Has it ever happened to you at your workplace that, despite being very good at a particular task—one you perform every single day—there comes a day when you simply cannot get it right? It goes wrong once, then you try again, and it goes wrong again; it keeps failing, leaving you feeling frustrated.
You wonder, "I do this every day, so why isn’t it working today?" In that moment, your self-confidence vanishes because you’ve convinced yourself that it’s impossible, no matter how hard you try.
By doing this, you impose a negative impact on your own mind—and as a result, the task that could have been completed now becomes impossible to finish.
This whole phenomenon is called "The Habit Loop Distruption",
Explanation:- On that specific day, a "cue" or environmental context changes (e.g., a monthly reporting deadline, a shift in calendar scheduling, or a monthly biological cycle). This introduces friction, which breaks the automaticity of the behavior encoded in your brain’s basal ganglia.
How to fix?
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• Identify the Loop: Track the habit by writing down the exact,
the cue (what happened right before?),
the routine (what did you do?),
and
the reward (what relief or feeling did you get?).
• Keep the Cue and Reward, Change the Routine: You cannot easily erase a habit, but you can swap out the middle action.
If boredom (cue) makes you scroll social media (routine) for entertainment (reward), replace scrolling with reading a short article that gives a similar mental reward.
• Add Friction (Design Your Environment): Make bad habits harder to do by placing physical barriers.
For example, put your phone in another room or keep unhealthy snacks out of the house.
• Practice Curiosity and Mindfulness: When an urge hits, pause for a moment instead of reacting instantly.
Ask yourself what the craving actually feels like. Often, paying close attention strips away the magic of the reward.
