— James clear
Introduction
Habits are a powerful force for change. They can make you healthier, wealthier and happier. However, habits are easy to form when we have the right environment, support and motivation. But creating new habits can be hard—we don't usually get this kind of help in our daily lives! That's why I'm going to show you how to build effective habits by using atomic habits: small changes that give big results over time.
What is a habit?
A habit is a behavior you do automatically without thinking. When we talk about habits, we're usually referring to behaviors that occur repeatedly and become automatic : you eat lunch at noon every day, or you brush your teeth before going to bed every night.
Habits are formed by repetition—they become easier and more automatic over time until they become second nature.
Habits are also formed by association: if something triggers your habit (like eating), then it can make it easier for other things associated with the same trigger (like brushing) as well as other related habits (like flossing)
Habits and compound interest
Habits are like compound interest. The more you do them, the more they will impact your life.
You can increase the impact of your habits by repeating them regularly and consistently. The more often you do something, the greater its influence on your behavior will be over time.
The same is true for any habit : If we want to build an effective habit system that works for us and helps us become happier people (and ultimately help others), then it’s important that we don’t skip any steps along the way !
The difference a 1% improvement can make
If you’re ready to make a small change that can make a big difference, consider the following example:
You have a habit of checking your email every morning at 8 am. After reading the first few items in each email and answering any questions or responding as necessary, you delete everything else and then hit “reply all” on each message so that it doesn't take up space on your inbox.
The minimum effective dose
The minimum effective dose is the smallest possible amount of a given drug or behavior that will produce the desired outcome. This concept is often used in medicine, where it refers to how much medication should be administered before symptoms appear.
It might also be applied to other areas of life where you want your habits or behaviors to occur : if you're trying to change your eating habits by eating less food, then it makes sense that eating one less cookie every day will do more good than eating two fewer cookies per week (which would still have plenty left over).
The minimum effective dose ensures that we are doing what we need most efficiently and effectively without wasting time on ineffective practices.
When we have an atomic habit — when our behavior becomes automatic — we can expect better results because we don't have time for distractions or delays between actions and outcomes anymore.
The Four Laws of Behavior Change
Make it obvious.
Make it attractive.
Make it easy.
Make it satisfying.
Make it obvious.
It's a simple concept, but one that can be difficult to execute. We're all familiar with the idea of making things harder than they need to be—but this is actually counterproductive if you want people to do them ! By making something easy, you'll make it more likely that your users will actually do the thing.
The easiest way to accomplish this is by offering up clear instructions and rewards for completing tasks (whether they're small or large). This doesn't mean forcing your users into doing anything; rather, it means giving them everything they need right at their fingertips.
If your user has no idea how much time and energy they're spending on one task throughout their day—or even what other options there may be out there—then why should they try?
In order for atomic habit-building habits like these two examples above (commitment & focus)
Make it attractive.
The first step to building a habit is to make it attractive. This means you should experiment with different methods of delivering the information and then pick the one that works best for your audience.
The next step is making it fun, which can be difficult because most people don't enjoy doing things they don't want to do (i.e., exercise). The solution here is simply finding ways around this problem—for example, if exercising makes you feel tired or uncomfortable after 30 minutes spent walking around the block, try taking small breaks every few minutes instead of going all out from start to finish.
Or if running makes your knees hurt like crazy due to arthritis in them (which happens sometimes), try doing something else instead like swimming laps or biking along a trail where there aren't any stairs involved!
Make sure whatever activity works best for each individual person comes together with some kind of structure so there's always something external keeping track of what needs done next–this way nothing gets forgotten about too easily either; this way everyone can keep track without having trouble remembering themselves how much time has passed since last session started so far since starting up again today."
Make it easy.
In order for your habit to be effective, it needs to be easy. It should not require much effort or thought on your part. If you have to think about doing the habit, then there's a good chance you won't be doing it at all.
To make sure that your habits are easy, try following these tips:
Make it easy to start by making sure you're ready for the change before starting anything new in life (e.g., losing weight). This means being honest with yourself—are you really ready? Are there other things going on in life right now that could distract from this change? What will happen if I stop doing this now?
Make it easy to keep doing by making sure what happens next is predictable and satisfying (e.g., setting up a routine where every morning after waking up I have some coffee). The key here is consistency; if people can predict what will happen next without fail then they'll find themselves more likely than not attracted back into their old ways of living which weren't working anyway!
Make it satisfying.
To make it a habit, you need to make the part of your daily routine that performs this action rewarding.
To do this:
• Make sure it's satisfying. If the task itself isn't satisfying (for example, "I'm just going to go get my water"), then you won't want to keep doing that task in the future because there will be no incentive for doing so! So make sure whatever habit you're trying out is something that fulfills some sort of need within yourself or within society as a whole.
For example, if someone else is taking care of your kids while they're at school every day—and they always come home upset because they don't get enough attention from their parents—then maybe making sure their homework gets done before bedtime would help them relax later on when those feelings come up again? Or maybe making sure all bills are paid on time each month would give someone who has been late lately some sense of control over her finances?
Small habits can make a big difference in your life.
Small habits can be more powerful than big ones.
When it comes to building a habit, the key is to focus on smaller chunks of time instead of a longer period of time. A quick example would be the difference between waking up at 6:30 in the morning and waking up at 7:00 AM—the first one only took about 30 minutes, but that's still over an hour longer than just getting out of bed by 5:30.
Similarly, you should aim for small wins rather than trying to achieve something huge all at once (like losing 10 pounds or reading 50 books). This allows you to build momentum as well as see progress faster than if you tried something larger but slower-moving like going from couch potato status back into exercise regularly without fail every day (which would require much more effort).
Conclusion
The world of building habits can be a little overwhelming, especially when there are so many options out there. If you want to build good habits that last, though, it can help to first understand what these habits actually look like. Once you have this understanding, it will be easier for you to set up an effective routine that turns into a habit that lasts forever.
Extract from the book Atomic habits by James clear.