1% increase every day for a year = 37x increase over the year, but 1% decrease every day for a year = 3% of where you where when you started. For this reason a better key performance indicator is the trajectory you’re going on vs. where you currently are.
Problem with Goals
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Winners and losers typically both have the same goals (winning a championship, acing a test, etc) but most of them fail
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This means that goals do jack other than provide direction
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Assuming I’ll be happy once I reach goal X
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If make it, happy, otherwise you’re a failure?
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Encourages you to stop once you’ve reached your goal
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If you can fall in love with the system you put in place to achieve that goal, you’ll be a lot happier throughout the entire process and you’ll be more likely to succeed
3 Layers of Behavior Change
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Outcomes: The focus is on what
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Processes: The focus is on how
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Identity: The focus is on who
Identity change is sneakily important for long-term habit formation. Simple process for identity change = :
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Decide who you want to be
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Prove it to yourself with small wins
The Habit Feedback Loop
- Cue: information that predicts a reward
- Craving: a desire for change
- Response: What you do
- Reward: The satisfaction of the craving
A good reward will lead to cues and craving becoming stronger, which will reinforce the habit.
Four Laws of Behavior Change
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Cue: Make it obvious/invisible
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Craving: Make it attractive/unattractive
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Response: Make it easy/difficult
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Reward: Make it satisfying/unsatisfying
Make it obvious/invisible
Set an implementation intention: “I will [Behavior] at [Time] in [Location]“. This takes the choice out of it, and makes the cues obvious.
Habit stacking: connect it with an existing habit that happens during a similar time in the same place. I.e. connect flossing with brushing.
Environmental Redesign: Make cues that will lead to good habits visible and cues that will lead to bad habits invisible. I.e. don’t leave delicious candy out on your desk if you’re trying to lower your sugar. “Self-control is a short-term strategy, not a long term one.” You can’t consistently beat an environment that sets you up for failure.
Make it attractive/unattractive
Use temptation bundling: connect a difficult habit with something you like: i.e. listening to your favorite music only at the gym. This will motivate you to go to the gym more.
Try to join communities where your desired identity is normal. We all want to fit in with the pack, and this will make unattractive habits more attractive.
Make it easy/difficult
Being in motion vs. taking action: After a certain point, preparing to do something becomes a form of procrastination against actually doing the thing. I.e. Continuous research and reading about how to write articles isn’t helpful after a certain point. The best way to get better is to just start. Getting your reps in is important, so it can help to start off easy by using a 2-minute version of your habit that gets you started. I.e. if you want to start biking every day, a 2-minute version could be wearing your clothes and shoes and getting out your bike. Even if you don’t have time to actually bike on a certain day, try to do the 2-minute version. This will help you stay consistent while the habit is forming.
Environmental Design: Here, it’s important to make good habits as easy as possible and bad habits as hard as possible. I.e. if you eat a lot of junk food, stop bringing it into the house. If you want to journal every day, set out your journal ahead of time.
Decisive Moments: This is another reason that 2-minute habits are helpful. Even though you make lot of decision everyday, a few key decisions can often shape your later decisions. For example, deciding to go to the gym instead of playing video games. An established 2-minute version makes it easier to do the right thing because it gets you in motion.
Commitment devices: Using a commitment device of some sort that decides your habits ahead of time takes away the free will aspect of it. (I.e. telling somebody who will hold you accountable that you will run every day or having someone else controlling the password to your social media accounts)
Make it satisfying/unsatisfying
Find a way to track your habits. This can make it a game.
What to do when you miss your habit: Just don’t miss again. You don’t need to beat yourself up over it. This could actually have the reverse effect of making you more nervous of restarting in case you miss again and feel guilty again. (This sentence was my idea and not part of James Clear)
“Missing once is an accident. Missing twice is the start of a new habit.”
Advanced Tactics
Keep yourself in the Goldilocks Zone of Difficulty: Give yourself challenges at the outer edges of your ability. This is what will keep you improving and stop the activity from getting boring.
For many fields, you can’t stop at just habit. This can lead to doing the same thing over and over again, even when it’s wrong. You need to establish stages for review and reflection if it is relevant to that habit.
Paradoxically, you can’t let a tight identity become too sacred, otherwise you’ll resist improvement (or feel terrible when that identity is taken away.) Instead of “I am a YouTuber”, “I am somebody that enjoys helping others.”