What is the difference between routine and habit

Please log in again. The login page will open in a new tab. After logging in you can close it and return to this page. Share 0. Tweet 0. About t he Author: Laura Araujo. You may also like. What a helpful differentiation between habits and routines! Close dialog. Session expired Please log in again. We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits.

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These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may have an effect on your browsing experience. Necessary Necessary. It was a proper exercising habit of mine.

However, I stopped. And as of now, it would require hard work and dedication for me to build it up again.

Hence, by definition, running is NOT one of my habits anymore. Because of this, routines are often harder to establish than habits. They usually require more of a conscious effort. If given the option not to perform a routine, a person often will not feel compelled to still complete the task.

It can annoy and frustrate us. The opposite is usually true of routines. Since routines take effort, sometimes it is easy to abandon them if given an excuse. If you have been trying to establish a routine of working out every night after work, but you get stuck late at the office, this might feel like a convenient reason to not go to the gym that night.

One of the main differences between a routine and a habit is simply the level of awareness associated with it. Habits manifest as an urge to do something , usually in response to a situational cue. As the relationship between the cue and the response is strengthened, the more established the habit becomes. As you wake up, you might feel the urge to drink a cup of coffee.

This action may be repeated so many times that suddenly, one morning when you wake up and find that you are out of coffee, it feels strange to not have your usual cup. You have to make a conscious effort to have the coffee. This would be considered a routine. Decision making is in a different portion of the brain. As soon as a behavior becomes automatic, the decision-making portion of the brain essentially gets to sit out of it all and take a break.

Because of this, you can often perform habits while thinking of other things. Since your brain is on autopilot when it comes to executing the habit, there is more brain space for performing other activities. Instead, we are often thinking about our day, working on another task, or making mental plans. The action of the habit is unconscious. As mentioned earlier, routines do not stem from a behavioral impulse. There is not an unconscious compulsion to participate in a routine.

In fact, sometimes, routines will even be contrary to what we actually want to do. For example, the routine of going to the gym every night after work can often be in contradiction with what we would rather be doing, such as heading home to eat dinner or relax and watch television. In order to make it to the gym, we need to be motivated. Without motivation to overcome the easier alternatives of procrastinating or shunning a routine entirely, the routine will never be consistently performed.

Routines are a set of behaviors that are frequently repeated and require concentrated effort to perform routinely. Routines can occasionally incorporate habits or parts of routines can become habits. Consider the earlier example of a gym routine. Perhaps after using a piece of workout equipment, there is a behavioral impulse to clean off and disinfect the equipment before the next person uses it.

This may first require a bit of effort to remember, but soon we are wiping down equipment on autopilot. While still participating in the routine of working out at the gym, we have established a new habit within its context. Habits can also become routines if we find ourselves trying to implement a habit outside of its normal context, resulting in a more concentrated effort. Something that might come naturally in one setting might feel forced and uncomfortable in another.

In this case, it is now a routine, because the desire to accomplish it does not come naturally. While habits require little conscious thought, routines require dedicated attention. As such, routines rarely ever reach a point where they feel totally unconscious.

Simple routines that require less thought have the best chance of becoming a habit. Converting a routine into a habit is not an automatic process and it often requires patience and proper techniques. The best chance of turning a routine into a habit is by breaking it into small, more manageable portions that can be individually addressed over a period of time.

An important distinction exists between routines and rituals. A routine is simply an action that needs to be done, while a ritual usually has the connotation of being done with a sense of purpose or meaningfulness. By applying meaningfulness to and being mindful during a routine, it can become a ritual.

The ritual makes the routine more of a subjective experience rather than simply a task to be completed. For example, you might be trying to establish a routine of eating healthy. Focus on the taste and texture of the food, being conscious of how you chew and taking your time.

Be aware of how your body moves and the sensations created by the ingested foods. Research has actually shown that practicing more mindful eating can improve the flavor of what you are eating.

Even something as simple as making the bed can become a ritual. As you smooth the sheets, you can try to center your thoughts and concentrate on how your muscles move and how the sheets feel in your fingers.

Contemplate how having a made bed will help you feel more organized and clean. By tying a routine in with a sense of purpose, it can become a ritual that can help a task be more enjoyable. I see a lot of self development potential for many clients when they focus on designing the best routines. Charles Duhigg has written extensively about the interplay between habits and routines in his bestseller, The Power of Habit. For the purposes of this post, I want to focus on routines.

Like Dr. Fogg, I believe this is where we can create immediate personal growth. Most of the articles, books and blog posts that pop up focus on the development of morning routines. For instance, do you have a routine for handling emails? For handling frequent and repetitive client requests? For managing breakfast, lunch and dinner at your house? Do you have an evening routine? Is there a time of your day you regularly get derailed? Can you develop a new routine to help minimize the train crash?

Given what we do know, here are my tips and some suggested steps you can implement today to design better routines. For example, say you want to read more. Get clear about those specifics. So before you go further — get specific. What is realistic for you? Will it be measured by time: 30 minutes a day?

Or do you want to set a number of pages to read: 10 pages per day? Do you have an overall end goal: 3 books per quarter? Research studies show that when people have a why — when their routine is part of a bigger purpose or mission in life— they are more likely to stick with the routine.

For example, if you want to read more — ask yourself why do you want to read more? What do you want to achieve with your reading? Take a moment to revisit your goals to understand how this new routine will advance your overall purpose. Your mind is going to want to go back to what it knows. What are the component parts to your new routine. Write them out on a list — arrange them in an order that will work for you and begin to set yourself up for success.

What accoutrements will you need? Spend as much time planning your new routine as you do choosing a new restaurant.

So, make it fun. Choose your books like you choose your dates or your restaurants — match your interests, your style, your wavelength. Have more than one book available. I recommend you have several. Finding the right location for anything — reading, workouts, dinner with friends — can have a tremendous impact on the success of the endeavor.

Most of us focus on setting up a trigger or cue to start a routine — I think we also need triggers we can use in the middle of our routines. When I started my exercise routine several years ago — I put my shoes and workout clothes on the floor right next to my bed so I tripped over them when I swung out of bed.