Consistent System Execution: A Habit That Will Make You Successful

Consistent system execution, day after day, is critical to lasting change and success.

Research from neuroscience describes what happens in our brains when a habit forms, unconsciously or consciously. The pattern of neurons firing initially is similar to a path in the jungle, we struggle to make our way through, to perform the habit.

However, the more we perform the habit, the more we walk on the path, the larger the path grows, until eventually it is like a highway through the jungle. Our brain’s neurons have been re-configured into such a large highway, we automatically perform the habit, we smoothly glide into execution. Clearly, consistent execution is critical to habit formation.

Research in psychology on habit formation by Lally et al., 2010 has shown that it takes anywhere from 18-254 days for different people to pick up a simple habit: taking a short walk after dinner. People are highly variable, and different people exhibit varying levels of resistance to the same set of actions.

In Limbic Friction Blocking You? 3 Tips That Will Make You Act Now For Success!, we showed how to overcome higher limbic friction using three strategies: aligning the activity with our mental state during the day, determining the price for the system and paying it, and using mental exercises like visualization and task bracketing (reference: Huberman Lab’s Build or Break Habits Using Science-Based Tools, and Scott Adam’s How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big ).

Motivation, will power, and discipline have a lot to do with the initial effort and focus we bring to bear, especially during the habit formation stage. However, these quickly fade – for example, most New Year resolutions are discarded by Feb 19.

Humans are fickle – how do we sustain consistent system execution?

Consistent System Execution Through Habits

As we described in What Will Make You Successful? Building Effective Systems For Success! systems consist of actions – and can include habits, routines and workflows. When we look at them on the automaticity scale: habits are almost unconscious, reflexive actions; routines require more deliberation and effort; workflows may be complicated and may need much more deliberation and effort.

What if we could make the first action(s) in the system regular & habitual, automatically performed on cue?

• If our goal is to become a blogger, then make the first step a habit: we prime ourselves to write at least 500 words a day
• If our goal is to become fit, then make the first step a habit: we prime ourselves to work out by putting on our shoes
• If our goal is to become healthy, then make the first step a habit: start the day by eating an apple

We know from our discussion on visualization and task bracketing, priming ourselves by performing the first action usually gets us into the flow of executing the entire system.

We describe solution strategies based on habit formation and habit maintenance research in the neuroscience and psychology literature. Many of these strategies could be used to make system execution more consistent and to make the initial or key steps in the system more automated, more reflexive.

To recap, a habit loop has three components: 1) a cue that triggers the habit 2) the action(s) or behavior 3) a reward. The habit loop evolves to a point where the reward is anticipated, creating a craving for the habit: Cue -> Craving -> Behavior -> Reward (references: The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg and Atomic Habits by James Clear).

James Clear, in his book Atomic Habits, describes habit formation strategies that leverage these four components. These strategies are summarized below.

Make the cue obvious

• Implementation plans (define when and where – the context)
  • [Context – when & where] -> [Habit]
  • After my dinner (when) at home (where), I will take a 5 minute walk
• Habit Stacking
  • [Habit1] -> [Habit2]
  • After brushing my teeth, I will floss one tooth
• Re-design your environment to make the cue obvious
  • If you want to make exercise a habit, then keep your exercise shoes and clothes where you can’t miss them.
  • If you want to make eating a fruit a habit, then keep the fruit on your table.

Increase the craving

• Temptation bundling
  • I will listen to my audio book only while exercising.
  • [What I like to do] only during [Habit]
• Have a partner or join a group
  • To make exercise a habit, find a tennis partner or join a soccer team.

Make the action simple

• 2 minute rule
  • After I come home from work, I will change into my exercise clothes
• Reduce friction
  • To make flossing a habit, put the floss next to your toothbrush
  • To make taking your medicine a habit, put it on your nightstand

Make the reward satisfying

• Gamification
  • Exercising can be fun if it is a game to be played, e.g., FitXR on Oculus.
• Competition
  • Sports like tennis and racquetball can be intense physical exercise, as well as fun, if competitive.
  • Playing a sport like soccer or basketball can be fun and a great workout.
  • Exercise bikes like Peloton are addictive because you can work out with others.
• Streaks
  • Track your habits on a calendar, gamify the streaks to see how to better the last one.

The Habit of Consistent System Execution: Experiment and Test

Dr. Huberman, in his podcast The Science of Making & Breaking Habits, discusses a continuing cycle of 21 days of habit experimentation (with 6 habits) and 21 days on autopilot, testing which habits continue to be executed and were successfully formed. Part of the goal here is to get into the habit of performing certain things during the day,

Developing something like consistent system execution into a habit is life-changing – it becomes a keystone habit, a habit that transforms many aspects of your life.

After the 21-day test, we can evaluate which habits are formed and consistent, which need additional effort.

This cycle can be repeated, with additional habits to make up 6, until we are consistently executing these habits. The idea here is to not take on more than we can handle. As the habit strengthens, it will become less sensitive to context and more amenable to flexibility.