This post is a summary of some research on flossing. Before you yawn and go to sleep – think – what can be learnt from flossing about other habits and hence building a better work/home life?
Memory matters
Something new in this article (for me at least) is the importance of memory. I, for one, never forget when I am trying to eat better, drink less and other painful things. However I do forget to take my iron supplements. It is a specific type of memory that is important here called ‘prospective memories’. Which is kinda like it sounds – remember to do something in the future, like take your iron pills tomorrow or stop after one glass.
Placement matters too
Tip: Imbed new habits inside existing routines, which will help ensure that memory is triggered, e.g. when I put down my tooth brush I remember to floss.
Next in the article things get pretty technical, but the gist of it is that it matters exactly where and how we embed a new habit into a routine to up the chance of success. To test their ideas the researchers paid 50 people thirty pounds to floss daily.
So who were the winners? What sorts of people trying what sorts of things made flossing a habit?
Well those that had good attitudes to flossing did better, supporting the idea we are not total helpless victims to our habits (thank the good Lord).
Now here is the interesting bit … those that flossed after brushing did better at forming the habit than those that flossed before. Is flossing after better? No and yes. It is only better because it has a better, more appropriate cue – finished brushing – ah floss – good girl.
When the cue is at the same ‘level’ of detail as the habit, things work better. If the cue was ‘get ready for bed’ and you put your flossing habit first, you are likely to be less successful as this is a task at a higher level than ‘brush teeth’.
Take Outs
Experiment with your habits and see what works.
Try and imbed new habits within existing routines but not at the start of them, ideally between the lower level steps. The devil is in the detail… as it were.
References
Written by Rachel McInnes, adapted from http://www.wellbeingatwork.com
Judah, G., Gardner, B., & Aunger, R. (2013). Forming a flossing habit: an exploratory study of the psychological determinants of habit formation. British journal of health psychology, 18(2), 338-353.
