Atomic Habits Flashcards
(41 cards)
Laws of behaviour change
1st Law: Make it Obvious
2nd Law: Make it Attractive
3rd Law: Make it Easy
4th Law: Make it Satisfying
How to Make it Obvious
- Fill out the Habits scorecard. Write down your current habits to become aware of them
- Use implementation intentions
- Use habit stacking
- Design your environment
Implementation intention
I will [BEHAVIOR] at [TIME] in [LOCATION]
Habit stacking
After [CURRENT HABIT], I will [NEW HABIT]
How to Make it Attractive
- Use temptation bundling
- Create a motivation ritual
- Join a culture where your desired behavior is the normal behavior
Inversions of laws of behaviour change
Inversion of 1st Law: Make it Invisible
Inversion of 2nd Law: Make it Unattractive
Inversion of 3rd Law: Make it Difficult
Inversion of 4th Law: Make it Unsatisfying
Temptation bundling
Pair an action you want to do with an action you need to do
Motivation ritual
Do something you enjoy immediately before a difficult habit
How to Make it Easy
- Reduce friction
- Prime the environment
- Master the decisive moment
- Use the Two-Minute Rule.
- Automate your habits
Reduce friction
Decrease the number of steps between you and your good habits
Prime the environment
Prepare your environment to make future actions easier.
Example:
- if you want to cook a healthy breakfast, place the skillet on the stove, set the cooking spray on the counter, and lay out any plates and utensils you’ll need the night before.
- if you want to exercise, set out your workout clothes, shoes, gym bag, and water bottle ahead of time
- to improve your diet, chop up a ton of fruits and vegetables on weekends and pack them in containers, so you have easy access to healthy, ready-to-eat options during the week.
To invert the principle, you could unplug the TV after use, or leave your phone in a different room until lunch
Master the decisive moment
Optimize the small choices that deliver outsized impact
Two-Minute rule
Downscale your habits until they can be done in two minutes or less
Automate your habits
Invest in technology and onetime purchases that lock in future behaviour.
Examples:
- Buy a water filter
- Buy a better mattress
- Get vaccinated
- Enroll in an automatic savings plan
- Subscribe to a meal-delivery service
- Cut off access to social media with a website blocker
How to Make it Satisfying
- Use reinforcement
- Make “doing nothing” enjoyable.
- Use a habit tracker.
- Never miss twice.
Reinforcement
Give yourself an immediate reward when you complete your habit
Make “doing nothing” enjoyable
When avoiding a bad habit, design a way to see the benefits
Use a habit tracker
Keep track of your habit streak and “don’t break the chain”.
Examples:
- Jerry Seinfeld’s chain of writing a joke every day.
- Recovering addicts
Never miss twice
When you forget to do a habit, make sure you get back on track immediately
Talent vs Hard Work
- Choose the right field of competition to maximise odds of success.
- Pick the right habits and progress is easy. Pick the wrong habits and life is a struggle.
- Genes cannot be easily changed, so can be a powerful advantage or a serious disadvantage.
- Habits are easier when aligned with your natural abilities
- Play a game that favors your strengths. If you can’t find such a game, create one.
- Genes do not eliminate the need for hard work, they clarify where your hard work should be focused.
The Goldilocks Rule
Humans experience peak motivation when working on tasks that are right on the edge of their current abilities.
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. It’s the ability to keep going when work isn’t exciting that makes the difference.
Professionals stick to the schedule; amateurs let life get in the way.
Professionals vs amateurs
Professionals stick to the schedule; amateurs let life get in the way.
Downside to creating good habits
The upside of habits is that we can do things without thinking.
The downside is that we stop paying attention to little errors.
Habits + Deliberate Practice = Mastery
Reflection and review is a process that remains conscious of your performance over time.
The tighter we cling to an identity, the harder it becomes to grow beyond it.
Power of atomic habits
Tiny changes that give remarkable results.
Habits are the compound interest of self-improvement. Getting 1 percent better every day counts for a lot in the long-run.
