Atomic Habits
An impressive read..
During my college days, I have been quite active in sports and represented the University team in Football and Hockey. However, I found it very difficult to continue pursuing sports once got into corporate life. It became even further difficult after the marriage and arrival of a kid in my life. This is not only my story, but many acquaintances I came across. Nothing can replace sport as it does not only keep you healthy but also give a shot of dopamine in your brain which triggers immense satisfaction. However, the only option left is to do exercise regularly by making it a HABIT.
Oh, this HABIT word is not that simple as it looks like. It takes immense courage, dedication, and pain to adopt this. No matter how simple a habit looks, but making it a part of your life is quite challenging.
I came across the scientific and behavioral aspects that work while creating a habit when I read ATOMIC HABIT by James Clear (Tiny changes remarkable results) recently. A fantastic book that emphasis on very small things that we repeat every day and their cumulative impact helps us to create a good habit. The author says that “ Improving by 1 percent is not particularly notable — sometimes it is not even noticeable, but it can be far more meaningful especially in long run”. It also talks about how we can get rid of bad habits by taking few small steps.
The one mistake we do when we focus more on our goal rather than the system that helps us to achieve those goals. So focusing on the overall system rather than a single goal is one of the core themes of this book.
The whole concept of building a good habit revolves around four laws of behavior change-
- Make it Obvious — This behavior law gives emphasis on creating a scorecard of your desired habits by writing down them to become aware of them. Use your implementation intention like “ I will ( behavior) at (time) in ( location). Use habit stacking ( means associate new behavior with an old behavior ) like “ After ( current habit) I will ( new habit). Finally, design your environment ( ecosystem) that gives cues for good habits obvious and visible.
2. Make it Attractive — Use temptation building by pairing an action you want to do with an action you need to do ( new habit). Join a culture or people where your desired behavior is normal behavior. Create a motivation ritual like doing something you enjoy immediately before a difficult habit.
3. Make it Easy — Reduce the friction by decreasing the steps between you and your good habits. Prepare your environment to make future action easier. Master the decisive moment by optimizing the small choices that deliver outsized impact. Use the two minutes rules by downscaling your habits until they can be done in two minutes. Automate your habits..
4. Make it Satisfying — Use reinforcement by giving yourself an immediate reward when you complete your habit. Make doing nothing enjoyable by avoiding a bad habit. Use a habit tracker by keeping track of your habit streak and don’t break the chain. Never miss twice by getting back on track immediately.
