Visual Cues: A Sight for Sore Habits
Let us suppose you identified a couple of habits you would like to continue, start, or change. Now what? How can you keep them going so these habits become codified in your behavior? While cultivating good habits can be challenging, incorporating visual cues into our daily routines can enhance our chances of success.
Visual cues are stimuli that trigger our brain to perform a specific action or remind us of a desired habit. They can be anything from a vision board with pictures, physical objects placed in our environment, or digital reminders on our electronic devices. Visual cues work by creating associations between the cue and the desired behavior, making it easier to engage in the habit consistently. Research conducted by the University College London has shown that visual cues can significantly impact habit formation. The study found that participants who used visual cues, such as placing fruits on countertops or keeping gym bags in plain sight, were more likely to engage in healthier eating habits and exercise regularly.
“Motivation is what gets you started. Habit is what keeps you going.”
3 Ways to Use Visual Cues to Strengthen Your Habits
Admittingly, I do not think my treadmill may qualify as a visual cue when it is multi-tasking as a clothes hanger. However, below are three ways visual cues may help:
1️⃣ Reinforcing Behavior: Your Daily Reminder to Stay on Track – Visual cues act as constant reminders of the behavior we want to adopt, reinforcing our commitment to the habit. Researchers have found that individuals who used visual cues to remind themselves of their goals had a higher success rate in achieving them compared to those who relied solely on willpower. If you want to read more books, placing a book on your nightstand serves as a visual cue, prompting you to read before bed. Similarly, if you want to drink more water, keeping a water bottle on your desk can serve as a reminder to hydrate regularly.
2️⃣ Digital Cues: When Your Phone Works for You, Not Against You – In the digital age, visual cues can extend beyond physical objects. Digital reminders and notifications can serve as effective visual cues to reinforce habits. For example, setting a daily reminder on your smartphone to practice meditation can help establish a consistent meditation habit.
3️⃣ Habit Tracking: Seeing Progress = Staying Motivated – Visual cues can help to track and visualize progress, providing a sense of accomplishment and motivation to continue the habit. This can be particularly useful when working towards long-term goals or forming complex habits. Visualizing progress through charts or checklists provide tangible evidence of your efforts.
How I Use Visual Cues: A Personal Perspective
Personally, I need a combination of the above tactics depending on the goal I am working towards. As I am still on my health and wellness journey, I use digital cues to remind me get up and stretch or move every hour. I keep a large travel mug on my desk, which helps reinforce the behavior of drinking water (the ramifications of which is always fun when the day includes back-to-back meetings). Finally, I utilize a weekly paper tracker as I need to physically write and see my progress, which makes me think twice about food choices.
Start Small, Stay Consistent, and Watch the Magic Happen
Developing good habits takes time and consistent effort. Be patient and start a little at a time. Where I have found the most success is focusing on changing one to two small or micro habits at a time (see The Little Habits that Could: Unleashing Goal-Getting with Micro Habits). By focusing on small / micro habits and strategically implementing visual cues, we can increase our chances of success and create lasting positive changes in our lives.