"Building habits in the present allows you to do what you want in the future."
- Cue
- Craving
- Response
- Reward
The reward becomes associated with the cue, creating a neurological feedback loop. "The Habit Loop"
A habit scorecard
Implementation intention: a plan you make beforehand about when and where to act. How you intend to implement a habit. Time and location the most common.
"When X, I will perform Y."
Identify a current habit and stack the new behavior on top.
"After I make my coffee each morning, I will meditate for one minute."
Inverse is make it invisible.
Environment is the invisible hand that shapes human behavior
- Write down current habits
- Use implementation intentions "I will [behavior] at [time] in [location]"
- Habit stacking: "After [current habit], I will [new habit]"
- Design your environment
- Makes the cues of good habits obvious
- Make the cues for bad habits invisible
- Reduce exposure by removing the cues of bad behavior from environment
Habits are attractive when we associate them positive feelings and unattractive when we associate them with negative feelings.
- Use temptation bundling by pairing an action you want to do with an action you need to do
- Join a culture where your desired behavior is the normal behavior
- Create a motivation ritual by doing something you enjoy immediately before a difficult habit
Motion is not action. Avoiding action means avoiding failure (and success).
If you want to master a habit, the key is to start with repetition, not perfection.
You don't need to map out every feature of a new habit, you just need to practice it.
The best is the enemy of the good.
Long term potentiation is the neurological process of related parts of the brain acting together. "Neurons that fire together, wire together."
Repeating a habit leads to clear physical changes in the brain. Mathematicians' and musicians' brains look different. Taxi drivers have large spatial reasoning regions, until they retire. Literally like a muscle.
Not only does it clean up after the last activity, it prepares for the next.
Repeatable rituals at the end of regular processes are good. Clean the bathroom sink while the shower warms up, set your desk for the next day, etc.
A little bit of friction can make it much easier to avoid bad behaviors.
How can we design a world where it is easy to do what is right?
Human behavior naturally gravitates towards the least amount of work. When friction is low habits are easy.
Habits are automatic choices that influence the conscious decisions that follow
- Reduce friction: decrease the number of steps between you and the habit
- Prime the environment: prepare your env to make future actions easier
- Master the decisive moment: optimize the small choices that deliver outsized impact
- Use the 2 minute rule: downscale a habit until it can be done in 2 minutes or less
- Automate your habits: invest in things that lock in future behavior
Inversion of the 3rd law is make it difficult.
- Increase friction
- Use a commitment device: restrict future choices to ones that benefit you
The Goldilocks Rule: Humans experience peak motivation when working on tasks that are right on the edge of their current abilities.
☝️ This is most definitely part of [[what makes a job great]].
The greatest threat to success is not failure, but boredom.
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.
Establish a system for reflection and review. How to review your habits and make adjustments.
Seek peak performance by getting slightly better every day.
The way to be successful is to learn how to do things right, then do them the same way every time.
Record the major decisions made each week, why they were made, and the expected outcome. Review each month or year and see what was correct and what wasn't.
Annual review in December to reflect on the previous year and tally things like pieces written, etc.
Answer 3 questions: what went well, what didn't go well, what did I learn?
Mid-year create an integrity report to track progress toward goals, adherence to values, etc.
Success is not a goal to reach or a finish line to cross. It is a system to improve. An endless process to refine.
Bad habits repeat themselves because you don't have the right system for change.
There is no finish line and no permanent solution.
Make it obvious. Make it attractive. Make it easy. Make it satisfying.
The secret to getting results that last is to never stop making improvements.