Creating Habits 01

Habits are created by repeating the same thing again and again, and again and again and ...

Hi math student, math parent.
Welcome to another edition of Coach Edison,
Insightful strategies for math (and life)❕

Habits Intro

With Coach Edison I focus on strategies useful in math and life❕

Today I talk about habits, as habits are the foundation of any learning. And learning about habits becomes very important when you consider that ‘How to create a habit’ isn’t taught in schools, and habits are a part of every person’s life.

How well a student does in school or university, or how well they’ll do in a future job, will be influenced by the habits they have!

Habits it turns out … follow you everywhere.

After writing 20 articles on Math by Edison for the last 8 months, I figure it’s time to write an article about ‘Creating Habits.’

Creating Habits

This Creating Habits 01 is an introduction and the first in a series on habits. In 01, I’ll get into:
1) Understanding how habits are created,
2) How I view habits and
3) Give an example or two of what creating habits looks like.
Be advised this is my take, my experience, and what works for me and the math students and adults I’ve worked with.

Habits are created by repeating the same thing again and again

and again and again and again and …. Let me frame it differently. The student who gives up when stumped and repeatedly gives up creates a habit of giving up (I wrote about the habit of giving up here).

Or if you have a goal to get up and exercise every day at 6am: Day 1 - you sleep in, Day 2 – alarm rings you turn it off, Day 3 – you’re too tired to get up, Day 4 – you get up but it’s raining, so back to bed, Day 5 … So you don’t get up and exercise – in other words, you’ve done ‘no exercise’ repeatedly. Guess what, you’ve just created a habit … by doing nothing! Yes, not the habit you intended, but you developed a habit, nonetheless. Doing nothing repeatedly creates a habit!

There is a lot in common between a math student wanting to

stop giving up* and an adult wanting to exercise at 6am**. In both cases, they will have to change who they are*** as the habits they have or don’t have are impeding their progress.

A habit is one of the few things you can create by doing nothing repeatedly.

*For any student to stop giving up, they’ll 1) First have to understand why a question stumps them (e.g. weak in fundamentals, skipping steps is a habit) then 2) Create habits to strengthen key weaknesses.

Creating a habit and learning anything follow the same steps.

** If you’re the adult wanting to exercise more, you may do some goal setting (i.e. set a goal, make a plan …), but to achieve that goal will require you to create new habits. And before you can create, you first have to understand how learning works. Learning has 5 steps, and in turn, creating habits has 5 steps (Objective, motivation, understanding, practice/repetitions, result, feedback).

*** My announcement, “They’re going to have to change who they are,” seems harsh. The reality, however, is that to create a positive habit means they will become a ‘changed’ person, albeit an improved one.

It’s not that they’re weak at creating positive habits; it just means they’re stronger at creating negative habits.

This “doing nothing repeatedly” might sound like a negative,

but in some cases, doing nothing (e.g. not eating) is a positive habit for people that want to, for example, get better at fasting.

My advice - be careful what you’re hoping for (e.g. I want to get up at 6:00 am and exercise) as you may inadvertently be setting yourself up to create a ‘bad’ habit. Nix that bad in ‘bad’ habit and refer to it as negative habit. Bad implies you’ve done something terrible; negative implies it’s a step back.

The ‘negative’ habit created in itself is not dreadful;

it’s just that 1) it wasn’t the habit you intended to create, and 2) you’re still not sure how to create the positive habit you’re after. If instead you said, “I will give up when I get stumped,” or “I will not get up each day at 6am and exercise”, then you would done what you said and rocked it! And created the positive habit you intended 😊! Yay!

I believe that if you can create a negative habit, then you have it in you to create a positive one, and that’s one of the things I’ll show you in this Creating Habits series.

So, how do you begin to get better at creating positive habits?

By understanding the 5-step strategy of how learning works! Creating a habit first demands you learn how to create a new habit. (Objective, motivation, understanding, practice/repetitions, result, feedback).

So why did you give up on that math question that stumped you,

or didn’t get up at 6am to exercise? Weakness in one of those 5-steps! Perhaps it is a motivation issue (Step 2) or not understanding the steps to create a habit (Step 3). Or it could be as simple as the objective (Step 1) to not give up or get up at 6:00 am and exercise was too drastic a start, too big a jump … you aimed for the stars and missed the moon. Here’s the thing: no matter what you’re doing, you’re always creating habits!

You’re always creating habits!

Understanding this is an eye-opener and scary at the same time, as yes, you do create a habit when you do nothing❕

Yes, you do create a habit when you procrastinate❕ But at the same time, understanding that you’re always creating habits is a game changer, a super-power, as it helps you understand the potential power in you when you repeat❕ You just have to know what to repeat❕❕

Summary

1. Creating habits is a skill that can be learnt.
2. Habits are created by repeating the same thing again and again and again (aka reps or repetition).
3. Doing nothing repeatedly will create a habit.
4. Achieving a new objective will require new positive habits be created.

Next step for you?

1. Get curious about the repetitions or ‘non’ repetitions’ you do each day.
2. Notice how not doing things repeatedly creates a habit.

Coach Edison
Insightful strategies for math (and life)❕

by Edison Hopkinson BSc Mech Eng, B. Ed