How are habits formed?

What needs to happen for us to adopt a habit?

According to James Clear, in the excellent book Atomic Habits, to create a habit, whether good or bad, the following 4 phases must occur.

These phases are Cue, Craving, Response, and Reward.

1.- The cue is the element that triggers the brain to notice an opportunity for a reward or pleasure. A cue can be a smell, a sound, an event, an interaction, or anything else that triggers a desire. This desire is known as the craving.

2.- The craving is the emotional relevance attached to a certain cue. When you notice the cue, the brain anticipates an opportunity for a change in your physical or emotional state. You crave the satisfaction that change will elicit, and this craving is what prompts you to act. 

3.- The response is the actual behavior, or habit, performed to elicit the change you desire. Your brain prompts you to take a certain action it believes will create the feeling of satisfaction you want.

4.- The reward is the satisfaction gained from the action taken. You have successfully satisfied your craving and changed your physical or emotional state. The brain builds a pathway from the cue to this state of pleasure. Every time you experience the same cue, the brain will be triggered to desire that pleasure again. You will be prompted to perform the same action, thereby creating a habit. 

Habit Process

I explain this with an example from my daily life. In Barcelona, there is an excellent coffee place called Brooklyn; not only do they have good coffee, but they also prepare delicious snacks such as delightful seed bread sandwiches with Iberian ham, carrot cake or artisan croissants filled with dark chocolate.

Well, the sequence (habit) in my case happens more or less like this 

Cue: I walk past the coffee house Brooklyn on my way to work, and I smell freshly roasted coffee.

Craving: Coffee gives me energy.

Response: I buy a cup of coffee 

Reward: I enjoy a great just made coffee just before starting my working day; I feel full energy with the caffeine boost!

Let's see this with another example applied to the world of localization.

I have built up the habit of reading Multilingual magazine on Saturday after lunch. How does this work in my brain? How have I built the habit? Continue reading

Cue: the Multilingual magazine is on a stand under a side table, I see it, and I want to read it.

Craving: reading relaxes me, I don't have any Zoom or work to do, it's the weekend, I'm relaxed, there's no rush.

Response: I pick up the magazine and start reading.

Reward: I learn new things while I drink ginger tea! 

And this reward, this habit fits with the identity I am building,

"I want to be a professional Globalization life long learner who shares what he learns".

As you can see, the circle closes, I have an identity that helps me build the habit, which reinforces my identity.

@yolocalizo