4 Steps to Build Better Habits for English and IELTS

Jenn Author

Summary: What if I told you that small daily steps could skyrocket your IELTS score and your English proficiency?

I'm back with our third installment of study habits blogs to help you understand the difference between having a system versus having a goal. If you missed the previous posts check them out: first and second.

As we create habits the level of activity in our brains decreases. Because these habits are like little mental shortcuts from our learned experience.

Habit formation is super useful because our conscious mind is the “bottleneck” of our brain. Habits reduce cognition load (the amount of working memory we are using) and free up our mental capacity to focus on other things.

Perhaps in this case, so you can focus more on studying English.

Habits do not restrict our freedom. Rather the opposite, they create freedom.

For example:
- Good financial habits lead to financial freedom.
- Good health habits result in freedom from illness.
- Good English habits provide you the freedom to live, study, and work where you like.

So, how do habits work? By a feedback loop.
We all have a feedback loop that creates our habits, and all human behavior: try, fail, learn, and try differently.

This process consists of four steps:

1. Cue
2. Craving
3. Response
4. Reward

In the first step (Cue), the brain is triggered, predicting the reward. The second step (Craving) is the motivational force behind the habit, -this is the state that delivers habit. The third step (Response) involves the actual habit performed, and the fourth step (Reward) is the end goal of every habit, it satisfies and teaches

The cue is about noticing the reward, the craving is about wanting the reward, the response is obtaining the reward, and the reward is about satisfying the craving and teaching which actions or behaviors are worth remembering in the future.

Your brain then closes the feedback loop and completes the habit cycle. This feedback loop is happening all the time, even at this very moment.

If our actions or behavior are insufficient in any of the four steps, the habit will NOT form.

We can divide these steps into two stages:

1. The Problem stage (hello, something needs to change)
- Cue
- Craving
2. The Solution stage (where you act and achieve the change you want)
- Response
- Reward

For example:
Problem Stage
Cue: You hit a wall studying English.
Craving: You feel stuck and want to relieve your frustration.

Solution Stage
Response: You pull out your phone and check social media.
Reward: You satisfy your craving to feel relieved from your frustration (a dopamine hit). Now, checking social media becomes associated with feeling stuck or bored studying English.

(I previously gave you a method to avoid making this bad habit by using the Pomodoro method when you study. Check out the productivity tip to help you build good habits here.)

In Clear’s book, he refers to 4 laws of behavior change, a simple set of rules that apply to English studies and life. You’ll need to follow these rules to create good habits and break bad ones.

Each law acts as a lever influencing your behavior. When the levers are in the right place, creating a habit is effortless. But if the levers are in the wrong place, creating a habit is nearly impossible.

Ever ask yourself questions like these:

“Why don’t I do what I say I am going to do?”

“Why don’t I make time to practice English?”

“Why do I say something is important, but I never make time for it?”

The answer, my friend, is in Clear’s 4 Laws of Behavior Change to get the levers in the right place so you can effortlessly build good habits.

Laws of Behavior Change

If you want to change your behavior and create better habits.

You need to ask yourself if you can follow these:
1. Cue -> What can I do to make it obvious
2. Craving -> What can I do to make it attractive
3. Response ->What can I do to make it easy
4. Reward -> What can I do to make it satisfying

You can use this same process to break a bad habit:
1. Cue -> Make it invisible
2. Craving -> Make it unattractive
3. Response -> Make it difficult
4. Reward -> Make it unsatisfying

Your English goal, like any other, is doomed to fail if it goes against the grain of human nature. Your habits are formed by the systems in your life.

Keep following for more and we'll break down each of Clear's laws and I'll show you how you can use them to create a system for good habit development, giving you a better shot at your English or IELTS goals.

For now, congratulate yourself for reading in English today and celebrate your English win!

And don’t forget to check out two of my free resources to help your IELTS preparation:
Top 25 Tips for IELTS Success and 12 Common IELTS Problems & How to Avoid Them!

If you’d like to prepare for the IELTS or boost your speaking confidence take a look at my courses here.

And if you are curious and want to explore Systems vs. Goals in more detail, check out James Clear’s New York Times bestseller, Atomic Habits.

Categories: : IELTS, Mindset, Study Habits