Habit formation is the science of creating lasting behavioral change. Understanding how habits work empowers you to build positive routines and break negative patterns.
The habit loop consists of cue, routine, and reward. A cue triggers the behavior, the routine is the behavior itself, and the reward reinforces it. To build new habits, create obvious cues and rewarding outcomes.
Start small with habit stacking. Attach new behaviors to existing habits. For example, after brushing your teeth (existing habit), do ten pushups (new habit). This leverages established neural pathways to build new ones.