How Can You CREATE a New Vocal Habit?

June 17, 2020

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Ok, you KNOW that you should PRIORITIZE your vocal health AND perform vocal warm-ups and other vocal exercises before/after your occupational voice use…BUT despite your good intentions, it always seems like the day gets away from you…you’re too busy...and/or it’s just impossible to fit it in. Does this sound familiar? How about a new master plan? Remove yourself from the decision-making process by building such strong (vocal) HABITS that your actions become automatic.

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Author Charles Duhigg (of the book The Power of Habit) says that there is a very specific neurological process that habits are built upon that includes a 3-step loop: a CUE (tells your brain to go into automatic mode and which habit to use), the ROUTINE (can be physical, mental, or emotional), and a REWARD (which helps your brain figure out if this particular loop is worth remembering for the future). Over time, this 3-step loop becomes more & more automatic; the cue and reward become intertwined until a powerful sense of anticipation and craving emerges. How should we harness the POWER of this neurological process? CREATE NEW HABITS and REWRITE OLD ONES. If you want to create a new (VOCAL) habit: craft a cue, a routine, and a reward for that behavior. Let’s create a vocal habit: straw phonation exercises prior to your class/work day/event/presentation/performance etc….

1) CREATE A CUE: Put a straw in your car

2) CREATE A REWARD: The ease of voice use, reduction in/elimination of vocal strain, and improvement in vocal quality are rewards in themselves, but throwing in something extra doesn’t hurt…

3) CREATE ROUTINE: You get in your car, you see the straw, you anticipate the reward (and reduction/elimination of the consequence or complaint—ex: vocal effort, strain, pain, hoarseness, etc.)…Sooooo, you practice straw phonation for 2-5 minutes whenever you’re driving…Repeat until the routine happens automatically.

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IF you want to rewrite an old habit or CREATE a NEW ONE (which is CRUCIAL to prioritizing your VOICE), try identifying the cue and the reward, and work to REWRITE THE ROUTINE. Not always easy, but by growing in awareness, you can harness the POWER OF HABITS to live a better (vocal) life.

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What VOCAL HABITS can you create?

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Some info from: The Fundamental Theory of Happiness by Dominick Albano

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