keep doing something you don’t want to do?

The concept

Every lasting habit pays you something, at least in the moment: relief from boredom, a break from a hard task, comfort when stressed, a small pleasure, company, a sense of control. That payoff is the function of the behaviour.

The consequences you don’t want — lost time, poor sleep, money spent — usually come later. The payoff comes now, which is why the habit wins.

Naming the function changes the question from “how do I stop?” to “how else could I get this?” A habit that gives you rest might be replaced by a different kind of rest.

Why it matters

Replacement works best when the new behaviour meets the same need, and if–then plans that replace a response to the same cue have been shown to help break unwanted habits.

Research-supported: Good studies support it, but there are fewer of them, the effects are modest, or they come from a narrow set of situations.

See it happen

Musa smokes a cigarette on his work breaks and wants to stop.

The ordinary first approach

Cigarettes are bad for him, so he should just quit.

With the idea

He notices what the cigarette gives him — a reason to step outside, five minutes alone, a chat with colleagues — and plans a break that keeps those.

What changed

He kept the payoff he valued and changed the behaviour that delivered it.

Easy to get wrong

• Pretending the habit gives you nothing.
• Removing the habit and leaving the need unmet.
• Judging yourself for the payoff instead of meeting it another way.

Try it now: Name the payoff

1. Pick one habit you want to change.
2. Finish: “In the moment, this gives me…” — list everything honestly.
3. Next to each payoff, write another way to get it.

Apply it to one of your habits

For one habit you want to change, what does it give you, and how else could you get that?

Reflect

• Was the payoff what you expected?

Go deeper — evidence & sources

• Adriaanse, Gollwitzer, De Ridder, de Wit & Kroese (2011). Breaking Habits With Implementation Intentions: A Test of Underlying Processes. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin. doi:10.1177/0146167211399102
• Sirois & Pychyl (2013). Procrastination and the Priority of Short-Term Mood Regulation: Consequences for Future Self. Social and Personality Psychology Compass. doi:10.1111/spc3.12011