Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones

Notes:

• True behavior change is identity change. You might start a habit because of motivation, but the only reason you’ll stick with one is it becomes your identity. Anyone can convince themselves to visit the gym or eat healthy once or twice, but if you don’t shift the believe behind the behavior, then it is hard to stick with the long term changes. Improvements are only temporary until they become part of who you are. The goal is not to read a book, is to become a reader.

• The habit loop: queue, craving, response, reward. The queue triggers the craving, which motivates the response, which provides the reward, which satisfies that craving, and ultimately become associated with the queue.

• Be aware of the habits and actions by pointing and calling.

• Set specific plan will increase implementation intention.

• Chain new habits with current habits

• Start new habit in new environment

• It’s the anticipation of a reward not the fulfillment of it that gets us to take action.

• Temptation bundling is a strategy to bundle what you want to do with what you need to do

• Master the art of showing up

• Hand soap and toothpaste change scent for satisfaction

• What is awarded, is repeated. What is punished, is avoided. 

• “immediate reward” 

• We live in delayed return environment, so we evaluate present way more than future

• We are making plan for our future self

• The brain overestimates the danger of immediate threat

• The brain underestimates a distant threat

• Add a little bit of the immediate pleasure to the action that pays off in the long run that and a little bit a pain to the ones that don’t.

• Habit tracking provides visual proof for your hard work and keep us honest. It is obvious, attractive and satisfying. 

• Don’t brake a chain

• Manual habit tracking should be limited 

• When you can’t win by being better, you can win by being different. By combining your skills, you reduce the level of competition which make it easier to stand out. You can shortcut the need for genetic advantage or for years of practice by rewriting the rules. A good player works hard to win the game that everyone’s playing. A great player creates a new game that favors their strength and avoids their weaknesses.

• An accountability partner can create an immediate cost to inaction. We care deeply about what others think of us and we do not want others to have a lesser opinion on us. 

• Gody lox rules: human 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. manageable difficulty

• The greatest threat to success is not failure but boredom. As habits become routine, they become less interesting and less satisfying, we get bored. Anyone can work hard when they feel motivated, is the ability of keep going when  the work isn’t exciting that makes the difference.

• The cost of habit: As habit becomes automatic, you become less sensitive to feedback. You fall into mindless repetition. It become easier to let mistake slides. You stop thinking about how to do it better. 

• Automatic habits + deliberate practice = mastery

• Establish a system for reflection and review

• How to review your habits? Compare to history data. Search for areas that can be improved 

• Keep a decision journal, take note of big decisions, why they make them, what they expect the outcome to be. Then review every month.

• Annual review: what went well this year, what didn’t go so well this year, what did I learn

• Integrity report: what are the core values that drive my life and work, how am I living and working with integrity right now, how can I set a higher standard in the future

• Periodic reflection and review

The four laws of behavior change:

1. Queue: make it obvious/invisible

1.1. Write down current habits to be aware of them

1.2. Use implementation intention “I will behavior at (time) in (location)”

1.3. Utilize habit stacking “after current habit, I will new behavior” Design your environment by making the queues of the good habits obvious and visible 

2. Craving: make it attractive/unattractive

2.1. Use temptation bundling by pairing the action you want to do with the action you need to do

2.2. Join a culture where your desired behavior is the normal behavior

2.3. Create a motivation ritual by doing something you enjoy immediately before the difficult habit

2.4. Reframe your mindset: highlight the benefits of avoiding your bad habits

3. Response: make it easy/difficult

3.1 Reduce friction: decrease the number of steps between you and your good habits

3.2 Prime the environment: prepare your environment to make future action easier

3.3 Master the decisive moment: optimize the small choices that deliver outsize impact

3.4 Two minute rule: downscale your habits until they can be done in two minute or less

3.5 Automate your habits: invest in technology and one time purchases that lock in future behavior

3.6 Increase friction: increase the number of steps between you and your bad habits

3.7 Use a commitment device: restrict your future choices to the ones that benefit you

4. Reward: make it satisfying/unsatisfying

4.1 use reinforcement: give yourself an immediate reward when you complete your habit

4.2 make doing nothing enjoyable: when avoiding a bad habit, design a way to see the benefit

4.3 use a habit tracker: keep track of your habit streak and don’t break the chain

4.4 never miss twice: when you forget to do a habit, make sure you get on track immediately 

4.5 get an accountability partner: ask someone to watch your behavior

4.6 create a habit contract: make the cost of your bad habits public and painful