by James Clear
Why change habits?
We all deal with setbacks, but in the long run, the quality of our lives often depends on the quality of our habits. The purpose of every habit is to solve the problems you face.
Tiny to Large
The difference a tiny improvement can make over time is astounding. If you can get 1 percent better each day for one year, you’ll end up thirty-seven times better by the time you’re done.
When you start a new habit, it should take less than two minutes to do. For example, “Read before bed each night” becomes “Read one page.” “Do thirty minutes of yoga” becomes “Take out my yoga mat.” The first two minutes simply become a ritual at the beginning of a larger routine. Make it easy to start and the rest will follow.
When looking back two, five, or perhaps ten years later, the value of good habits and the cost of bad ones becomes strikingly apparent. Success is the product of daily habits—not once-in-a-lifetime transformations.
Automate tasks
As habits are created, the level of activity in the brain decreases. When a similar situation arises in the future, you know exactly what to look for. There is no longer a need to analyze every angle of a situation.
The more tasks you can handle without thinking, the more your brain is free to focus on other areas.
Good habits and Bad habits
There are no good habits or bad habits. There are only effective habits. That is, effective at solving problems.
The task of breaking a bad habit is like uprooting a powerful oak within us. And the task of building a good habit is like cultivating a delicate flower one day at a time.
Strategies to overcome bad habits
If you want to prevent bad habits and eliminate unhealthy behaviors, then adding an instant cost to the action is a great way to reduce their odds. Also increase the speed of the punishment associated with the behavior. For example, customers pay their bills on time when they are charged a late fee.
The strength of the punishment must match the relative strength of the behavior it is trying to correct. For example, to be productive, the cost of procrastination must be greater than the cost of action. Behavior only shifts if the punishment is painful enough and reliably enforced.
Use smart strategies to avoid bad habits. For example, whenever I’m looking to cut calories, I will ask the waiter to split my meal and box half of it to go before the meal is served. If I waited until the meal came out and told myself “I’ll just eat half,” it would never work.
We are always trying to present our best selves to the world. For example, we comb our hair and brush our teeth and dress ourselves carefully because we know these habits are likely to get a positive reaction. Knowing that someone is watching can be a powerful motivator. If you don’t follow through with a good habit, perhaps they’ll see you as untrustworthy or lazy. Suddenly, you are not only failing to uphold your promises to yourself, but also failing to uphold your promises to others.
The journey vs the goal
If successful and unsuccessful people share the same goals, then the goal cannot be what differentiates the winners from the losers. Successful people implemented a system of continuous small improvements that helped them achieve a different outcome.
The purpose of setting goals is to win the game. The purpose of building systems is to continue playing the game. It is your commitment to the process that will determine your progress.
Identity-based habits
Build identity-based habits. Imagine two people resisting a cigarette. When offered a smoke, the first person says, “No thanks. I’m trying to quit.” The second person declines by saying, “No thanks. I’m not a smoker.” It’s a small difference, but this statement signals a shift in identity.
It’s one thing to say I’m the type of person who wants this. It’s something very different to say I’m the type of person who is this.
The more you repeat a behavior, the more you reinforce the identity associated with that behavior. For example, when you make your bed each day, you embody the identity of an organized person.
Flexibility
However, don’t get too fixated on your identity. The tighter we cling to an identity, the harder it becomes to grow beyond it. For example, the schoolteacher who ignores innovative teaching methods and sticks with her tried-and-true lesson plans. The veteran manager who is committed to doing things “his way.” Avoid making any single aspect of your identity an overwhelming portion of who you are.
When you cling too tightly to one identity, you become brittle. Lose that one thing and you lose yourself. For example, if you’re a vegan and then develop a health condition that forces you to change your diet, you’ll have an identity crisis on your hands.
The key to mitigating these losses of identity is to redefine yourself such that you get to keep important aspects of your identity even if your particular role changes. For example, “I’m an athlete” becomes “I’m the type of person who is mentally tough and loves a physical challenge.”
Craving – the motivation to change
Without some level of motivation or desire—without craving a change—we have no reason to act. What you crave is not the habit itself but the change in state it delivers. You do not crave smoking a cigarette, you crave the feeling of relief it provides.
Say it aloud
Hearing your bad habits spoken aloud makes the consequences seem more real. For example, if you want to cut back on junk food but notice yourself grabbing another cookie, say out loud, “I’m about to eat this cookie, but I don’t need it. Eating it will cause me to gain weight and hurt my health.”
Be specific
Being specific about what you want and how you will achieve it helps you say no to things that derail progress, distract your attention, and pull you off course.
Connect behaviors
When it comes to building new habits, you can use the connectedness of behavior to your advantage. For example, in case of exercising: “After I take off my work shoes, I will immediately change into my workout clothes.”
Habit time
When and where you choose to insert a habit into your daily routine can make a big difference. If you’re trying to add meditation into your morning routine but mornings are chaotic and your kids keep running into the room, then that may be the wrong place and time.
Habit place
People often choose products not because of what they are, but because of where they are. If I walk into the kitchen and see a plate of cookies on the counter, I’ll pick up half a dozen and start eating, even if I hadn’t been thinking about them beforehand and didn’t necessarily feel hungry.
Again, if you want to practice guitar more frequently, place your guitar stand in the middle of the living room.
Also, for one person, her couch is the place where she reads for an hour each night. For someone else, the couch is where he watches television and eats a bowl of ice cream after work.
To build a new habit, go to a new place—a different coffee shop, a bench in the park, a corner of your room you seldom use—and create a new routine there. “One space, one use.”
The Dopamine Effect
Whenever you predict that an opportunity will be rewarding, your levels of dopamine spike in anticipation. And whenever dopamine rises, so does your motivation to act. It is the anticipation of a reward—not the fulfillment of it—that gets us to take action.
The anticipation of an experience can often feel better than the attainment of it. For example, daydreaming about an upcoming vacation can be more enjoyable than actually being on vacation.
Insert a temptation to form a habit
Ronan Byrne, an electrical engineering student in Dublin, Ireland, enjoyed watching Netflix, but he also knew that he should exercise more often than he did. Putting his engineering skills to use, Byrne hacked his stationary bike and connected it to his laptop and television. Then he wrote a computer program that would allow Netflix to run only if he was cycling at a certain speed. If he slowed down for too long, whatever show he was watching would pause until he started pedaling again.
Be with people you want to model
Surround yourself with people who have the habits you want to have yourself. You’ll rise together.
Don’t just plan, implement!
It is easy to get bogged down / procrastinate trying to find the optimal plan for change: the fastest way to lose weight, the best program to build muscle, etc.
If you want to master a habit, the key is to start; not try to attain perfection. You don’t need to map out every feature of a new habit. You just need to practice it.
Repetition
Repeating a habit leads to clear physical changes in the brain.
Make it easy
If you can make your good habits more convenient, you’ll be more likely to follow through on them.
Habits are easier to build when they fit into the flow of your life. For example, you are more likely to go to the gym if it is on your way to work because stopping doesn’t add much friction to your lifestyle.
Ritual to a good habit
Every day, there are a handful of moments that deliver an outsized impact. Each evening, there is a tiny moment—usually around 5:15 p.m.—that shapes the rest of my night. My wife walks in the door from work and either we change into our workout clothes and head to the gym or we crash onto the couch, order Indian food, and watch ‘The Office’. If I change clothes, I know the workout will happen. Everything that follows—driving to the gym, deciding which exercises to do, stepping under the bar—is easy once I’ve taken the first step.
Make it satisfying
We are more likely to repeat a behavior when the experience is satisfying. For example, toothpaste manufacturers enjoyed great success when they added flavors like spearmint, peppermint, and cinnamon to their products. These flavors don’t improve the effectiveness of toothpaste. They simply create a “clean mouth” feel and make the experience of brushing your teeth more pleasurable.
Overcome the problem of ‘instant gratification’
Occasionally, our bias toward instant gratification causes problems. For example, overeating is harmful in the long run but appetizing in the moment.
The best way to delay gratification is to add a little bit of immediate pleasure to the habits that pay off in the long-run. For example, if you are trying to lose weight, open a savings account and label it for something you want—maybe “Leather Jacket.” Whenever you adhere to your diet, put some money in the account.
Use a habit tracker
A habit tracker is a simple way to measure whether you did a habit. The most basic format is to get a calendar and cross off each day you stick with your routine. It is better to consistently track one habit than to sporadically track ten.
“Don’t break the chain” is a powerful mantra. For example, don’t break the chain of sales calls and you’ll build a successful book of business. Don’t break the chain of workouts and you’ll get fit faster than you’d expect.
Missing out
No matter how consistent you are with your habits, it is inevitable that life will interrupt you at some point. Whenever this happens to me, I try to remind myself of a simple rule: never miss twice. If I miss one day, I try to get back into it as quickly as possible. Missing one workout happens, but I’m not going to miss two in a row.
Showing up is more important than perfection
You may not be able to carry out a habit to perfection each time. You may have sluggish days. That’s fine. But don’t avoid the habit even on these days. Simply doing something (in case of exercise)—ten squats, five sprints, a push-up, anything really—is huge. It’s easy to train when you feel good, but it’s crucial to show up when you don’t feel like it—even if you do less than you hope.
The role of genes
Habits are easier to perform, and more satisfying to stick with, when they align with your natural inclinations and abilities. Embracing this strategy requires the acceptance of the simple truth that people are born with different abilities. Genes cannot be easily changed, which means they provide a powerful advantage in favorable circumstances and a serious disadvantage in unfavorable circumstances. For example, if you want to perform a gymnastics routine, being seven feet tall is a great hindrance. The areas where you are genetically predisposed to success are the areas where habits are more likely to be satisfying.
Level of difficulty
The human brain loves a challenge, but only if it is within an optimal zone of difficulty. If you love tennis and try to play a serious match against a four-year-old, you will quickly become bored. It’s too easy. You’ll win every point. In contrast, if you play a professional tennis player like Roger Federer or Serena Williams, you will quickly lose motivation because the match is too difficult. Now consider playing tennis against someone who is your equal. As the game progresses, you win a few points and you lose a few. You have a good chance of winning, but only if you really try. Your focus narrows, distractions fade away, and you find yourself fully invested in the task at hand. This is a challenge of just manageable difficulty. Humans experience peak motivation when working on tasks that are right on the edge of their current abilities. Not too hard. Not too easy. Just right.
Handling boredom
The greatest threat to success is not failure but boredom. If you’re already interested in a habit, working on challenges of just manageable difficulty is a good way to keep things interesting. No habit will stay interesting forever. At some point, everyone faces the same challenge on the journey of self-improvement: you have to fall in love with boredom.
Mastery
Mastery is the process of narrowing your focus to a tiny element of success, repeating it until you have internalized the skill, and then using this new habit as the foundation to advance to the next frontier of your development.
Review
Reflection and review enables the long-term improvement of all habits because it makes you aware of your mistakes and helps you consider possible paths for improvement. Reflection and review ensures that you spend your time on the right things and make course corrections whenever necessary.
To conclude
The holy grail of habit change is not a single 1 percent improvement, but a thousand of them. It’s a bunch of atomic habits stacking up, each one a fundamental unit of the overall system.
Disclaimer: The key points of the book presented here are not a substitute for reading the book. To get the entire holistic message the author has offered requires reading the book.
#Bookexcerpt #Freesample #Sneakpeek #Readnow #Chapter1 #Bookpreview #Newrelease #Comingsoon #Romance #Lovestory #secondchance #forbiddenlove #smalltown #contemporaryromance #historicalromance #Mystery #Detective #thriller #suspense #murder
#crime #whodunit #Scifi #Spaceopera #dystopian #cyberpunk #alien #artificialintelligence #Fantasy #Epicfantasy #highfantasy #urbanfantasy #magic #mythicalcreatures #YoungAdult
#Comingofage #dystopian #adventure #friendship #Nonfiction #Selfhelp #business #history
#biography #travel #Strongfemalelead #Antihero #Relatablecharacters #Diversecast #Complexcharacters #Unforgettablecharacters #Pageturner #Unputdownable #Fastpaced #Actionpacked #Gripping #Emotional #Heartwarming #Humorous #Awardwinningauthor #Bestsellingauthor #Debutnovel #Indieauthor #Availablenow #Orderyourcopytoday
#AmazonKindle #AppleBooks #Kobo #Barnes&Noble #GooglePlay #Scribd #Bookstagram #Booktok #BookTwitter #Teaserexcerpts #Previewchapters #Exploresnippets #Samplepages #Discoverhighlights #Readasnippet #Tasteofthebook #Diveintoexcerpts #Shortreads #Getaglimpse #Quickinsights #Sneakpeek #Introductorypassages #Highlightedmoments #Chaptersnapshots #booklovers #book #bookmarketing #booklover #bookclub #bookish #bookcommunity #bookaddict #booknerd #booklaunch #booklove #bookaholic #bookblog #bookboost #reading #readingcommunity #readinglist #readingtime #readers #read #readnow #reads #readabook #readingaddict #readingbooks #readingisfun #readingjourney #readinghabits #selfdiscovery #selfcare #selfimprovement #selfhelpbooks #selfhelp #selfconfidence #selfhealingjourney #selfbelief #selfempowerment #learning #learning #learninganddevelopment #learningeveryday #learningandgrowth #growthmindset #happiness #happinessisachoice #happinessmatters #savetime #emotions #emotionalintelligence #emotionalwellbeing #emotionalwellness #emotionalhealth
You must be logged in to post a comment.