How to change your habits
Lessons from ATOMIC HABITS by JAMES CLEAR
In his book "Atomic Habits" James Clear describes how to build new habits and to break bad ones. It contains many insights and pragmatic instructions, and it can help to become a better version of yourself.
„Winners and losers have the same goals.“ - Whoosh! Thats one of the sentences which catched me directly.
Goals are good for setting a direction. But if you want to achieve better results it is more effective to improve your system. „You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your system“.
So, the trick is to create a system which helps you to develop the right habits and routines to achieve what you want.
Here I´d like to share my highlights and key messages (It´s not a summary):
If you want to form new habits, you should make them obvious, attractive, easy and satisfying (= 4 laws of behavior change)
Self control is only a short term strategy. A better strategy is to create your suitable environment, to adapt your surroundings to your desired habits. Its easier to avoid temptation than to resist is. And its easier to stick to a positive habit if your environment is designed to make the behavior you want easier for you. E.g. if you want to eat healthier you can on the one hand store your chocolate in the basement (hard to grab) and on the other hand put apples in sight (easy to grab).
Reduce friction: The less energy a habit requires, the more likely is to be be done. Use this vice versa for bad habits: Make it difficult. E.g. if you want to reduce browsing the internet, use an app to limit the connection. If you want to watch less TV, put the remote control in your cupboard (don´t leave it next to your sofa).Habits are dopamine driven feedback loops. When dopamine rises, we are motivated to act. But it is the anticipation of the reward (not the fulfillment of it!) that gets us to take action.
The most effective form of learning is practice, not planning or preparation. You build your habits through repetition. Just show up! Take action! Mastery requires patience and practice. Standardize before you optimize: You can´t improve a habit that doesn't exist. Talents and genes are obviously helpful, but they don't eliminate the need for training and (hard) work. Genes provide clarity: They tell us what to work hard on.
If you want to build a new habit, break it down in tiny steps so that they seem feasible even with very little motivation (=2 minute rule). The more you turn this tiny habit into a ritual, the more likely you are to slip further into action. It´s also very satisfying to see the progress we make. That´s why it can be motivating to use a habit tracker. Using a habit tracker provides clear evidence of progress.
Additionally, you can try Temptation bundling: Combine a tiny action you want to do with an action you need to do.
True behavior change is identity change. This means you do not have to worry about the results but to think about your identity. Ask yourself, what kind of person do you want to be? E.g. if you want to be healthy, ask yourself: What would a healthy person do? Eat the chocolate or eat the apple?
So, decide which kind of person you want to be and than build small identity-based habits. If you want to be a writer, start writing 300 words every day. If you want to be a sporty person, then start doing 10 pushups every day. The results will come later.Surround yourself with like-minded people. Join a group where your desired behavior is the normal behavior. This works even better if these people have already something in common with you.
Make it public: By publishing your plan, you are putting pressure on yourself: We want others to have good opinions about us. Knowing that someone else is watching us can be pretty motivating. Another idea could be to make a "contract" regarding your plan. E.g. if you fail to stick to your plan, you will have to pay your friend a fine.
How to stay motivated: Motivation is high when we work on tasks that are not too easy, but not too difficult either. Boredom is the enemy. The optimal level of difficulty for a task - between boredom and failure - is described by the Goldilocks Rule. To stay motivated you need to look for challenges on the edge of our current abilities.
In the long run, the quality of our lives often depends on the quality of our habits.
„Success is the product of daily habits, not once-in-a-lifetime transformations.“