Habit: set of actions that is periodically repeated automatically.

INTRODUCTION

The Power of Atomic Habits

■ Small actions we do every day (atomic habits) count for a lot in the long-run.
This can be for or against you. Atomic habits are a double-edged sword.
■ Small changes often appear to make no difference until you cross a critical
threshold.
■ Don't set smaller goals. Focus on your process for accomplishing goals
instead. Winners and losers have the same goals. Pursuing a goal is only a
momentary task.

Habits Shape Identity and vice-versa

■ There are three things you can change: outcome (material achievements),
process (habits, strategies), and identity (beliefs and preferences).
■ The best motivation to change your habits is focusing on who you wish to
become, not on the material goals you want to achieve.
■ Your identity emerges out of your habits; every action determines who
you become.
■ Changing your beliefs about yourself is more motivating than achieving
small goals.

HOW TO BUILD BETTER HABITS IN 4 STEPS

■ A habit is formed when repeated enough times to become automatic. Habits

solve the problems of life with as little effort as possible.
■ Automatic habits can be broken in four steps: cue (signal), craving
(desire), response (action), and reward (pleasure).
■ If you want to build a habit:
(1. cue) make it obvious,
(2. craving) make it attractive,
(3. response) make it easy, and
(4. reward) make it satisfying.
■ If you want to kill a bad habit, do the opposite: (1) make it invisible, (2) make
it unattractive, (3) make it difficult, (4) make it unsatisfying.

The 1st Law: Cue

Make It Obvious

Introduction
■ 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 habit change always starts with awareness.
■ Pointing-and-Calling (thinking about the things you are doing every couple
minutes) raises your level of awareness from a non-conscious habit to a
more conscious level.
 ■ The Habits Scorecard (evaluating your timetable) is another simple exercise
you can use to become more aware of your behaviour.

How to start a habit

■ The 1st Law of Behaviour Change is make it obvious.
■ The two most common cues are time and location.
■ A strategy you can use is to pair a new habit with a specific time and
location.
■ The implementation intention formula is: I will [BEHAVIOUR] at [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].
■ Start an RITUAL before doing a task it will act as a cue.

Environment Matters
■ Small changes in context can lead to large changes in behaviour 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 behaviour. The context becomes the
cue.
■ It is easier to build new habits in a new environment because you are not
fighting against old cues.

Make it invisible
■ Once a habit is formed, it is unlikely to be forgotten.
■ It’s easier to avoid temptation than resist it. Reduce exposure to the cue that
causes it.

The 2nd Law: Craving

Make It Attractive

Introduction
■ The more attractive an opportunity is, the more likely it is to become habit-
forming. When dopamine rises, so does our motivation to act.
■ It is the anticipation of a reward—not the fulfilment of it—that gets us to take
action.

How to make it attractive

■ Associate the habit with a positive feeling.
■ Highlight the advantages of the habit.
■ BLUE-BALL yourself with a reward.
■ Do a pleasurable action WHILE you do the habit, so you will crave this habit
(temptation bundling).
■ You can create an onset ritual by doing something you enjoy immediately
BEFORE a difficult habit, so it will eventually form a cue (first law), even
when you don't enjoy the ritual anymore. The longer you make the ritual
 for the beginning of a process, the more you will be able to focus on this
task.

Who you are with matters

■ Pursuing the pleasure of fitting in, we tend to imitate the habits of three
social groups: the close, the many, and the powerful/prestigious.
■ To make an habit attractive, you can join a group where (1) your desired
behaviour is the normal behaviour and (2) you already have something in
common with the group.
■ If a behaviour gets us approval, respect, and praise, we find it attractive. If it
gets us disapproval, we will find it unattractive.

Make it unattractive
■ Every behaviour has a surface level craving and a deeper underlying
motive/motivation.
■ Highlight the disadvantages of a bad habit to make it seem unattractive, or
highlight the benefits of avoiding it.
■ Associate the habit with negative feelings.

The 3rd Law: response

Make It Easy

Walk Slowly, but Never Backward

■ Practice is more important than just planning. "The best is enemy of the
good".
■ A behaviour becomes progressively more automatic through repetition.
■ To automate a habit, the amount of times you have done it is more
important than the time you have spent doing it so far.

The Law of Least Effort

■ Create an environment where doing the right thing is as easy as possible.
■ Reduce the "friction" (obstacles) associated to good behaviours, and vice-
versa. When friction is low, habits are easy.

Stop Delaying Duties

■ Standardize before you optimize. You can’t improve a habit that doesn’t
exist. When you start a new habit, it should be a short task and easy to do.
This way, you can start practising it regularly.
■ Habits that take a few seconds can continue to impact your behaviour for
minutes or hours afterward. Many habits that occur at decisive moments of
the day, can either send you in the direction of a productive day, or an
unproductive one. The longer you make the ritual for the beginning of a
process (an easy habit and a cue), the more you will be able to focus on
this process.
■ E.G.: Go to sleep at 12. Wake up at 8. Be home by 5 pm. Open your notes.
Re-read the previous page.

Make it difficult
■ A commitment device is a device (or a onetime action you make in the
present) that physically forces you to behave better in the future.
 technology for this is the most reliable. E.G.: locking your coats so you
won't go outside and finish your book, purchasing less food, going outside
with less money, enrol in automatic savings plan.

The 4th Law: reward

Make It Satisfying

Introduction
■ We are more likely to repeat a behaviour when the experience is satisfying.
■ We prioritize immediate rewards over delayed rewards.
■ What is rewarded is repeated. What is punished is avoided. This works
especially well with IMMEDIATE rewards and punishments.
■ The first three laws make a behaviour more likely in the present. The fourth
law makes it more likely to repeat in the FUTURE.

How to "Make it Satisfying": Habit trackers

■ One of the most satisfying feelings is that of making progress.
■ Habit trackers and visual forms of measurement can make your habits
satisfying by providing clear evidence of your progress. Being able to
measure something doesn’t mean quantity is the most important thing.
■ Never miss twice. If you miss one day, don't do it the next one. Try to keep
the thread alive.

Make it 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 behaviour. It makes
the costs of violating your promises public and painful.
■ Knowing that someone else is watching you can be a powerful motivator.

ADVANCED TACTICS

Genetics and Talent

■ The secret to success is to choose the right field for your natural abilities, so
progress would be easier. Genes cannot be changed.
■ Genes do not eliminate the need for hard work. They clarify it. They tell us
what to work hard on.

How to Stay Motivated

■ We experience peak motivation when working on tasks that are right on the
edge of our current abilities, otherwise causing boredom or failure and
frustration.
■ The greatest threat to success is not failure but boredom.
■ As habits become routine, they become less interesting and more boring.
The ability to keep going on makes the difference.
■ Professionals stick to the schedule; amateurs let life get on it's way.
The Downside of Creating Automated Habits
■ We stop paying attention to little errors or better opportunities. Reflection
and review allows you to remain conscious of your performance over time.
■ We forget why we started the habit in first place. Clinging to an identity
makes it harder to grow beyond it.
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