Speaking of productivity and living your best life, our daily behaviours are one of the biggest factors determining our success in life.
That’s why building healthy habits is such a crucial skill to have.
In this post, we’ll deconstruct habits – how they work and why they’re so important – before presenting James Clear’s Atomic Habits model. We’ll discuss how to leverage this model to build better habits.
The Benefits of Productive Habits
Habits are the small actions, rituals and routines we perform in daily life. When implemented effectively, good habits reap great rewards, while bad habits reap great negative rewards.
Habits help us get things done, wake up early and master our mornings. Routines also help us get organised, develop mindfulness and gain mental clarity.
There are are a few reasons we might want to focus on productive habits before moving onto the four rules of Atomic Habits.
Ultimately, our goal here is to develop optimal routines that help us achieve our full potential.
Below we’ll review the compounding effects of habits. Then we’ll explain why systems are more effective than goals. Last but not least, we’ll discuss how our identity creates our habits and how we can use this to change our daily behaviour.
Compound effects
Because habits are performed regularly, good habits offer us the opportunity to make small continuous improvements. On the other hand, bad habits compound negatively.
When behaviours are repeated daily, we can either improve by 1% every day or worsen by 1% every day. This first formula demonstrates what would happen if we improved by 1% every day for a year:
1.01365 = 37.8
With 365 days of 1% improvements, we’ll improve our lives 37.8 times its original value. This next formula demonstrates what would happen if we get 1% worse every day for a year.
0.99365 = 0.03
With 365 days of 1% decreases, our lives become only worth 3% the original value. That’s a 97% drop!
This reasoning demonstrates why it’s so important to maximise our good habits and reduce our bad ones.
Systems work better than goals
It is easy to get trapped in the habit of goal-fixation, losing yourself in the vision. It’s easy to focus so much on the goal and our desired future that we ultimately bypass the day-to-day actions needed to reach our goals.
We can design our daily habits as systems to help us achieve our goals. To achieve success we need more systems, not more goals.
Identity Shapes our Habits
When someone changes their habits because they have something to achieve, they are developing outcome-based habits. The alternative, identity-based habits, starts by knowing who we want to be before designing our habit system.
The three levels of behaviour change are:
- Outcomes – Results
- Process – Habits & Systems
- Identity – The deepest layer: Your beliefs & worldview
Starting with a new identity is the simplest way to enforce lasting behavioural changes.
If you’re trying to quit smoking for example, this is the difference between saying that you’re not a smoker instead of that you’re trying to quit smoking. A non-smoker is not tempted by cigarettes, while someone trying to quit is fighting an uphill battle.
If you’re trying to start a business, you can motivate yourself by saying you are an entrepreneur. That’s what entrepreneurs do. They work hard, despite obstacles in their way, to create value following a few ancient financial principles.
Focusing on our identity allows us to build effective habits that help us achieve our goals.
Deconstructing Habits with the Framework
In this post, we’ll run through the habit rules in a bit more detail and round off with a few practices to develop healthy habits.
The ideas presented below are taken directly from James Clear’s Best Seller. Learn more about good habits with Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones.
How do habits work?
In simple terms, all habits follow a pattern that begins with a cue, whether environmental or internal, that creates a craving. Our behavioural response follows the craving, resulting in some sort of reward.
Habits can be broken down into a four-step process:
Cue > Craving > Response > Reward
Each of the four behavioural rules optimises a step of the process, boiling the process of developing good habits down to four rules.
Atomic Habits boils the process of developing good habits down to four rules:
- Make it obvious (Cue)
- Make it attractive (Craving)
- Make it easy (Response)
- Make it satisfying (Reward)
We can build great habits by following these simple rules. Each rule also has inversions, that can be used to break bad habits.
“I can’t change my habits”
There are two reason we might fail to change our habits:
- We try to change the wrong thing
- We try to change our habits in the wrong way
The following rules and guidelines are a framework for picking up new habits and dropping old ones. The idea is to make it as simple as possible.
1. Make it obvious
The first rule in Atomic Habits is Make it Obvious. This rule relates to the old adage, “Out of sight, out of mind.” Before we can take control of our habits, we need to make them visible.
There are three techniques for making your habits obvious:
- Use implementation intentions
- Automate your behaviours with habit stacking
- Design your environment
Implementation Intentions
The easiest way to pick up a new habit is by using implementation intentions. Implementation intentions are short statements that clarify the behaviour you will be performing at a specific time and location.
“When situation X arises, I will perform response Y.“
Hundreds of studies have shown that people who make a clear plan for executing an action are more likely to follow through.
The structure for an implementation intention is:
“I will [BEHAVIOUR] in [LOCATION] at [TIME].
Implementation intentions can be used for countless habits, e.g.:
- I will meditate for one hour at 7 am in my meditation corner
- I’ll jog for 30 minutes before lunch in the local park
- I will cook lasagne at 7 pm in my kitchen
The purpose with implementation intentions is to clarify where your habits fit into your world. After enough repetition, these habits should become instinctual. Once you’re in the right location or it’s that time of the day, your habit should make itself clear to you.
This technique minimises the amount of thought needed to perform the habit.
Habit Stacking
The Diderot Effect is a psychological trend, where we often determine what we do next based on what we just finished doing. For example, if you buy a new coat or bag, you may may be more inclined to buy some accompanying accessories.
We can leverage the psychology behind the Diderot Effect in our favour by using the Habit Stacking method.
The Habit Stacking formula is:
After [Current Habit], I will [New Habit]
Examples of habit stacking include:
- After brushing my teeth, I will floss
- Once I wake up, I’ll meditate for 20 minutes
- After I work out, I’ll stretch for 10 minutes
Habit stacking helps us group sets of behaviours for certain times of the day, so we can spend less time focusing on our behaviours – while still getting everything done.
The easiest way to start habit stacking is to identify current habits that you can link to your desired habits. In this way, you’re in a position to perform your desired habits whenever you finish a behaviour that you already do regularly.
Implement your own habit stacking routine with our Habit Stacking Cheat Sheet.
Design your Environment
We like to think that we’re in control of our actions. However, more often than not, our environment has a significant impact on our behaviour. It’s been noted that motivation is overrated, while our environment has a profound effect.
Have you ever found yourself buying mints or chewing gum because they’re near the cashier? Expensive brands are placed at eye-level in supermarkets so more people will buy them.
The main reason we end up in McDonald’s or Starbucks is that they’re on every corner! It’s hard to argue that you wouldn’t eat less fast food if you lived in a town without fast food restaurants.
Luckily, we can apply this logic and design our environment to take control of our behaviour. Because habits follow a common pattern, we can leave a cue somewhere to trigger the behaviour. Whatever the habit we’re trying to adopt, we can keep a reminder in sight.
For example if you want to read more, place a book on your pillow each morning, and you’ll see it before bed. This acts as a reminder and reduces the friction of actually starting to read.
Make it Invisible (Inversion)
On the other hand, we also want to reduce cues for our bad habits. The first inversion is to make them invisible. The issue is that once we form a habit, we will probably never forget it. The secret to self-control in these situations is to spend less time in tempting situations.
The simplest way to stop a bad habit is to reduce exposure to the cues that reinforce it. Self-control is a short-term strategy, while environment control is a long-term strategy.
Examples of making the habit invisible include:
- Leave your phone in another room when you’re trying to work
- If you spend too much money on electronics, stop reading reviews of the latest tech gadgets.
Our direct environment has a huge impact on what we do everyday. Optimising our environments for good habits while reducing counter-productive stimuli is the goal of the first rule. Make your habits obvious.
2. Make it attractive
If you want to improve the likelihood of completing a behaviour, the best way is to make it attractive. Atomic Habits are irresistible.
Habits are a dopamine-driven feedback loop. We know that dopamine is released both when you experience pleasure and when you anticipate it. For this reason, simply thinking about a habit can release the dopamine that increases your craving.
You can make a habit attractive by using one of three techniques:
- Temptation bundling
- Join a culture with the desired habit
- Create a motivation ritual
Temptation bundling
Temptation bundling is a method of grouping habits you don’t want to do with behaviours you want to do. Bundling less likely behaviour with more likely behaviour is a strategy to perform desired habits that are not inherently attractive.
For example, you might not enjoy processing your email. However, you might use the time as an opportunity to listen to one of your favourite albums. In this case, you’re bundling a repetitive work task with an attractive habit. Learn more about what kind of music is productive.
Habit stacking and temptation bundling go hand-in-hand, following the format:
- After [Current Habit], I will [Habit I Need]
- After [Habit I Need], I will [Habit I Want]
For example:
- After I grab my morning coffee, I will plan my work for the day (need)
- After I plan my work for the day, I will do yoga for 5 minutes (want)
With temptation bundling, doing the things you need to do means you get to do the things you want to. This strategy can make any habit more attractive.
Join a culture with the desired behaviour
Humans are naturally herd animals. We want to fit in, bond with others and earn respect from our peers, because this dynamic contributes to our survival.
Historically, being outcast from the tribe was a death sentence. We still carry this mentality in our psychology, as we imitate the habits of the close, the many and the powerful.
The Close
Firstly, we pick up habits from the people around us – our friends and family. We grow up imitating our parents and succumb to peer pressure from friends in our teen years. We even pick up habits from housemates and our spouse after moving in together.
You are more likely to pick up a new habit (and make it stick) by joining a culture where your desired behaviour is the norm. It also helps to already have something in common with the group you’re joining.
For example, Nerd Fitness in New York offers a space for “nerds, misfits and mutants” to lose weight, get strong and focus on their health. Friendship and community embed a new identity that help you maintain your desired behaviours over the long term.
The Many
Whenever we’re unsure of how to act, we may look to the group to see what everyone else is doing. We check Amazon ratings, Yelp reviews and TripAdvisor comments, because there is evidence in numbers. Past studies have shown that individuals will often rather be wrong with the crowd than right by themselves.
Picking up habits from the group is easier than challenging the tribe’s assumptions and behaviours. This means that you can ignore the group or stop caring what they think, though it would take much less will-power to simply find a group better aligned with your desired habits.
The Powerful
The final group we envy are the prestigious and powerful, because we ourselves want to be acknowledged, recognised and praised. We’re also motivated to avoid behaviour that would lower our status.
We care about the habits of highly effective people, because we are drawn to activities that earn us respect and approval.
Create a motivation ritual
Habits are attractive when we associate them with positive feelings, and they are less attractive when we associate them with negative feelings.
In this way, we can impact how attractive a habit is by doing something we enjoy directly before a difficult habit. Motivation rituals can help get you in a good mood to do something that might otherwise put you in a negative mood.
Make it unattractive (Inversion)
To make a bad habit unattractive, we can simply list out all the benefits of avoiding the behaviour.
For example, smoking is unhealthy, expensive and makes your skin look older. The benefits of not smoking are clear, and by focusing on this whenever we get a craving, we can help ourselves cut bad habits.
3. Make it easy
The third habit rule is Make it easy. After we’ve registered the behavioural cue and craving, we’re ready to respond in the appropriate way.
The Law of Least Effort tells us that humans are inherently lazy, as we aim to conserve energy. For this reason, we should aim to decrease the number of steps between us and our best habits. When friction is low, habits become easy.
You can make a habit easy by using one of four techniques:
- Prepare your environment
- Master the decisive moment
- Downscale your habits
- Automate your habits
Prepare your environment
One of the most effective ways to reduce friction is through environment design. Also, ensuring your habits are planned for locations along your daily route and routine will facilitate completion of the behaviours. For example, stopping by the gym becomes much easier when it’s on our way to the office.
We can even prime our environment to prepare for future desired behaviours. For example, clearing up your desk after you’ve finished working for the day prepares you for the next time you work at the desk.
This strategy means that each time you start work, you can get right down to business without having to do minor tasks first – in the case above, cleaning up your space first.
Master the decisive moment
The difference between a good and a bad day often comes down to a few decisive moments, where you either made the right or the wrong decision.
For example, in one moment, you decided between cooking and ordering takeaway. In another moment, you decided between driving your car or riding your bike.
Decisive moments set your future self up for success or failure. Mastering these moments can have a profound impact on your life.
Downscale your habits
Downscaling habits comes down to the two minute rule. If we can downscale our habits to an activity that takes less than 2 minutes, we’ll never have an excuse not to start our habit.
Simplifying the habit with the two minute rule makes it easier to show up. Then, once we show up anyway, we’re more likely to continue with the full scale habit. In other words, we first standardise, then we optimise.
The trick with any new behaviour that may seem effortful is to always stop before it becomes effortful.
Automate your habits
Technology can help us upkeep habits that are not done everyday. For example, monthly or annual habits may become difficult without planning these into our calendars.
While there are a variety of technologies that can help automate your habits, there is a significant amount of one-time actions that help us with good behaviours.
For example, unsubscribing from emails and turning off notifications in group chats can help us be more productive, while buying blackout curtains and a good mattress can help us sleep better over the long term.
4. Make it satisfying
One of the simplest rules to good behaviour is to make it satisfying. This refers to the reward step in the habit process. We are more likely to repeat a behaviour when it is satisfying.
You can make a habit satisfying by following one of three techniques:
- Reward yourself
- Use a habit tracker
- Never miss twice
Reward yourself
Whatever provides an immediate reward is sought after, while anything that provides an immediate punishment is avoided. Our brains evolved to value instant gratification. Delayed gratification has only become a valuable concept over the last few centuries.
To make use of this rule, we need to make sure our habits feel successful – immediately – using immediate gratification. For example, if we are trying to cut down on our “eating out” costs, we can feel good each time we skip a restaurant by transferring money to a savings account and labelling it something you want – e.g. “The Jet Ski Fund”.
Use a habit tracker
Habit trackers are visual progress indicators that reinforce our behaviour and keep us honest with ourselves.
Trackers can take many forms and can be as simple as a chain of X’s on your calendar or moving paper clips from one jar to another – each of which indicates progress with a behaviour. You can even use your Bullet Journal to track habits.
The beauty of the habit tracker is that it integrates with our habit rules, because it’s obvious, attractive and satisfying.
Never miss twice
Even people with the most productive habits may miss a day at the gym or an afternoon of sales calls – especially when life gets in the way. This is normal, and the best way to ensure this doesn’t become a long-term trend is to never miss twice in a row.
Often we fall into an “all-or-nothing” mentality, where we give up our habits because we haven’t stuck to it ritually. However, having a “bad work-out day” is much better than not working out at all.
Showing up is the most important thing. Simply doing 10 squats and 10 push-ups is better than not doing anything.
Create a habit contract with an accountability partner (Inversion)
Habit contracts can be used to add social costs to behaviours. These contracts are clear outlines of the habits you should have and provide an unattractive outcome when you avoid good habits.
An example might be to pay your fitness trainer whenever you skip a daily exercise / diet log. This negative outcome will ensure you remember and feel motivated to complete your good habits.
Accountability partners help you uphold the contract. Simply knowing that someone is watching can be a powerful motivator for your behaviour.
One of the benefits of having an accountability partner is that we often reflect more when we share it with other people. The Stoics developed morning and evening routines for this purpose without the need of an accountability partner.
Mastering Habits in a nutshell
Atomic Habits is a powerful method for mastering our behaviour. We can change our lives by simply adopting the four rules:
- Make it obvious
- Make it attractive
- Make it easy
- Make it satisfying
By following the practices listed in this post, we can make the most of our current behaviours and circumstances to reach our life goals. Remember that systems are more productive than goals, because systems actually help us reach our goals.
By optimising our habit systems with the four behaviour rules and their relevant practices, we are well on our way to living better lives.
Changing our habits may seem difficult, but with a little practical knowledge it becomes a lot easier.
Build productive habits with Mind & Practice today!