Atomic Habits 3/? - Building Better Habits in 4 Steps

Building Better Habits in 4 Simple Steps

Part 1 Fundamentals • Part 2 How Habits Shape Identities (Vice Versa) • Part 4 1st Law: Make It Obvious

Why Your Brain Builds Habits

• Feedback loop in all human behavior: try, fail, learn, try differently.

• Useless movements fade away, useful actions get reinforced - with practice.

Habits are, simply, reliable solutions to recurring problems in our environment.

• Habits created, levels of brain activity decreases (autopilot)

  • You lock in on cues that predict success and tune out everything else.

• Habits are mental shortcuts learned from experience.

• Conscious mind is the bottleneck of the brain, so whenever possible it will delegate to nonconscious mind to perform automatically.

• Habits reduce cognitive load and free up mental capacity.

• Habits do not restrict freedom. They create it. Those who don't have habits handled will have least amount of freedom. E.g. w/o good financial habits, you'll always struggle for the next dollar.

It's only by making fundamentals of life easier that you can create mental space needed for free thinking and creativity.

• Building habits in the present => you can do more of what you want in the future.

Science of How Habits Work

• Cue → craving → response → reward

• Cue triggers brain to initiate behavior - bit of info that predicts a reward.

• Cravings are motivational forces behind every habit - linked to a desire to change your internal state.

• Response is the actual habit you perform - can be a thought or action.

  • Whether response occurs depends on how motivated you are and how much friction is associated with the behavior.
  • If action needs more effort > what you will expend ⇒ you won't do it
  • If you can do it ⇒ you will

• Rewards are the end goal of every habit - they satisfy us and they teach us.

  • Rewards satisfy cravings, and deliver contentment.
  • Rewards teach us which actions are worth remembering in the future - closes feedback loop and complete habit cycle.

• If habit is insufficient in any four stages, it will not become a habit.

• Split these 4 steps into 2 phases:

  • Problem phase: cue & craving - you realize something needs to change
  • Solution phase: response & reward - you take action and achieve the change you desire

Four Laws of Behavior Change

• How to create a good habit:

  1. Cue: Make it obvious.
  2. Craving: Make it attractive.
  3. Response: Make it easy.
  4. Reward: Make it satisfying.

• Invert to break bad habit.

• How to break a bad habit:

  1. Cue: Make it invisible.
  2. Craving: Make it unattractive.
  3. Response: Make it difficult.
  4. Reward: Make it unsatisfying.

Read more:

• Part 1 Fundamentals
• Part 2 How Habits Shape Identities (Vice Versa)
• Part 4 1st Law: Make It Obvious