You decide to take a new route to office one day just out of curiosity and were surprised to find this new path much cleaner and less crowded; the views were also much more scenic compared to the older route. Now, will you continue using this new path going forward or revert to the usual path you normally take.
The answer will depend on various factors;
- How important a scenic view is to you?
- How critical is the importance of a less crowded road for you?
- Does this route takes more time and is longer than the previous one?
- How would you rate the level of satisfaction you felt while taking this route?
- When you talk about this new route with others – your colleagues or friends, how did they react?
- Did they expressed a desire to follow something similar or they felt it was an unnecessary burden to their well-established patterns?
- How important is social acceptance to you?
All the above factors in some way or the other affects us and in the long term play a vital role in deciding whether we continue with what we are doing or change the way we have been doing our things.
There is a cue and then there is a reward. Our action will depend on;
- How desirable the cue is as well as on
- How much we value the reward
Either these things can make us to stick to our new patterns (habits) or the lack thereof can push us back to our old routines.
deepak sharma writes 