The Power of Bad Habits
As a teacher, I have often tried to help my students develop new, more productive habits. Most of us agree that developing learner efficacy is an important part of teaching. Lately I’ve been pondering why we generally produce such limited change with our students. But first, let’s make this personal.
Have you ever tried to change a bad habit yourself?
Most adults have resolved to change at least one habit that didn’t serve them. These habits could range from smoking, substance abuse, binge eating, shopping sprees, to biting fingernails. Maybe we wanted to work on internalized patterns of self-judgement or workaholic tendencies. Have you noticed that criticism from your family, friends and colleagues didn’t change those behaviors? and that just WANTING to change was insufficient?
Let me share a recent example of habit replacement from my own life.
I resolved to make some changes to bring more peace and balance into my life. With the help of my closest support network, I discovered a part of myself that I wanted to change. Since I learned that externalizing the behavior is helpful for objectivity, I affectionately named that part of me Checklist Girl.
I noticed that when I am facing a new challenge with a foggy path forward, my efficient Checklist Girl steps forward with her clipboard. Before you can blink, she has rapidly generated a “to do” list. In the past, she has served me well. But this becomes a problem when I’m committed to collaborative problem solving with others. Before we have time to reflect and generate possibilities to address our issue, she is ready with an action plan. So with the help of my caring network, I’ve developed a new practice of mentally saying, “Thank you, Checklist Girl, for being so efficient. I’ll let you know when I need your skills. But I’m going to chat with these folks just now”.
I’m making progress, but it’s not easy. Checklist Girl is always poised to jump in if I let my awareness drop. I have deep respect for the power of a bad habit to reappear. My daughter laughed when I shared that I was working on this old habit. “It’s a good thing,” she said. “You drive us crazy with your checklists!” Who knew?
So how does this relate to teaching? Let’s consider a typical interaction with a student who has problematic behaviors.
Teacher: “Your binder is a mess. You should get it organized.”
Student: “Wait, I think my homework is in here somewhere.”
Teacher: “How can you possibly find anything in that thing?”
Sound familiar? Change the words and this conversation could be about calling out in class, being disrespectful to peers, not paying attention….the list goes on. But nobody changes a bad habit because somebody shakes a finger of shame. We can learn a lot from organizations that support habit change such as Weight Watchers, Alcoholics Anonymous, and Shoppers Anonymous. They are based on two fundamental assumptions a) that habit change is hard. After all, the old pattern has become hard wired in our brain. And b) that the person himself must be the driver of the change.
In practice, habit change usually follows this sequence (list created by my very own talented Checklist Girl):
You honestly admit that you have a bad habit and sincerely commit to change.
You find a caring network (mentor & support group) who reinforce hope that your change is possible and will keep you accountable.
You get curious (without judgment) about the bad habit – when and how often it occurs, what triggers it, consequences of bad habit, alternatives (what other people do)
You make a plan to use alternate behaviors and track success. It’s important to quantify the behavior so progress can be measured and your plan can be reconsidered if not working.
You courageously follow your own plan and celebrate every small success with your network.
Can you imagine with a structure like this how much more successful you would be at changing your favorite bad habits that resurface at New Year’s Resolution time?
What if your classroom climate was grounded in understanding the human challenge of changing old problem behaviors?
Wouldn’t it be great if your students had this kind of caring support for developing good habits?
