How to build or break any habit?

Atomic Habits by James Clear.

We all want to build or break some habits and this book is the ultimate guide to just that.

James Clear once an elite athlete in high school faced a life threatening accident that changed his course of life. He was forced to build himself up from level zero all over again. This gave him insight into how the human psyche can be moulded to achieve unbelievable results just by making miniscule changes. Today he is a renowned writer in the webspace and has countless articles on how you can apply atomic habits to anything from parenting to self improvement to even business.

In this book he has described the fundamental laws of behaviour change that anyone can implement to change any behaviour and gives enough examples of people who have done minute changes to achieve remarkable results.

And it works!

The Four Laws of Behavior Change are a simple set of rules we can use to build better habits.

(1) make it obvious
(2) make it attractive
(3) make it easy
(4) make it satisfying

Some intersting finds in the book that describe the above laws:

The two minute rule
Whenever you begin a new habit try and break it down to a level where you can complete it in 2 minutes only. If it takes 2 minutes you won’t mind starting it and slowly when you master doing it for the two minutes , your mind will surely want to increase the time!

The Goldilocks rule

"The Goldilocks Rule states that humans experience peak motivation when working on tasks that are right on the edge of their current abilities. Not too hard. Not too easy. “

We often make the mistake of attempting gigantic leaps i.e extremely difficult feats and when we fail we get disappointed. If you try to upgrade to a level that’s neither too hard nor too easy you will most likely continue it.

How the mind works :Cue>Craving Response> Reward

You first need a cue , a reason to change or let go of some habits. Different things motivate different people. It can be failure, a set back in health, wealth, relationship or just a mere act of self improvement.

Then you need a craving. Something you want to achieve: a specific weight, a promotion, a new job, or even something as trivial as not biting your nails.

After craving is identified you need to develop a response ; your plan of action. Response is very important because without this you will be stuck in a loop of wanting to change yet nothing will happen by itself.

Reward: Our minds are built in to seek pleasure and despise pain; it is just how the human brain has evolved. You have to reward yourself at every small progress you make. For example if you go on a diet you should make time for a cheat meal too.

Identify habits that can help you layer on your good habits

No habit is isolated. It is a chain reaction. If you want to start something new, you can find good habits you possess and then layer new habits around them. For example you might have a habit of switching off the light before going to bed, and you want to brush your teeth just before that. So place these habits together and you will begin to perform them at ease.

Build an identity and act on the characteristics of building that identity

An awesome example the writer gives is that of exercise. We have all attempted to incorporate some form of exercise in our lives at some point in our lives, but many of us fail. The writer says instead of making a goal to exercise try to find an identity or personification of exercise such as an athlete or sportsperson. Now ask yourself this question why does an athlete exercise and how often do they do it. Imagine yourself in the shoes of an athlete and you will realise to achieve fitness you will have to do it daily with the sole intention of getting fitter.

We make more mistakes when we act automatically rather than when we do it consciously

Being on auto pilot is good once an habit is established to the point you don’t have to think about it. But it may cause opposite effects if one wishes to change a bad habit. The key to being good at anything is to approach it with a beginner’s mind even though you have experienced it or even become an expert in the field. Don’t let your experience work against you.

You cannot escape boredom or demotivation

Practise getting bored if you want to master a skill or be good at a new habit that will help you in the long run. You can never be 100% motivated and excited to do anything regularly; but fall back to discipline.

“Fall in love with boredom. Fall in love with repetition and practice. Fall in love with the process of what you do and let the results take care of themselves.”

Imagine an olympician who wins the gold medal ; he or she practises the same move a few thousand times and it is inevitable that they get bored. But they remain consistent and fight that boredom to hone their skills. Never miss 2 days consecutively.

Never miss two days consecutively

Lastly you will fail at some level or miss a day or two when starting out a new journey. But the trick is to never miss two days consecutively. When you feel you have failed, try to get back at it and continue to be consistent.

Tiny changes can give you remarkable results.By following these basics rules you can pretty much master anything new. Only question are you willing to try?