New Year, new habits?

January brings to mind resolutions, goals, and dreams for the future. For hosts, it's a time to think about the impact we have on our student’s habits as well as our own.

I interviewed Deirdre in late 2019. Over the years, she has observed that the hardest habit for her students to break seems to be the use of single-use plastic water bottles. She gives her students a reusable water bottle when they arrive, and explains that tap water is perfectly safe. But they keep buying bottled water. 

“So far I’ve had zero success,” Deirdre says. “They would leave the water bottle on their dresser, and then come home with plastic water bottles.” Deirdre has wondered if she has to be more strict. Should she say that she doesn’t allow plastic water bottles in the house? She wants to be clear that this is not about punishing the student, but she’s trying to do her part to help the environment. Deirdre feels that it shouldn’t be a surprise, either: there appears to be a growing awareness about the global impact of single-use plastic on our oceans and ecosystems. 

Deirdre is still figuring this out. She could easily overlook the handful of plastic bottles that end up in her recycling bin, and tell herself that our individual choices don’t have a big impact. But she’s chosen a different approach. “I have to think about how to do this, because I don’t want it to come across as a really strict rule, but I want them to understand that this is one small step to less plastic.” 

How do you approach your students when you want to influence their choices in a positive direction?

Remember, whenever we want to change a habit, the secret to success is incremental change within a system that will support those changes. As James Clear, author of Atomic Habits says, "Success is the product of daily habits, not once-in-a-lifetime transformation."