Atomic Habits

I’d been hesitant to read Atomic Habits for a while as I thought it would be redundant with Charles Duhigg’s “The Power of Habit”.

Even thought there are certainly overlaps, Atomic Habits is much more tactical with a focus on helping you change your habits. Below are my takeaways, followed by the raw highlight export from the book:

To develop good habits, you must be aware of your existing ones

If you want to change behavior, make it obvious and easy to do so.

If you want to adopt a behavior, make it attractive

If you want to adopt a behavior, make it easy

If you want a habit to stick, make it satisfying

Some additional tips

I found the book to be a good compilation on the research and stories around the science of habit, with good tips and techniques. The book is written in a way that makes it easy to digest and skim, with good summaries after every chapter, so I encourage you to read it if you’re interested in behavior change (I think it’s relevant for self-improvement, but it can also be leveraged if you work on product or marketing). It’s a good companion to Duhigg’s book, which focuses more on the science rather than habit hacks.

Below are the raw unedited notes in case you want to take a sneak peek….

NOTES FROM: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones, by James Clear

January 10, 2021 Introduction: My Story, p. 7 I had felt like an impostor when I began writing two years earlier, but now I was becoming known as an expert on habits—a new label that excited me but also felt uncomfortable

January 10, 2021 Introduction: My Story, p. 9 What I offer you is a synthesis of the best ideas smart people figured out a long time ago as well as the most compelling discoveries scientists have made recently

January 11, 2021 Introduction: My Story, p. 9 The backbone of this book is my four-step model of habits—cue, craving, response, and reward—and the four laws of behavior change that evolve out of these steps. Readers with a psychology background may recognize some of these terms from operant conditioning, which was first proposed as “stimulus, response, reward” by B. F. Skinner in the 1930s and has been popularized more recently as “cue, routine, reward” in The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg

January 11, 2021 Introduction: My Story, p. 9 Skinner’s model did an excellent job of explaining how external stimuli influenced our habits, it lacked a good explanation for how our thoughts, feelings, and beliefs impact our behavior. Internal states—our moods and emotions—matter, too. In recent decades, scientists have begun to determine the connection between our thoughts, feelings, and behavior

January 13, 2021 1: The Surprising Power of Atomic Habits, p. 21 Complaining about not achieving success despite working hard is like complaining about an ice cube not melting when you heated it from twenty-five to thirty-one degrees. Your work was not wasted; it is just being stored. All the action happens at thirty-two degrees. When you finally break through the Plateau of Latent Potential, people will call it an overnight success

January 13, 2021 1: The Surprising Power of Atomic Habits, p. 15 It is so easy to overestimate the importance of one defining moment and underestimate the value of making small improvements on a daily basis

January 13, 2021 1: The Surprising Power of Atomic Habits, p. 15 Here’s how the math works out: if you can get 1 percent better each day for one year, you’ll end up thirty-seven times better by the time you’re done. Conversely, if you get 1 percent worse each day for one year, you’ll decline nearly down to zero

January 13, 2021 1: The Surprising Power of Atomic Habits, p. 16 Habits are the compound interest of self-improvement

January 13, 2021 1: The Surprising Power of Atomic Habits, p. 17 Making a choice that is 1 percent better or 1 percent worse seems insignificant in the moment, but over the span of moments that make up a lifetime these choices determine the difference between who you are and who you could be. Success is the product of daily habits—not once-in-a-lifetime transformations

January 13, 2021 1: The Surprising Power of Atomic Habits, p. 18 You should be far more concerned with your current trajectory than with your current results

January 13, 2021 1: The Surprising Power of Atomic Habits, p. 18 Your outcomes are a lagging measure of your habits

January 13, 2021 1: The Surprising Power of Atomic Habits, p. 20 habits often appear to make no difference until you cross a critical threshold and unlock a new level of performance

January 13, 2021 1: The Surprising Power of Atomic Habits, p. 22 The task of breaking a bad habit is like uprooting a powerful oak within us. And the task of building a good habit is like cultivating a delicate flower one day at a time

January 13, 2021 1: The Surprising Power of Atomic Habits, p. 23 FORGET ABOUT GOALS, FOCUS ON SYSTEMS INSTEAD

January 13, 2021 1: The Surprising Power of Atomic Habits, p. 23 Goals are about the results you want to achieve. Systems are about the processes that lead to those results

January 13, 2021 1: The Surprising Power of Atomic Habits, p. 24 Goals are good for setting a direction, but systems are best for making progress. A handful of problems arise when you spend too much time thinking about your goals and not enough time designing your systems

January 13, 2021 1: The Surprising Power of Atomic Habits, p. 25 When you solve problems at the results level, you only solve them temporarily. In order to improve for good, you need to solve problems at the systems level.

January 13, 2021 1: The Surprising Power of Atomic Habits, p. 26 The problem with a goals-first mentality is that you’re continually putting happiness off until the next milestone

January 13, 2021 1: The Surprising Power of Atomic Habits, p. 26 When you fall in love with the process rather than the product, you don’t have to wait to give yourself permission to be happy. You can be satisfied anytime your system is running. And a system can be successful in many different forms, not just the one you first envision

January 13, 2021 1: The Surprising Power of Atomic Habits, p. 26 When all of your hard work is focused on a particular goal, what is left to push you forward after you achieve it

January 13, 2021 1: The Surprising Power of Atomic Habits, p. 27 The purpose of setting goals is to win the game. The purpose of building systems is to continue playing the game

January 13, 2021 1: The Surprising Power of Atomic Habits, p. 27 This is the meaning of the phrase atomic habits—a regular practice or routine that is not only small and easy to do, but also the source of incredible power; a component of the system of compound growth

January 13, 2021 2: How Your Habits Shape Your Identity (and Vice Versa), p. 39 It is a simple two-step process: Decide the type of person you want to be. Prove it to yourself with small wins

January 13, 2021 2: How Your Habits Shape Your Identity (and Vice Versa), p. 30 Outcomes are about what you get. Processes are about what you do. Identity is about what you believe

January 13, 2021 2: How Your Habits Shape Your Identity (and Vice Versa), p. 31 The alternative is to build identity-based habits. With this approach, we start by focusing on who we wish to become

January 13, 2021 2: How Your Habits Shape Your Identity (and Vice Versa), p. 33 The more pride you have in a particular aspect of your identity, the more motivated you will be to maintain the habits associated with it

January 13, 2021 2: How Your Habits Shape Your Identity (and Vice Versa), p. 34 True behavior change is identity change. You might start a habit because of motivation, but the only reason you’ll stick with one is that it becomes part of your identity.

January 13, 2021 2: How Your Habits Shape Your Identity (and Vice Versa), p. 34 Your behaviors are usually a reflection of your identity. What you do is an indication of the type of person you believe that you are—either consciously or nonconsciously.* Research has shown that once a person believes in a particular aspect of their identity, they are more likely to act in alignment with that belief

January 13, 2021 2: How Your Habits Shape Your Identity (and Vice Versa), p. 35 The more deeply a thought or action is tied to your identity, the more difficult it is to change it

January 13, 2021 2: How Your Habits Shape Your Identity (and Vice Versa), p. 36 Over the long run, however, the real reason you fail to stick with habits is that your self-image gets in the way. This is why you can’t get too attached to one version of your identity

January 13, 2021 2: How Your Habits Shape Your Identity (and Vice Versa), p. 36 Your identity emerges out of your habits

January 13, 2021 2: How Your Habits Shape Your Identity (and Vice Versa), p. 36 More precisely, your habits are how you embody your identity

January 13, 2021 2: How Your Habits Shape Your Identity (and Vice Versa), p. 36 The more you repeat a behavior, the more you reinforce the identity associated with that behavior

January 13, 2021 2: How Your Habits Shape Your Identity (and Vice Versa), p. 37 Your identity is literally your “repeated beingness

January 13, 2021 2: How Your Habits Shape Your Identity (and Vice Versa), p. 38 The most practical way to change who you are is to change what you do

January 13, 2021 2: How Your Habits Shape Your Identity (and Vice Versa), p. 40 Are you becoming the type of person you want to become?” The first step is not what or how, but who. You need to know who you want to be

January 13, 2021 2: How Your Habits Shape Your Identity (and Vice Versa), p. 41 There are three levels of change: outcome change, process change, and identity change. The most effective way to change your habits is to focus not on what you want to achieve, but on who you wish to become. Your identity emerges out of your habits. Every action is a vote for the type of person you wish to become. Becoming the best version of yourself requires you to continuously edit your beliefs, and to upgrade and expand your identity. The real reason habits matter is not because they can get you better results (although they can do that), but because they can change your beliefs about yourself.

January 13, 2021 3: How to Build Better Habits in 4 Simple Steps, p. 54 The 1st law (Cue): Make it obvious. The 2nd law (Craving): Make it attractive. The 3rd law (Response): Make it easy. The 4th law (Reward): Make it satisfying. We can invert these laws to learn how to break a bad habit. How to Break a Bad Habit Inversion of the 1st law (Cue): Make it invisible. Inversion of the 2nd law (Craving): Make it unattractive. Inversion of the 3rd law (Response): Make it difficult. Inversion of the 4th law (Reward): Make it unsatisfying

January 13, 2021 3: How to Build Better Habits in 4 Simple Steps, p. 54 Whenever you want to change your behavior, you can simply ask yourself: How can I make it obvious? How can I make it attractive? How can I make it easy? How can I make it satisfying?

January 13, 2021 3: How to Build Better Habits in 4 Simple Steps, p. 55 Chapter Summary A habit is a behavior that has been repeated enough times to become automatic. The ultimate purpose of habits is to solve the problems of life with as little energy and effort as possible. Any habit can be broken down into a feedback loop that involves four steps: cue, craving, response, and reward. The Four Laws of Behavior Change are a simple set of rules we can use to build better habits. They are (1) make it obvious, (2) make it attractive, (3) make it easy, and (4) make it satisfying

January 13, 2021 3: How to Build Better Habits in 4 Simple Steps, p. 44 A habit is a behavior that has been repeated enough times to become automatic

January 13, 2021 3: How to Build Better Habits in 4 Simple Steps, p. 45 As habits are created, the level of activity in the brain decreases

January 13, 2021 3: How to Build Better Habits in 4 Simple Steps, p. 46 Habits are mental shortcuts learned from experience

January 13, 2021 3: How to Build Better Habits in 4 Simple Steps, p. 46 Whenever possible, the conscious mind likes to pawn off tasks to the nonconscious mind to do automatically. This is precisely what happens when a habit is formed. Habits reduce cognitive load and free up mental capacity, so you can allocate your attention to other tasks.

January 13, 2021 3: How to Build Better Habits in 4 Simple Steps, p. 47 The process of building a habit can be divided into four simple steps: cue, craving, response, and reward

January 13, 2021 3: How to Build Better Habits in 4 Simple Steps, p. 47 First, there is the cue. The cue triggers your brain to initiate a behavior. It is a bit of information that predicts a reward.

January 13, 2021 3: How to Build Better Habits in 4 Simple Steps, p. 48 Cravings are the second step, and they are the motivational force behind every habit. Without some level of motivation or desire—without craving a change—we have no reason to act. What you crave is not the habit itself but the change in state it delivers

January 13, 2021 3: How to Build Better Habits in 4 Simple Steps, p. 48 The third step is the response. The response is the actual habit you perform, which can take the form of a thought or an action. Whether a response occurs depends on how motivated you are and how much friction is associated with the behavior

January 13, 2021 3: How to Build Better Habits in 4 Simple Steps, p. 49 Finally, the response delivers a reward. Rewards are the end goal of every habit. The cue is about noticing the reward. The craving is about wanting the reward. The response is about obtaining the reward. We chase rewards because they serve two purposes: (1) they satisfy us and (2) they teach us

January 13, 2021 3: How to Build Better Habits in 4 Simple Steps, p. 49 rewards teach us which actions are worth remembering in the future

January 13, 2021 3: How to Build Better Habits in 4 Simple Steps, p. 49 Rewards close the feedback loop and complete the habit cycle

January 13, 2021 3: How to Build Better Habits in 4 Simple Steps, p. 49 If a behavior is insufficient in any of the four stages, it will not become a habit

January 13, 2021 3: How to Build Better Habits in 4 Simple Steps, p. 50 In summary, the cue triggers a craving, which motivates a response, which provides a reward, which satisfies the craving and, ultimately, becomes associated with the cue. Together, these four steps form a neurological feedback loop—cue, craving, response, reward; cue, craving, response, reward—that ultimately allows you to create automatic habits. This cycle is known as the habit loop.

January 13, 2021 3: How to Build Better Habits in 4 Simple Steps, p. 51 We can split these four steps into two phases: the problem phase and the solution phase. The problem phase includes the cue and the craving, and it is when you realize that something needs to change. The solution phase includes the response and the reward, and it is when you take action and achieve the change you desire

January 13, 2021 4: The Man Who Didn’t Look Right, p. 61 you don’t need to be aware of the cue for a habit to begin. You can notice an opportunity and take action without dedicating conscious attention to it. This is what makes habits useful. It’s also what makes them dangerous.

January 13, 2021 4: The Man Who Didn’t Look Right, p. 66 Chapter Summary With enough practice, your brain will pick up on the cues that predict certain outcomes without consciously thinking about it. Once our habits become automatic, we stop paying attention to what we are doing. The process of behavior change always starts with awareness. You need to be aware of your habits before you can change them. Pointing-and-Calling raises your level of awareness from a nonconscious habit to a more conscious level by verbalizing your actions. The Habits Scorecard is a simple exercise you can use to become more aware of your behavior.

January 13, 2021 4: The Man Who Didn’t Look Right, p. 62 As the psychologist Carl Jung said, “Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life and you will call it fate

January 13, 2021 4: The Man Who Didn’t Look Right, p. 63 This process, known as Pointing-and-Calling, is a safety system designed to reduce mistakes. It seems silly, but it works incredibly well. Pointing-and-Calling reduces errors by up to 85 percent and cuts accidents by 30 percent.

January 13, 2021 4: The Man Who Didn’t Look Right, p. 63 Pointing-and-Calling is so effective because it raises the level of awareness from a nonconscious habit to a more conscious level

January 13, 2021 4: The Man Who Didn’t Look Right, p. 65 There are no good habits or bad habits. There are only effective habits. That is, effective at solving problems. All habits serve you in some way—even the bad ones—which is why you repeat them

January 13, 2021 4: The Man Who Didn’t Look Right, p. 65 Does this behavior help me become the type of person I wish to be? Does this habit cast a vote for or against my desired identity?” Habits that reinforce your desired identity are usually good. Habits that conflict with your desired identity are usually bad.

January 13, 2021 4: The Man Who Didn’t Look Right, p. 66 Hearing your bad habits spoken aloud makes the consequences seem more real. It adds weight to the action rather than letting yourself mindlessly slip into an old routine

January 15, 2021 5: The Best Way to Start a New Habit, p. 70 Broadly speaking, the format for creating an implementation intention is: “When situation X arises, I will perform response Y.” Hundreds of studies have shown that implementation intentions are effective for sticking to our goals

January 15, 2021 5: The Best Way to Start a New Habit, p. 74 The habit stacking formula is: “After [CURRENT HABIT], I will [NEW HABIT].

January 15, 2021 5: The Best Way to Start a New Habit, p. 79 Chapter Summary The 1st Law of Behavior Change is make it obvious. The two most common cues are time and location. Creating an implementation intention is a strategy you can use to pair a new habit with a specific time and location. The implementation intention formula is: I will [BEHAVIOR] at

January 15, 2021 5: The Best Way to Start a New Habit, p. 70 researchers refer to as an implementation intention, which is a plan you make beforehand about when and where to act. That is, how you intend to implement a particular habit

January 15, 2021 5: The Best Way to Start a New Habit, p. 70 the two most common cues are time and location

January 15, 2021 5: The Best Way to Start a New Habit, p. 70 people who make a specific plan for when and where they will perform a new habit are more likely to follow through

January 15, 2021 5: The Best Way to Start a New Habit, p. 71 Many people think they lack motivation when what they really lack is clarity

January 15, 2021 5: The Best Way to Start a New Habit, p. 71 When the moment of action occurs, there is no need to make a decision. Simply follow your predetermined plan

January 15, 2021 5: The Best Way to Start a New Habit, p. 71 If you aren’t sure when to start your habit, try the first day of the week, month, or year. People are more likely to take action at those times because hope is usually higher

January 15, 2021 5: The Best Way to Start a New Habit, p. 73 The Diderot Effect states that obtaining a new possession often creates a spiral of consumption that leads to additional purchases.

January 15, 2021 5: The Best Way to Start a New Habit, p. 74 When it comes to building new habits, you can use the connectedness of behavior to your advantage. One of the best ways to build a new habit is to identify a current habit you already do each day and then stack your new behavior on top. This is called habit stacking.

January 15, 2021 5: The Best Way to Start a New Habit, p. 74 Rather than pairing your new habit with a particular time and location, you pair it with a current habit. This method, which was created by BJ Fogg as part of his Tiny Habits program, can be used to design an obvious cue for nearly any habit

January 15, 2021 5: The Best Way to Start a New Habit, p. 79 The more tightly bound your new habit is to a specific cue, the better the odds are that you will notice when the time comes to act

January 15, 2021 5: The Best Way to Start a New Habit, p. 79 [TIME] in [LOCATION]. Habit stacking is a strategy you can use to pair a new habit with a current habit. The habit stacking formula is: After [CURRENT HABIT], I will [NEW HABIT].

January 15, 2021 6: Motivation Is Overrated; Environment Often Matters More, p. 90 Every habit should have a home. If you can manage to stick with this strategy, each context will become associated with a particular habit and mode of thought. Habits thrive under predictable circumstances like these

January 15, 2021 6: Motivation Is Overrated; Environment Often Matters More, p. 90 Chapter Summary Small changes in context can lead to large changes in behavior over time. Every habit is initiated by a cue. We are more likely to notice cues that stand out. Make the cues of good habits obvious in your environment. Gradually, your habits become associated not with a single trigger but with the entire context surrounding the behavior. The context becomes the cue. It is easier to build new habits in a new environment because you are not fighting against old cues.

January 15, 2021 6: Motivation Is Overrated; Environment Often Matters More, p. 82 People often choose products not because of what they are, but because of where they are.

January 15, 2021 6: Motivation Is Overrated; Environment Often Matters More, p. 82 Environment is the invisible hand that shapes human behavior

January 15, 2021 6: Motivation Is Overrated; Environment Often Matters More, p. 83 In 1936, psychologist Kurt Lewin wrote a simple equation that makes a powerful statement: Behavior is a function of the Person in their Environment, or B = f (P,E).

January 15, 2021 6: Motivation Is Overrated; Environment Often Matters More, p. 83 Hawkins Stern described a phenomenon he called Suggestion Impulse Buying, which “is triggered when a shopper sees a product for the first time and visualizes a need for it.” In other words, customers will occasionally buy products not because they want them but because of how they are presented to them

January 15, 2021 6: Motivation Is Overrated; Environment Often Matters More, p. 85 creating obvious visual cues can draw your attention toward a desired habit. In the early 1990s, the cleaning staff at Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam installed a small sticker that looked like a fly near the center of each urinal. Apparently, when men stepped up to the urinals, they aimed for what they thought was a bug. The stickers improved their aim and significantly reduced “spillage” around the urinals. Further analysis determined that the stickers cut bathroom cleaning costs by 8 percent per year

January 15, 2021 6: Motivation Is Overrated; Environment Often Matters More, p. 87 Environment design allows you to take back control and become the architect of your life

January 15, 2021 6: Motivation Is Overrated; Environment Often Matters More, p. 87 The cues that trigger a habit can start out very specific, but over time your habits become associated not with a single trigger but with the entire context surrounding the behavior

January 15, 2021 6: Motivation Is Overrated; Environment Often Matters More, p. 87 Stop thinking about your environment as filled with objects. Start thinking about it as filled with relationships

January 15, 2021 6: Motivation Is Overrated; Environment Often Matters More, p. 88 habits can be easier to change in a new environment

January 15, 2021 6: Motivation Is Overrated; Environment Often Matters More, p. 88 It is easier to associate a new habit with a new context than to build a new habit in the face of competing cues

January 15, 2021 6: Motivation Is Overrated; Environment Often Matters More, p. 88 Trying to eat healthier? It is likely that you shop on autopilot at your regular supermarket. Try a new grocery store. You may find it easier to avoid unhealthy food when your brain doesn’t automatically know where it is located in the store

January 15, 2021 6: Motivation Is Overrated; Environment Often Matters More, p. 89 Create a separate space for work, study, exercise, entertainment, and cooking. The mantra I find useful is “One space, one use.”

January 15, 2021 6: Motivation Is Overrated; Environment Often Matters More, p. 90 A stable environment where everything has a place and a purpose is an environment where habits can easily form.

January 15, 2021 7: The Secret to Self-Control, p. 95 Chapter Summary The inversion of the 1st Law of Behavior Change is make it invisible. Once a habit is formed, it is unlikely to be forgotten. People with high self-control tend to spend less time in tempting situations. It’s easier to avoid temptation than resist it. One of the most practical ways to eliminate a bad habit is to reduce exposure to the cue that causes it. Self-control is a short-term strategy, not a long-term one.

January 15, 2021 7: The Secret to Self-Control, p. 91 approximately nine out of ten soldiers who used heroin in Vietnam eliminated their addiction nearly overnight

January 15, 2021 7: The Secret to Self-Control, p. 92 Robins revealed that addictions could spontaneously dissolve if there was a radical change in the environment

January 15, 2021 7: The Secret to Self-Control, p. 92 When scientists analyze people who appear to have tremendous self-control, it turns out those individuals aren’t all that different from those who are struggling. Instead, “disciplined” people are better at structuring their lives in a way that does not require heroic willpower and self-control. In other words, they spend less time in tempting situations

January 15, 2021 7: The Secret to Self-Control, p. 93 Bad habits are autocatalytic: the process feeds itself

January 15, 2021 7: The Secret to Self-Control, p. 94 Researchers refer to this phenomenon as “cue-induced wanting”: an external trigger causes a compulsive craving to repeat a bad habit. Once you notice something, you begin to want it

January 15, 2021 7: The Secret to Self-Control, p. 94 You can break a habit, but you’re unlikely to forget it. Once the mental grooves of habit have been carved into your brain, they are nearly impossible to remove entirely—even if they go unused for quite a while

January 15, 2021 7: The Secret to Self-Control, p. 94 One of the most practical ways to eliminate a bad habit is to reduce exposure to the cue that causes it

January 15, 2021 7: The Secret to Self-Control, p. 95 This practice is an inversion of the 1st Law of Behavior Change. Rather than make it obvious, you can make it invisible

January 15, 2021 7: The Secret to Self-Control, p. 95 Self-control is a short-term strategy, not a long-term one. You may be able to resist temptation once or twice, but it’s unlikely you can muster the willpower to override your desires every time. Instead of summoning a new dose of willpower whenever you want to do the right thing, your energy would be better spent optimizing your environment. This is the secret to self-control. Make the cues of your good habits obvious and the cues of your bad habits invisible.

January 15, 2021 8: How to Make a Habit Irresistible, p. 106 It is the anticipation of a reward—not the fulfillment of it—that gets us to take action. Interestingly, the reward system that is activated in the brain when you receive a reward is the same system that is activated when you anticipate a reward

January 15, 2021 8: How to Make a Habit Irresistible, p. 110 The habit stacking + temptation bundling formula is: After [CURRENT HABIT], I will [HABIT I NEED]. After [HABIT I NEED], I will [HABIT I WANT].

January 15, 2021 8: How to Make a Habit Irresistible, p. 111 Chapter Summary The 2nd Law of Behavior Change is make it attractive. The more attractive an opportunity is, the more likely it is to become habit-forming. Habits are a dopamine-driven feedback loop. When dopamine rises, so does our motivation to act. It is the anticipation of a reward—not the fulfillment of it—that gets us to take action. The greater the anticipation, the greater the dopamine spike. Temptation bundling is one way to make your habits more attractive. The strategy is to pair an action you want to do with an action you need to do.

January 15, 2021 8: How to Make a Habit Irresistible, p. 102 Scientists refer to these exaggerated cues as supernormal stimuli. A supernormal stimulus is a heightened version of reality—like a beak with three red dots or an egg the size of a volleyball—and it elicits a stronger response than usual.

January 15, 2021 8: How to Make a Habit Irresistible, p. 103 Other processed foods enhance dynamic contrast, which refers to items with a combination of sensations, like crunchy and creamy

January 15, 2021 8: How to Make a Habit Irresistible, p. 103 Ultimately, such strategies enable food scientists to find the “bliss point” for each product

January 15, 2021 8: How to Make a Habit Irresistible, p. 103 you overeat because hyperpalatable foods are more attractive to the human brain

January 15, 2021 8: How to Make a Habit Irresistible, p. 104 The more attractive an opportunity is, the more likely it is to become habit-forming

January 15, 2021 8: How to Make a Habit Irresistible, p. 104 If you want to increase the odds that a behavior will occur, then you need to make it attractive. Throughout our discussion of the 2nd Law, our goal is to learn how to make our habits irresistible

January 15, 2021 8: How to Make a Habit Irresistible, p. 105 in 1954 when the neuroscientists James Olds and Peter Milner ran an experiment that revealed the neurological processes behind craving and desire. By implanting electrodes in the brains of rats, the researchers blocked the release of dopamine. To the surprise of the scientists, the rats lost all will to live. They wouldn’t eat. They wouldn’t have sex. They didn’t crave anything. Within a few days, the animals died of thirst

January 15, 2021 8: How to Make a Habit Irresistible, p. 105 Scientists can track the precise moment a craving occurs by measuring a neurotransmitter called dopamine

January 15, 2021 8: How to Make a Habit Irresistible, p. 105 other scientists also inhibited the dopamine-releasing parts of the brain, but this time, they squirted little droplets of sugar into the mouths of the dopamine-depleted rats. Their little rat faces lit up with pleasurable grins from the tasty substance. Even though dopamine was blocked, they liked the sugar just as much as before; they just didn’t want it anymore. The ability to experience pleasure remained, but without dopamine, desire died. And without desire, action stopped.

January 15, 2021 8: How to Make a Habit Irresistible, p. 106 Habits are a dopamine-driven feedback loop. Every behavior that is highly habit-forming—taking drugs, eating junk food, playing video games, browsing social media—is associated with higher levels of dopamine

January 15, 2021 8: How to Make a Habit Irresistible, p. 106 When it comes to habits, the key takeaway is this: dopamine is released not only when you experience pleasure, but also when you anticipate it

January 15, 2021 8: How to Make a Habit Irresistible, p. 106 Scientists refer to this as the difference between “wanting” and “liking.”

January 15, 2021 8: How to Make a Habit Irresistible, p. 108 Your brain has far more neural circuitry allocated for wanting rewards than for liking them.

January 15, 2021 8: How to Make a Habit Irresistible, p. 108 researchers have found that 100 percent of the nucleus accumbens is activated during wanting. Meanwhile, only 10 percent of the structure is activated during liking

January 15, 2021 8: How to Make a Habit Irresistible, p. 108 Desire is the engine that drives behavior. Every action is taken because of the anticipation that precedes it. It is the craving that leads to the response.

January 15, 2021 8: How to Make a Habit Irresistible, p. 108 We need to make our habits attractive because it is the expectation of a rewarding experience that motivates us to act in the first place

January 15, 2021 8: How to Make a Habit Irresistible, p. 109 Temptation bundling works by linking an action you want to do with an action you need to do

January 15, 2021 8: How to Make a Habit Irresistible, p. 110 Premack’s Principle. Named after the work of professor David Premack, the principle states that “more probable behaviors will reinforce less probable behaviors.”

January 15, 2021 8: How to Make a Habit Irresistible, p. 111 Doing the thing you need to do means you get to do the thing you want to do

January 16, 2021 9: The Role of Family and Friends in Shaping Your Habits, p. 122 Chapter Summary The culture we live in determines which behaviors are attractive to us. We tend to adopt habits that are praised and approved of by our culture because we have a strong desire to fit in and belong to the tribe. We tend to imitate the habits of three social groups: the close (family and friends), the many (the tribe), and the powerful (those with status and prestige). One of the most effective things you can do to build better habits is to join a culture where (1) your desired behavior is the normal behavior and (2) you already have something in common with the group. The normal behavior of the tribe often overpowers the desired behavior of the individual. Most days, we’d rather be wrong with the crowd than be right by ourselves. If a behavior can get us approval, respect, and praise, we find it attractive

January 16, 2021 9: The Role of Family and Friends in Shaping Your Habits, p. 117 One of the most effective things you can do to build better habits is to join a culture where your desired behavior is the normal behavior

January 16, 2021 9: The Role of Family and Friends in Shaping Your Habits, p. 117 Join a culture where (1) your desired behavior is the normal behavior and (2) you already have something in common with the group

January 16, 2021 9: The Role of Family and Friends in Shaping Your Habits, p. 118 This is why remaining part of a group after achieving a goal is crucial to maintaining your habits. It’s friendship and community that embed a new identity and help behaviors last over the long run

January 16, 2021 9: The Role of Family and Friends in Shaping Your Habits, p. 120 The normal behavior of the tribe often overpowers the desired behavior of the individual. For example, one study found that when a chimpanzee learns an effective way to crack nuts open as a member of one group and then switches to a new group that uses a less effective strategy, it will avoid using the superior nut cracking method just to blend in with the rest of the chimps

January 16, 2021 10: How to Find and Fix the Causes of Your Bad Habits, p. 133 Chapter Summary The inversion of the 2nd Law of Behavior Change is make it unattractive. Every behavior has a surface level craving and a deeper underlying motive. Your habits are modern-day solutions to ancient desires. The cause of your habits is actually the prediction that precedes them. The prediction leads to a feeling. Highlight the benefits of avoiding a bad habit to make it seem unattractive. Habits are attractive when we associate them with positive feelings and unattractive when we associate them with negative feelings. Create a motivation ritual by doing something you enjoy immediately before a difficult habit. HOW

January 16, 2021 10: How to Find and Fix the Causes of Your Bad Habits, p. 129 This gap between your current state and your desired state provides a reason to act. Desire is the difference between where you are now and where you want to be in the future

January 16, 2021 10: How to Find and Fix the Causes of Your Bad Habits, p. 131 Now, imagine changing just one word: You don’t “have” to. You “get” to. You get to wake up early for work. You get to make another sales call for your business. You get to cook dinner for your family. By simply changing one word, you shift the way you view each event. You transition from seeing these behaviors as burdens and turn them into opportunities

January 16, 2021 10: How to Find and Fix the Causes of Your Bad Habits, p. 127 A craving is just a specific manifestation of a deeper underlying motive

January 16, 2021 10: How to Find and Fix the Causes of Your Bad Habits, p. 127 Look at nearly any product that is habit-forming and you’ll see that it does not create a new motivation, but rather latches onto the underlying motives of human nature

January 16, 2021 10: How to Find and Fix the Causes of Your Bad Habits, p. 129 These predictions lead to feelings, which is how we typically describe a craving—a feeling, a desire, an urge. Feelings and emotions transform the cues we perceive and the predictions we make into a signal that we can apply. They help explain what we are currently sensing

January 16, 2021 10: How to Find and Fix the Causes of Your Bad Habits, p. 129 A craving is the sense that something is missing. It is the desire to change your internal state

January 16, 2021 10: How to Find and Fix the Causes of Your Bad Habits, p. 130 To summarize, the specific cravings you feel and habits you perform are really an attempt to address your fundamental underlying motives. Whenever a habit successfully addresses a motive, you develop a craving to do it again

January 16, 2021 10: How to Find and Fix the Causes of Your Bad Habits, p. 132 you can create a motivation ritual. You simply practice associating your habits with something you enjoy, then you can use that cue whenever you need a bit of motivation

January 16, 2021 10: How to Find and Fix the Causes of Your Bad Habits, p. 133 The key to finding and fixing the causes of your bad habits is to reframe the associations you have about them

January 16, 2021 11: Walk Slowly, but Never Backward, p. 142 When you’re in motion, you’re planning and strategizing and learning. Those are all good things, but they don’t produce a result. Action, on the other hand, is the type of behavior that will deliver an outcome

January 16, 2021 11: Walk Slowly, but Never Backward, p. 143 Law: “Neurons that fire together wire together.” Repeating a habit leads to clear physical changes in the brain

January 16, 2021 11: Walk Slowly, but Never Backward, p. 147 Chapter Summary The 3rd Law of Behavior Change is make it easy. The most effective form of learning is practice, not planning. Focus on taking action, not being in motion. Habit formation is the process by which a behavior becomes progressively more automatic through repetition. The amount of time you have been performing a habit is not as important as the number of times you have performed it

January 16, 2021 11: Walk Slowly, but Never Backward, p. 141 At the end of the term, he was surprised to find that all the best photos were produced by the quantity group

January 16, 2021 11: Walk Slowly, but Never Backward, p. 141 quality group sat around speculating about perfection. In the end, they had little to show for their efforts other than unverified theories and one mediocre photo

January 16, 2021 11: Walk Slowly, but Never Backward, p. 142 As Voltaire once wrote, “The best is the enemy of the good

January 16, 2021 11: Walk Slowly, but Never Backward, p. 142 Sometimes motion is useful, but it will never produce an outcome by itself

January 16, 2021 11: Walk Slowly, but Never Backward, p. 142 But more often than not, we do it because motion allows us to feel like we’re making progress without running the risk of failure

January 16, 2021 11: Walk Slowly, but Never Backward, p. 143 Motion makes you feel like you’re getting things done. But really, you’re just preparing to get something done. When preparation becomes a form of procrastination, you need to change something. You don’t want to merely be planning. You want to be practicing

January 16, 2021 11: Walk Slowly, but Never Backward, p. 143 If you want to master a habit, the key is to start with repetition, not perfection

January 16, 2021 11: Walk Slowly, but Never Backward, p. 143 The more you repeat an activity, the more the structure of your brain changes to become efficient at that activity. Neuroscientists call this long-term potentiation, which refers to the strengthening of connections between neurons in the brain based on recent patterns of activity. With each repetition, cell-to-cell signaling improves and the neural connections tighten

January 16, 2021 11: Walk Slowly, but Never Backward, p. 143 Hebb’s

January 16, 2021 11: Walk Slowly, but Never Backward, p. 144 Each time you repeat an action, you are activating a particular neural circuit associated with that habit. This means that simply putting in your reps is one of the most critical steps you can take to encoding a new habit

January 16, 2021 11: Walk Slowly, but Never Backward, p. 144 All habits follow a similar trajectory from effortful practice to automatic behavior, a process known as automaticity. Automaticity is the ability to perform a behavior without thinking about each step, which occurs when the nonconscious mind takes over

January 16, 2021 11: Walk Slowly, but Never Backward, p. 145 habits form based on frequency, not time

January 16, 2021 12: The Law of Least Effort, p. 158 Chapter Summary Human behavior follows the Law of Least Effort. We will naturally gravitate toward the option that requires the least amount of work. Create an environment where doing the right thing is as easy as possible. Reduce the friction associated with good behaviors. When friction is low, habits are easy. Increase the friction associated with bad behaviors. When friction is high, habits are difficult. Prime your environment to make future actions easier

January 16, 2021 12: The Law of Least Effort, p. 151 Conventional wisdom holds that motivation is the key to habit change. Maybe if you really wanted it, you’d actually do it. But the truth is, our real motivation is to be lazy and to do what is convenient

January 16, 2021 12: The Law of Least Effort, p. 151 Energy is precious, and the brain is wired to conserve it whenever possible. It is human nature to follow the Law of Least Effort, which states that when deciding between two similar options, people will naturally gravitate toward the option that requires the least amount of work

January 16, 2021 12: The Law of Least Effort, p. 152 In a sense, every habit is just an obstacle to getting what you really want. Dieting is an obstacle to getting fit. Meditation is an obstacle to feeling calm. Journaling is an obstacle to thinking clearly

January 16, 2021 12: The Law of Least Effort, p. 152 The greater the obstacle—that is, the more difficult the habit—the more friction there is between you and your desired end state

January 16, 2021 12: The Law of Least Effort, p. 152 is crucial to make your habits so easy that you’ll do them even when you don’t feel like it

January 16, 2021 12: The Law of Least Effort, p. 153 The idea behind make it easy is not to only do easy things. The idea is to make it as easy as possible in the moment to do things that payoff in the long run

January 16, 2021 12: The Law of Least Effort, p. 153 Habits are easier to build when they fit into the flow of your life

January 16, 2021 12: The Law of Least Effort, p. 154 I like to refer to this strategy as addition by subtraction.* The Japanese companies looked for every point of friction in the manufacturing process and eliminated it. As they subtracted wasted effort, they added customers and revenue. Similarly, when we remove the points of friction that sap our time and energy, we can achieve more with less effort

January 16, 2021 12: The Law of Least Effort, p. 155 successful companies design their products to automate, eliminate, or simplify as many steps as possible

January 16, 2021 12: The Law of Least Effort, p. 156 Whenever you organize a space for its intended purpose, you are priming it to make the next action easy

January 16, 2021 13: How to Stop Procrastinating by Using the Two-Minute Rule, p. 163 “gateway habit” that naturally leads you down a more productive path. You can usually figure out the gateway habits that will lead to your desired outcome by mapping out your goals on a scale from “very easy” to “very hard

January 16, 2021 13: How to Stop Procrastinating by Using the Two-Minute Rule, p. 166 Chapter Summary Habits can be completed in a few seconds but continue to impact your behavior for minutes or hours afterward. Many habits occur at decisive moments—choices that are like a fork in the road—and either send you in the direction of a productive day or an unproductive one. The Two-Minute Rule states, “When you start a new habit, it should take less than two minutes to do.” The more you ritualize the beginning of a process, the more likely it becomes that you can slip into the state of deep focus that is required to do great things. Standardize before you optimize. You can’t improve a habit that doesn’t exist.

January 16, 2021 13: How to Stop Procrastinating by Using the Two-Minute Rule, p. 160 Researchers estimate that 40 to 50 percent of our actions on any given day are done out of habit

January 16, 2021 13: How to Stop Procrastinating by Using the Two-Minute Rule, p. 162 We are limited by where our habits lead us. This is why mastering the decisive moments throughout your day is so important. Each day is made up of many moments, but it is really a few habitual choices that determine the path you take

January 16, 2021 13: How to Stop Procrastinating by Using the Two-Minute Rule, p. 162 Habits are the entry point, not the end point

January 16, 2021 13: How to Stop Procrastinating by Using the Two-Minute Rule, p. 162 the Two-Minute Rule, which states,

January 16, 2021 13: How to Stop Procrastinating by Using the Two-Minute Rule, p. 162 “When you start a new habit, it should take less than two minutes to do.”

January 16, 2021 13: How to Stop Procrastinating by Using the Two-Minute Rule, p. 163 A new habit should not feel like a challenge. The actions that follow can be challenging, but the first two minutes should be easy. What you want is a

January 16, 2021 13: How to Stop Procrastinating by Using the Two-Minute Rule, p. 163 The idea is to make your habits as easy as possible to start

January 16, 2021 13: How to Stop Procrastinating by Using the Two-Minute Rule, p. 163 The point is to master the habit of showing up. The truth is, a habit must be established before it can be improved

January 16, 2021 13: How to Stop Procrastinating by Using the Two-Minute Rule, p. 164 Instead of trying to engineer a perfect habit from the start, do the easy thing on a more consistent basis. You have to standardize before you can optimize

January 16, 2021 13: How to Stop Procrastinating by Using the Two-Minute Rule, p. 164 The more you ritualize the beginning of a process, the more likely it becomes that you can slip into the state of deep focus that is required to do great things

January 16, 2021 13: How to Stop Procrastinating by Using the Two-Minute Rule, p. 164 If the Two-Minute Rule feels forced, try this: do it for two minutes and then stop

January 16, 2021 13: How to Stop Procrastinating by Using the Two-Minute Rule, p. 165 Ernest Hemingway believed in similar advice for any kind of writing. “The best way is to always stop when you are going good,” he said

January 16, 2021 13: How to Stop Procrastinating by Using the Two-Minute Rule, p. 165 Start by mastering the first two minutes of the smallest version of the behavior. Then, advance to an intermediate step and repeat the process—focusing on just the first two minutes and mastering that stage before moving on to the next level

January 16, 2021 14: How to Make Good Habits Inevitable and Bad Habits Impossible, p. 176 Chapter Summary The inversion of the 3rd Law of Behavior Change is make it difficult. A commitment device is a choice you make in the present that locks in better behavior in the future. The ultimate way to lock in future behavior is to automate your habits. Onetime choices—like buying a better mattress or enrolling in an automatic savings plan—are single actions that automate your future habits and deliver increasing returns over time. Using technology to automate your habits is the most reliable and effective way to guarantee the right behavior

January 16, 2021 14: How to Make Good Habits Inevitable and Bad Habits Impossible, p. 169 This is an inversion of the 3rd Law of Behavior Change: make it difficult. If you find yourself continually struggling to follow through on your plans, then you can take a page from Victor Hugo and make your bad habits more difficult by creating what psychologists call a commitment device

January 16, 2021 14: How to Make Good Habits Inevitable and Bad Habits Impossible, p. 170 A commitment device is a choice you make in the present that controls your actions in the future. It is a way to lock in future behavior, bind you to good habits, and restrict you from bad ones

January 16, 2021 14: How to Make Good Habits Inevitable and Bad Habits Impossible, p. 170 Commitment devices are useful because they enable you to take advantage of good intentions before you can fall victim to temptation

January 16, 2021 14: How to Make Good Habits Inevitable and Bad Habits Impossible, p. 171 Commitment devices increase the odds that you’ll do the right thing in the future by making bad habits difficult in the present

January 16, 2021 14: How to Make Good Habits Inevitable and Bad Habits Impossible, p. 174 Alfred North Whitehead wrote, “Civilization advances by extending the number of operations we can perform without thinking about them.

January 16, 2021 15: The Cardinal Rule of Behavior Change, p. 189 Frédéric Bastiat explained the problem clearly when he wrote, “It almost always happens that when the immediate consequence is favorable, the later consequences are disastrous, and vice versa. . . . Often, the sweeter the first fruit of a habit, the more bitter are its later fruits.” Put another way, the costs of your good habits are in the present. The costs of your bad habits are in the future.

January 16, 2021 15: The Cardinal Rule of Behavior Change, p. 193 Chapter Summary The 4th Law of Behavior Change is make it satisfying. We are more likely to repeat a behavior when the experience is satisfying. The human brain evolved to prioritize immediate rewards over delayed rewards. The Cardinal Rule of Behavior Change: What is immediately rewarded is repeated. What is immediately punished is avoided. To get a habit to stick you need to feel immediately successful—even if it’s in a small way. The first three laws of behavior change—make it obvious, make it attractive, and make it easy—increase the odds that a behavior will be performed this time. The fourth law of behavior change—make it satisfying—increases the odds that a behavior will be repeated next time

January 16, 2021 15: The Cardinal Rule of Behavior Change, p. 185 We are more likely to repeat a behavior when the experience is satisfying

January 16, 2021 15: The Cardinal Rule of Behavior Change, p. 186 Cardinal Rule of Behavior Change: What is rewarded is repeated. What is punished is avoided. You learn what to do in the future based on what you were rewarded for doing (or punished for doing) in the past. Positive emotions cultivate habits. Negative emotions destroy them.

January 16, 2021 15: The Cardinal Rule of Behavior Change, p. 186 The first three laws of behavior change—make it obvious, make it attractive, and make it easy—increase the odds that a behavior will be performed this time. The fourth law of behavior change—make it satisfying—increases the odds that a behavior will be repeated next time. It completes the habit loop

January 16, 2021 15: The Cardinal Rule of Behavior Change, p. 187 immediate-return environment because your actions instantly deliver clear and immediate outcomes

January 16, 2021 15: The Cardinal Rule of Behavior Change, p. 187 You live in what scientists call a delayed-return environment because you can work for years before your actions deliver the intended payoff.

January 16, 2021 15: The Cardinal Rule of Behavior Change, p. 188 Behavioral economists refer to this tendency as time inconsistency. That is, the way your brain evaluates rewards is inconsistent across time.* You value the present more than the future

January 16, 2021 15: The Cardinal Rule of Behavior Change, p. 189 Cardinal Rule of Behavior Change: What is immediately rewarded is repeated. What is immediately punished is avoided.

January 16, 2021 15: The Cardinal Rule of Behavior Change, p. 190 The road less traveled is the road of delayed gratification. If you’re willing to wait for the rewards, you’ll face less competition and often get a bigger payoff

January 16, 2021 15: The Cardinal Rule of Behavior Change, p. 190 The vital thing in getting a habit to stick is to feel successful—even if it’s in a small way.

January 16, 2021 15: The Cardinal Rule of Behavior Change, p. 191 The ending of any experience is vital because we tend to remember it more than other phases. You want the ending of your habit to be satisfying. The best approach is to use reinforcement, which refers to the process of using an immediate reward to increase the rate of a behavior

January 16, 2021 15: The Cardinal Rule of Behavior Change, p. 191 Immediate reinforcement can be especially helpful when dealing with habits of avoidance, which are behaviors you want to stop doing

January 16, 2021 15: The Cardinal Rule of Behavior Change, p. 192 Incentives can start a habit. Identity sustains a habit.

January 16, 2021 16: How to Stick with Good Habits Every Day, p. 196 Benjamin Franklin. Beginning at age twenty, Franklin carried a small booklet everywhere he went and used it to track thirteen personal virtues. This list included goals like “Lose no time. Be always employed in something useful” and “Avoid trifling conversation.” At the end of each day, Franklin would open his booklet and record his progress. Jerry Seinfeld reportedly uses a habit tracker to stick with his streak of writing jokes. In the documentary Comedian, he explains that his goal is simply to “never break the chain” of writing jokes every day

January 16, 2021 16: How to Stick with Good Habits Every Day, p. 200 The habit stacking + habit tracking formula is: After [CURRENT HABIT], I will [TRACK MY HABIT

January 16, 2021 16: How to Stick with Good Habits Every Day, p. 201 avoiding a 33 percent loss is just as valuable as achieving a 50 percent gain. As Charlie Munger says, “The first rule of compounding: Never interrupt it unnecessarily.” This is why the “bad” workouts are often the most important ones. Sluggish days and bad workouts maintain the compound gains you accrued from previous good days

January 16, 2021 16: How to Stick with Good Habits Every Day, p. 204 Chapter Summary One of the most satisfying feelings is the feeling of making progress. A habit tracker is a simple way to measure whether you did a habit—like marking an X on a calendar. Habit trackers and other visual forms of measurement can make your habits satisfying by providing clear evidence of your progress. Don’t break the chain. Try to keep your habit streak alive. Never miss twice. If you miss one day, try to get back on track as quickly as possible. Just because you can measure something doesn’t mean it’s the most important thing

January 16, 2021 16: How to Stick with Good Habits Every Day, p. 197 One study of more than sixteen hundred people found that those who kept a daily food log lost twice as much weight as those who did not. The mere act of tracking a behavior can spark the urge to change it

January 16, 2021 16: How to Stick with Good Habits Every Day, p. 198 In summary, habit tracking (1) creates a visual cue that can remind you to act, (2) is inherently motivating because you see the progress you are making and don’t want to lose it, and (3) feels satisfying whenever you record another successful instance of your habit. Furthermore, habit tracking provides visual proof that you are casting votes for the type of person you wish to become, which is a delightful form of immediate and intrinsic gratification

January 16, 2021 16: How to Stick with Good Habits Every Day, p. 199 whenever possible, measurement should be automated

January 16, 2021 16: How to Stick with Good Habits Every Day, p. 199 manual tracking should be limited to your most important habits

January 16, 2021 16: How to Stick with Good Habits Every Day, p. 200 record each measurement immediately after the habit occurs

January 16, 2021 16: How to Stick with Good Habits Every Day, p. 201 The first mistake is never the one that ruins you. It is the spiral of repeated mistakes that follows. Missing once is an accident. Missing twice is the start of a new habit.

January 16, 2021 16: How to Stick with Good Habits Every Day, p. 202 It’s easy to train when you feel good, but it’s crucial to show up when you don’t feel like it—even if you do less than you hope. Going to the gym for five minutes may not improve your performance, but it reaffirms your identity

January 16, 2021 16: How to Stick with Good Habits Every Day, p. 203 This is sometimes referred to as Goodhart’s Law. Named after the economist Charles Goodhart, the principle states, “When a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure.” Measurement is only useful when it guides you and adds context to a larger picture, not when it consumes you

January 16, 2021 16: How to Stick with Good Habits Every Day, p. 204 No matter how you measure your improvement, habit tracking offers a simple way to make your habits more satisfying. Each measurement provides a little bit of evidence that you’re moving in the right direction and a brief moment of immediate pleasure for a job well done

January 16, 2021 17: How an Accountability Partner Can Change Everything, p. 210 Chapter Summary The inversion of the 4th Law of Behavior Change is make it unsatisfying. We are less likely to repeat a bad habit if it is painful or unsatisfying. 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 of us. A habit contract can be used to add a social cost to any behavior. It makes the costs of violating your promises public and painful. Knowing that someone else is watching you can be a powerful motivator

January 16, 2021 17: How an Accountability Partner Can Change Everything, p. 206 Just as we are more likely to repeat an experience when the ending is satisfying, we are also more likely to avoid an experience when the ending is painful

January 16, 2021 17: How an Accountability Partner Can Change Everything, p. 208 A habit contract is a verbal or written agreement in which you state your commitment to a particular habit and the punishment that will occur if you don’t follow through. Then you find one or two people to act as your accountability partners and sign off on the contract with you

January 16, 2021 18: The Truth About Talent (When Genes Matter and When They Don’t), p. 220 The most proven scientific analysis of personality traits is known as the “Big Five,” which breaks them down into five spectrums of behavior. Openness to experience: from curious and inventive on one end to cautious and consistent on the other. Conscientiousness: organized and efficient to easygoing and spontaneous. Extroversion: outgoing and energetic to solitary and reserved (you likely know them as extroverts vs. introverts). Agreeableness: friendly and compassionate to challenging and detached. Neuroticism: anxious and sensitive to confident, calm, and stable. All five characteristics have biological underpinnings

January 16, 2021 18: The Truth About Talent (When Genes Matter and When They Don’t), p. 227 Chapter Summary The secret to maximizing your odds of success is to choose the right field of competition. Pick the right habit and progress is easy. Pick the wrong habit and life is a struggle. Genes cannot be easily changed, which means they provide a powerful advantage in favorable circumstances and a serious disadvantage in unfavorable circumstances. Habits are easier when they align with your natural abilities. Choose the habits that best suit you. Play a game that favors your strengths. If you can’t find a game that favors you, create one. Genes do not eliminate the need for hard work. They clarify it. They tell us what to work hard on

January 16, 2021 18: The Truth About Talent (When Genes Matter and When They Don’t), p. 218 The secret to maximizing your odds of success is to choose the right field of competition. This is just as true with habit change as it is with sports and business. Habits are easier to perform, and more satisfying to stick with, when they align with your natural inclinations and abilities

January 16, 2021 18: The Truth About Talent (When Genes Matter and When They Don’t), p. 219 The people at the top of any competitive field are not only well trained, they are also well suited to the task

January 16, 2021 18: The Truth About Talent (When Genes Matter and When They Don’t), p. 219 In short: genes do not determine your destiny. They determine your areas of opportunity. As physician Gabor Mate notes, “Genes can predispose, but they don’t predetermine

January 16, 2021 18: The Truth About Talent (When Genes Matter and When They Don’t), p. 221 The takeaway is that you should build habits that work for your personality

January 16, 2021 18: The Truth About Talent (When Genes Matter and When They Don’t), p. 222 Learning to play a game where the odds are in your favor is critical for maintaining motivation and feeling successful

January 16, 2021 18: The Truth About Talent (When Genes Matter and When They Don’t), p. 224 The mark of whether you are made for a task is not whether you love it but whether you can handle the pain of the task easier than most people

January 16, 2021 18: The Truth About Talent (When Genes Matter and When They Don’t), p. 224 Flow is the mental state you enter when you are so focused on the task at hand that the rest of the world fades away. This blend of happiness and peak performance is what athletes and performers experience when they are “in the zone.” It is nearly impossible to experience a flow state and not find the task satisfying at least to some degree

January 16, 2021 18: The Truth About Talent (When Genes Matter and When They Don’t), p. 225 Scott Adams, the cartoonist behind Dilbert, says, “Everyone has at least a few areas in which they could be in the top 25% with some effort. In my case, I can draw better than most people, but I’m hardly an artist. And I’m not any funnier than the average standup comedian who never makes it big, but I’m funnier than most people. The magic is that few people can draw well and write jokes. It’s the combination of the two that makes what I do so rare. And when you add in my business background, suddenly I had a topic that few cartoonists could hope to understand without living it.”

January 16, 2021 19: The Goldilocks Rule: How to Stay Motivated in Life and Work, p. 231 the way to maintain motivation and achieve peak levels of desire is to work on tasks of “just manageable difficulty.” The human brain loves a challenge, but only if it is within an optimal zone of difficulty

January 16, 2021 19: The Goldilocks Rule: How to Stay Motivated in Life and Work, p. 231 In psychology research this is known as the Yerkes–Dodson law, which describes the optimal level of arousal as the midpoint between boredom and anxiety. Martin’s

January 16, 2021 19: The Goldilocks Rule: How to Stay Motivated in Life and Work, p. 234 As Machiavelli noted, “Men desire novelty to such an extent that those who are doing well wish for a change as much as those who are doing badly.” Perhaps this is why many of the most habit-forming products are those that provide continuous forms of novelty

January 16, 2021 19: The Goldilocks Rule: How to Stay Motivated in Life and Work, p. 237 Chapter Summary The Goldilocks Rule states that 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

January 16, 2021 19: The Goldilocks Rule: How to Stay Motivated in Life and Work, p. 231 The Goldilocks Rule states that humans experience peak motivation when working on tasks that are right on the edge of their current abilities

January 16, 2021 19: The Goldilocks Rule: How to Stay Motivated in Life and Work, p. 233 A flow state is the experience of being “in the zone” and fully immersed in an activity. Scientists have tried to quantify this feeling. They found that to achieve a state of flow, a task must be roughly 4 percent beyond your current ability

January 16, 2021 19: The Goldilocks Rule: How to Stay Motivated in Life and Work, p. 233 “At some point it comes down to who can handle the boredom of training every day, doing the same lifts over and over and over.”

January 16, 2021 19: The Goldilocks Rule: How to Stay Motivated in Life and Work, p. 234 But this coach was saying that really successful people feel the same lack of motivation as everyone else. The difference is that they still find a way to show up despite the feelings of boredom

January 16, 2021 19: The Goldilocks Rule: How to Stay Motivated in Life and Work, p. 235 In psychology, this is known as a variable reward

January 16, 2021 19: The Goldilocks Rule: How to Stay Motivated in Life and Work, p. 235 Variable rewards won’t create a craving—that is, you can’t take a reward people are uninterested in, give it to them at a variable interval, and hope it will change their mind—but they are a powerful way to amplify the cravings we already experience because they reduce boredom

January 16, 2021 19: The Goldilocks Rule: How to Stay Motivated in Life and Work, p. 235 You need just enough “winning” to experience satisfaction and just enough “wanting” to experience desire. This is one of the benefits of following the Goldilocks Rule. If you’re already interested in a habit, working on challenges of just manageable difficulty is a good way to keep things interesting

January 16, 2021 19: The Goldilocks Rule: How to Stay Motivated in Life and Work, p. 235 Variable rewards or not, no habit will stay interesting forever. At some point, everyone faces the same challenge on the journey of self-improvement: you have to fall in love with boredom

January 16, 2021 19: The Goldilocks Rule: How to Stay Motivated in Life and Work, p. 236 Professionals stick to the schedule; amateurs let life get in the way. Professionals know what is important to them and work toward it with purpose; amateurs get pulled off course by the urgencies of life

January 16, 2021 19: The Goldilocks Rule: How to Stay Motivated in Life and Work, p. 236 There have been a lot of articles I haven’t felt like writing, but I’ve never regretted publishing on schedule

January 16, 2021 19: The Goldilocks Rule: How to Stay Motivated in Life and Work, p. 236 The only way to become excellent is to be endlessly fascinated by doing the same thing over and over. You have to fall in love with boredom

January 16, 2021 20: The Downside of Creating Good Habits, p. 246 My yearly Integrity Report answers three questions: 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?

January 16, 2021 20: The Downside of Creating Good Habits, p. 247 The tighter we cling to an identity, the harder it becomes to grow beyond it. One solution is to avoid making any single aspect of your identity an overwhelming portion of who you are. In the words of investor Paul Graham, “keep your identity small.” The more you let a single belief define you, the less capable you are of adapting when life challenges you

January 16, 2021 20: The Downside of Creating Good Habits, p. 249 Tao Te Ching encapsulates the ideas perfectly: Men are born soft and supple; dead, they are stiff and hard. Plants are born tender and pliant; dead, they are brittle and dry. Thus whoever is stiff and inflexible is a disciple of death. Whoever is soft and yielding is a disciple of life.

January 16, 2021 20: The Downside of Creating Good Habits, p. 249 The hard and stiff will be broken. The soft and supple will prevail. —LAO TZU

January 16, 2021 20: The Downside of Creating Good Habits, p. 249 Chapter Summary 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 allows you to remain conscious of your performance over time. The tighter we cling to an identity, the harder it becomes to grow beyond it.

January 16, 2021 20: The Downside of Creating Good Habits, p. 239 as a habit becomes automatic, you become less sensitive to feedback. You fall into mindless repetition

January 16, 2021 20: The Downside of Creating Good Habits, p. 240 research has shown that once a skill has been mastered there is usually a slight decline in performance over time

January 16, 2021 20: The Downside of Creating Good Habits, p. 239 The upside of habits is that we can do things without thinking. The downside of habits is that you get used to doing things a certain way and stop paying attention to little errors

January 16, 2021 20: The Downside of Creating Good Habits, p. 240 Mastery is the process of narrowing your focus to a tiny element of success, repeating it until you have internalized the skill, and then using this new habit as the foundation to advance to the next frontier of your development. Old tasks become easier the second time around, but it doesn’t get easier overall because now you’re pouring your energy into the next challenge. Each habit unlocks the next level of performance. It’s an endless cycle

January 16, 2021 20: The Downside of Creating Good Habits, p. 244 Top performers in all fields engage in various types of reflection and review, and the process doesn’t have to be complex

January 16, 2021 20: The Downside of Creating Good Habits, p. 245 I know of executives and investors who keep a “decision journal” in which they record the major decisions they make each week, why they made them, and what they expect the outcome to be. They review their choices at the end of each month or year to see where they were correct and where they went wrong

January 16, 2021 20: The Downside of Creating Good Habits, p. 245 Each December, I perform an Annual Review, in which I reflect on the previous year. I tally my habits for the year by counting up how many articles I published, how many workouts I put in, how many new places I visited, and more

January 16, 2021 20: The Downside of Creating Good Habits, p. 246 What went well this year? What didn’t go so well this year? What did I learn?

January 16, 2021 20: The Downside of Creating Good Habits, p. 246 Six months later, when summer rolls around, I conduct an Integrity Report. Like everyone, I make a lot of mistakes. My Integrity Report helps me realize where I went wrong and motivates me to get back on course

January 16, 2021 Conclusion: The Secret to Results That Last, p. 252 Sometimes a habit will be hard to remember and you’ll need to make it obvious. Other times you won’t feel like starting and you’ll need to make it attractive. In many cases, you may find that a habit will be too difficult and you’ll need to make it easy. And sometimes, you won’t feel like sticking with it and you’ll need to make it satisfying.

January 16, 2021 Conclusion: The Secret to Results That Last, p. 251 Sorites Paradox

January 16, 2021 Little Lessons from the Four Laws, p. 260 Happiness is not about the achievement of pleasure (which is joy or satisfaction), but about the lack of desire. It arrives when you have no urge to feel differently

January 16, 2021 Little Lessons from the Four Laws, p. 260 As Caed Budris says, “Happiness is the space between one desire being fulfilled and a new desire forming.”

January 16, 2021 Little Lessons from the Four Laws, p. 260 Victor Frankl meant when he said that happiness cannot be pursued, it must ensue. Desire is pursued. Pleasure ensues from action.

January 16, 2021 Little Lessons from the Four Laws, p. 260 Friedrich Nietzsche, the German philosopher and poet, famously wrote, “He who has a why to live for can bear almost any how.”

January 16, 2021 Little Lessons from the Four Laws, p. 261 Being curious is better than being smart

January 16, 2021 Little Lessons from the Four Laws, p. 261 We can only be rational and logical after we have been emotional. The primary mode of the brain is to feel; the secondary mode is to think.

January 16, 2021 Little Lessons from the Four Laws, p. 261 Psychologists refer to this as System 1 (feelings and rapid judgments) versus System 2 (rational analysis). The feeling comes first (System 1); the rationality only intervenes later (System 2).

January 16, 2021 Little Lessons from the Four Laws, p. 262 Suffering drives progress. The source of all suffering is the desire for a change in state. This is also the source of all progress

January 16, 2021 Little Lessons from the Four Laws, p. 263 Seneca’s famous quote, “Being poor is not having too little, it is wanting more

January 16, 2021 Little Lessons from the Four Laws, p. 264 As Aristotle noted, “Youth is easily deceived because it is quick to hope.”

January 16, 2021 Notes, p. 276 A Theory of Cognitive Dissonance (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1957

January 16, 2021 Notes, p. 277 Antonio R. Damasio, The Strange Order of Things: Life, Feeling, and the Making of Cultures (New York: Pantheon Books, 2018); Lisa Feldman Barrett, How Emotions Are Made (London: Pan Books, 2018

January 16, 2021 Notes, p. 277 Gary A. Klein, Sources of Power: How People Make Decisions (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1998

January 16, 2021 Notes, p. 278 Peter Gollwitzer and Paschal Sheeran, “Implementation Intentions and Goal Achievement: A Meta‐Analysis of Effects and Processes,” Advances in Experimental Social Psychology 38 (2006): 69–119

January 16, 2021 Notes, p. 279 Edwin Locke and Gary Latham, “Building a Practically Useful Theory of Goal Setting and Task Motivation: A 35-Year Odyssey,” American Psychologist 57, no. 9 (2002): 705–717, doi:10.1037//0003–066x.57.9.705

January 16, 2021 Notes, p. 279 The Fresh Start Effect: Temporal Landmarks Motivate Aspirational Behavior,” PsycEXTRA Dataset, 2014, doi:10.1037/e513702014–058

January 16, 2021 Notes, p. 280 Timothy D. Wilson, Strangers to Ourselves: Discovering the Adaptive Unconscious (Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press, 2004), 24

January 16, 2021 Notes, p. 280 Donella Meadows and Diana Wright, Thinking in Systems: A Primer (White River Junction, VT: Chelsea Green, 2015), 109

January 16, 2021 Notes, p. 284 dopamine-driven feedback

January 16, 2021 Notes, p. 296 The Rise of Superman: Decoding the Science of Ultimate Human Performance (Boston: New Harvest, 2014

January 16, 2021 Notes, p. 296 Peak: Secrets from the New Science of Expertise (Boston: Mariner Books, 2017), 13.

All Excerpts From

Clear, James. “An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones.” Penguin Publishing Group, 2018-10-16. Apple Books. This material may be protected by copyright.

· habits, self-improvement