There's a fascinating book by Charles Duhigg called 'The Power of Habit', which looks at 'why we do what we do' and why we live our lives in a certain way.

To summarise, a habit is formed of three key elements: a cue, a routine, and a reward.

Take the example of arriving home after a long day at work. The cue is walking into the house and putting tea on. The habit is opening a bottle of wine and pouring a glass. The reward - a sense of relaxation and closure on the working day. On a healthier note, the same scenario could be the same cue of arriving home and putting tea on, but the habit being going for an evening run while the food cooks. The reward - feeling refreshed, fit and healthy! 

The book shows how habits rule our lives, and to change our ways we need to recognise the cues, then alter the routine to deliver a different but equally satisfying reward. 

Reading it made me think about driving, and how habitual we are behind the wheel. Most drivers will admit that they will always do the same thing when faced with certain cues.

Think about it. What's your routine when you first get into the car in the morning? Do you start the engine and then put your seatbelt on? Do you find your favourite radio station before you drive off, or get going and then do it? Do you set the sat-nav whilst still in the drive or head off and do it en route? 

And when faced with certain other triggers, what is your habitual response? For example, a driver on the motorway trying to undertake you on the inside lane. Do you instinctively close the gap with the vehicle in front to stop them getting in front of you? Traffic lights about to change - is it your typical response to put your foot down to get through them? 

The thing to ask yourself is what reward does this give you and could you enjoy a better reward by driving differently? The reward of blocking the undertaking driver is a sense of 'winning' - of not being beaten! Running a changing traffic light means you've made time and haven't had to wait.