Introduction
- A habit is a routine that is performed regularly, and in some cases automatically.
- A small change tends to compound over the years into remarkable results.
The Surprising Power Of Atomic Habits
Your Habits Shape Your Identity
How To Build Better Habits In 4 Simple Steps
- A habit is a behavior that has been repeated enough times to be automatic.
- Habit Loop - Cue, Craving, Response, Reward.
- All behavior is driven by the desire to solve a problem.
The Man Who Didn’t Look Right
- You don’t have to be aware of a cue for a habit to begin.
- Start the process of behavior change with awareness.
- Pointing & Calling - making a non-conscious habit conscious.
The Best Way To Start A Habit
- The two most common cues are time and location.
- Implementation Intentions inform when and where we partake in a habit.
- They allow us to say no to distractions by giving more clarity.
- Habit Stacking - A manifestation of the 1st law of behavior change - Make It Obvious.
Motivation is Overrated; Environment Often Matters More
- People choose products based on where they are, and not what they are.
- Environment shapes human behavior -
behavior = f(person, environment)
- To start a habit, make the cue a big part of your environment.
- A stable and predictable environment leads to stable and predictable habits.
The Secret To Self-Control
- Addictions can dissolve with a radical change in environment.
- Discipline should not require heroic willpower and self-control.
- Bad habits are autocatalytic - they feed themselves.
- To stop a bad habit, cut it at the source.
How To Make Habits Irresistible
- Opportunities of the future are more attractive than those of today.
- Dopamine Spike - Habits are dopamine-driven feedback loops.
- Anticipation of a reward can often feel better than attainment.
- Temptation bundling is a way to apply Premack’s Principle.
- Premack’s Principle - More probable behaviors, reinforce less probable ones.
The Role Of Family And Friends In Shaping Your Habits
- We imitate the behaviors of three groups -
- The Close.
- The Many.
- The Powerful.
- To make habits more attractive, join a group where the habit is normal.
- Belonging to a tribe sustains motivation.
- There is wisdom in numbers.
How To Find And Fix The Causes Of Your Bad Habits
- A craving is the manifestation of the underlying motive.
- Habits are modern-day solutions to ancient desires.
- Desire is the difference between where you are now vs where you want to be.
- Reframe habits, highlighting their benefits rather than their drawbacks.
Walk Slowly, But Never Backward
- Get your reps in - Preparation cannot become Procrastination.
- Hebb’s Law: Neurons that fire together wire together.
- Repetition is a form of change - habits form based on frequency and not time.
The Law Of Least Effort
- Law of Least Effort - We do what is easy and convenient.
- The less energy a habit requires, the more likely it is to occur.
- Habits are easier to build if they fit into the flow of your life.
How To Stop Procrastinating By Using The Two-Minute Rule
- It is easy to continue what you are already doing as opposed to changing.
- A new habit should take less than 2 minutes to do.
- This works as it is easier to continue doing the right thing once started.
- Thus, the initiation of any new habit should be less than 2 minutes long.
- In other words, the gateway habit should be simple and easy.
- Master the art of showing up - standardize before you optimize.
- Make it easy to start, and the rest will follow.
How To Make Good Habits Inevitable And Bad Habits Impossible
- Commitment Devices - A choice made in the present to control future actions.
- Use technology to automate your life so you can focus on what technology can’t do.
- The ultimate way to lock in future behaviors is to automate your habits.
- Also refer Building a Second Brain - Stigmergy Effect.
The Cardinal Rule Of Behavior Change
- We are more likely to repeat a behavior when the experience is satisfying.
- What is immediately rewarded is repeated. What is immediately punished is avoided.
- Hyperbolic Discounting - We value the present more than the future.
- The costs of your good habits are in the present, and those of your bad ones are in the future.
- Incentives start a habit, identity sustains it.
How To Stick to Good Habits Everyday
- Use Habit Trackers - Never Break The Chain.
- This simultaneously makes a habit obvious, attractive, and satisfying.
- The most effective form of motivation is progress.
- Log immediately after the habit occurs - positive reinforcement.
- The breaking of the habit does not matter if the reclaiming of it is fast.
- Just make sure you show up, make it small, but show up.
How An Accountability Partner Can Change Everything
- Pain is an effective teacher.
- Consequences should be local, tangible, concrete, and immediate.
- An accountability partner can enable immediate cost to bad habits.
The Truth About Talent
- Habits stick when they are aligned with your natural inclinations and abilities.
- Genes do not determine your destiny, but your areas of opportunity.
- Habits are linked to our personality traits. Refer Big Five Personality Traits.
- When you can’t win by being better, win by being different.
Further Reading Mentioned
- Getting Things Done
- Guns Germs and Steel