Habit Loop Week
Goal
Learn in seven days how to redesign a habit using Charles Duhigg's loop of cue, routine and reward. You'll choose a habit you want to change and transform it step by step. Each day adds a micro-habit of analysis and action.
Day 1 — Choose your habit
Micro-habit: Write down one specific habit you want to change (eating sweets mid-afternoon, checking your phone on waking, snacking while you work).
Duration: 3 minutes.
Why it works: You can't redesign what isn't clearly defined. A concrete target is the starting point.
Tip: Start with a single habit. Changing several at once scatters your energy.
Day 2 — Identify the routine
Micro-habit: Describe the behavior itself in detail: exactly what you do, when and how.
Duration: 2 minutes.
Why it works: The routine is the visible, easy part of the loop. Seeing it precisely lays the ground for intervening.
Tip: Be specific: not "I eat badly", but "at five o'clock I go to the kitchen and eat two cookies".
Day 3 — Isolate the cue
Micro-habit: When the urge appears, note five things: the time, where you are, how you feel, who's around and what you did just before.
Duration: 2 minutes, each time.
Why it works: Almost every trigger falls into one of those five categories. Recording them reveals what activates your habit.
Tip: Do it several times; the pattern emerges through repeated observation.
Day 4 — Experiment with the reward
Micro-habit: When the cue appears, try a different alternative (walking, drinking water, chatting) and see whether it settles the same craving.
Duration: 5 minutes.
Why it works: We often think we know which reward we're after, and we're wrong. Experimenting reveals the real underlying desire.
Tip: Were you after the sugar, or the break and the change of scene? The answer changes everything.
Day 5 — Design the new routine
Micro-habit: Write your plan: "When [cue] happens, I'll do [new routine] to get [reward]".
Duration: 3 minutes.
Why it works: The golden rule is to keep the same cue and the same reward, and change only the routine. Writing it down makes it far more likely.
Tip: The new routine has to genuinely deliver the reward you discovered on Day 4.
Day 6 — Run the new loop
Micro-habit: Put your plan into practice every time the cue appears during the day.
Duration: Throughout the day.
Why it works: The new loop is only written in through repetition. Every run reinforces the cue–new routine–reward connection.
Tip: If you slip, don't give up: look at what happened and adjust the plan.
Day 7 — Reinforce it with belief
Micro-habit: Note one piece of evidence that you can change (a time you did run the new loop) and, if you can, share your goal with someone.
Duration: 5 minutes.
Why it works: Duhigg observed that change lasts longer when it rests on the belief that it's possible and on the support of others.
Tip: Believing you can change is what holds the new loop up when stress pulls toward the old one.
Closing reflection
Write one line: "I swapped my routine of ___ for ___ while keeping the same reward". Habits aren't willpower: they're loops that can be reprogrammed. Once you understand yours, you stop fighting it and start redesigning it.