What’s the difference between routines & habits?
Routines are conscious behaviours whilst habits are instinctive.
Remember that and you’ll be fine. Keep reading as we delve into the details.
A lot of people will use the terms habit & routine interchangeably. However, they are not the same thing. Habits are instinctive behaviour, things we do without even thinking about it. Routines are conscious behaviours that we perform consistently. They require us to be deliberate in our choices.
We all want to form healthy habits and then feel bad when they turn into onerous routines. The expectation of routines always turning into habits is unfounded and unhelpful. Yes, routines often do become easier with time but they don’t always become instinctive.
And so we shouldn’t enter into new routines with the belief that a few weeks or months of hard work will make it completely effortless in the future. When the task is repetitive the physical, cognitive & emotional effort is likely to reduce. However, if the routine involves learning & improving your skills, like with learning a language or physical training, the effort is unlikely to decrease in the same way.
When you repeat an action you are strengthening the sequence of neural pathways associated with performing that action. And so, the more frequently you perform the action, the more engrained it becomes and you perform it the same way every time.
However, when you’re learning a new skill you want to continuously improve how you perform the action. You’re activating different neural pathways and so the action does not become instinctive. You wouldn’t want it to be. Otherwise, you would perform with the skill of a beginner forever.
How should the relationship between habits & routines be understood?
Habits are useful for repetitive tasks that require little skill progression. Like brushing your teeth or making the bed on a morning. Repetitive action will vastly reduce the effort associated with these actions over time, to the point where they can be considered habits.
For things like sport, learning a language or eating 5-a-day; they’re unlikely to become habits. Know that each day will feel different (even if the actions are the same) and commit to putting in the effort to forming the routine.
Understand that you have a limited amount of energy, so only start routines that you have the energy to continue. If you don’t have the energy at the moment, put it on the backburner until your other routines require less energy.
Remember why you started the routine in the first place to energise you on the days where you’re lacking motivation. Routines are often not about the end goal, but more about becoming the person who can achieve the end goal. For me, that’s where the beauty of putting effort into the process lies.
