If we just get a little bit better each day, we’ll reap tremendous long-term benefits.
James Clear’s category-defining book [[Atomic Habits - James Clear]].
Remember: your goals & ambitions ≠ habits
we make the mistake of aiming too high.
we should focus being “heroically consistent”
Four Laws Of Behavior Change.
cue (Step 1) sends a trigger to your brain to set off a specific behavior (an alarm, entering your bedroom, your phone buzzing)
A craving (Step 2) for a certain feeling or emotion arises (the excitement of gambling, the calmness of alcohol)
A response (Step 3), the habit itself (having a drink, checking your phone)
A reward (Step 4), either temporary or permanent is unlocked (excitement, calmness)
most powerful cues: time and location.
Time: These include waking up, your afternoon coffee,
first thing after I wake up.
on Saturday mornings
then we can redesign our environment to make our desired habits more obvious:
To remember your medication each night, place the pill bottle directly next to the faucet
place the guitar stand in the middle of your living room
To drink more water, fill up a few bottles each morning and place them across your home
our habits are modern-day solutions to very ancient desires.
Conserving energy
Obtaining food and water
Finding love and reproduce
Connecting and bonding with others
Winning social acceptance and approval
Reducing uncertainty
Achieving status and prestige
why am I doing this?
Temptation bundling “pairs an action you want to do with an action you need to do.”
For me, I drink my lemon water and do 30 pushups before I can take a sip of the magical elixir.
Make it easy The third rule is all about getting out of your own way.
By removing friction for good habits (or adding friction for bad ones) you can “stack the deck” to work in your favor.
Chop up a ton of fruits and vegetables on weekends and pack them in containers, so you have easy access to healthy, ready-to-eat-options during the week.
the fourth law increases the odds that the behavior sticks.
This strategy shows the power of habit tracking,
“What gets measured, gets mastered”
Creates a visual cue that can remind you to act
Is inherently motivating because you see the progress and don’t want to lose it (think Snapchat streaks)
Feels satisfying whenever you record a successful instance
“never miss twice.” If you miss one day, keeping that momentum by getting back on track as soon as possible.
Finally, to break a bad habit, there’s also the inversion of the 4th law: Make it unsatisfying.
tap into our core human desire: avoiding social rejection.
getting an accountability partner,
Being even more public about your habits (via, Social Media) can make the costs of violating your promises public and painful.