Atomic Habits
Repeating small Habits day after Day leads to Major results or changes
Focus on Trajectory Rather Than Result
Habits are made up of 4 Elements
Cue = unmissable, clear Trigger to act
Craving = desire to change
Respond= efforts to trigger change
Response = reward to complete action
Implementation intention
Requires us to Put cues in front of your environment
Can help us move beyond the vague intentions and introduces clear plan of action
Helps as set out when and where we will carry out the habit we would like to cultivate
Example: Instead of saying I will learn to play guitar this year, say On Monday, Wednesday, Friday when alarm triggers I will practice guitar for 1 hour
Anticipation of doing something pleasurable is enough to get dopamine flowing
Temperation building Taking important but unattractive habit and linking it to behavior we are drawn to enabling dopamine to build new habits
Example: engineering student from Ireland loved Netflix hated exercise. So he modified his exercise bike to include tablet with Netflix thus transforming distasteful activity to pleasurable one
Make good habit's easy to adopt but bad habits hard to pursue.
Skip/adopt habits by increasing/reducing friction Example: if you want to waste less time in front of the TV, unplug it and take the batteries out of the remote. This will introduce enough friction to ensure you only watch when you really want to.
Two minute rule: If you want to build new habits do that habit daily for two units [ 2 pages/mins/hours/days/weeks/ months/ years etc. ]
Build hard to miss cues and a plan of action = easy long-term habit
Habits need to be satisfying
Attach immediate gratification to delayed - return habits like exercise Or going to gym
Example:
A couple wanted to eat out less, cook more, get healthier and save money.
These are goals with delayed returns.
To give their objectives a little immediate-return kick, they opened a savings account called "Trip to Europe."
Every time they avoided a meal out, they transferred $50 to the account.
The short-term satisfaction of seeing $50 land in that savings account provided the immediate gratification they needed to keep them on track for the ultimate, longer-term reward.
Summary: A tiny change in your behavior will not transform your life overnight. But turn that behavior into a habit that you perform every day, and it absolutely can lead to big changes. Changing your life is not about making big breakthroughs or revolutionizing everything you do. Rather, it's about building a positive system of habits that, when combined, deliver remarkable results.
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