The Power Of Good Habits

Midlife is the time to invest in the rest of your life.

We all have good intentions. We know what we are supposed to do or want to do. We desire to make changes to live the life we envision. And yet it can be hard to realize those intentions, do the things we are supposed to do or make a change we know will move us in the right direction.

James Clear, author of Atomic Habits, says “you do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems.” This means your habits and routines. This means establishing good ones and getting rid of bad ones.

But how to do this? His book is one of my favorites on the subject, and one I highlight in the resources section on my website. Rather than make you read through all 271 pages of his book, I thought I would highlight a few key messages which I have found most helpful.

Think Small

“If you want to predict where you’ll end up in life, all you have to do is follow the curve of tiny gains or tiny losses, and see how your daily choices will compound in 10 or 20 years down the line.” James Clear, Atomic Habits, p. 18

Achieving your goals does not require big steps. Rather it requires consistent little actions taken regularly. But be aware, small actions can seem insignificant if not given enough time to gain critical mass.

It is easy to fall into the Valley of Disappointment when you don’t see any meaningful progress. But give it time, trust in yourself and the small steps you are taking, and know progress is not linear. Candidly, this is a hard one for me!

If you are not convinced, the math speaks for itself. If you get “1% better every day, this is equal to 37% better at the end of the year.” James Clear, Atomic Habits, p. 15

Goals v. Systems

James believes we often fail in achieving our goals because we do not have the right systems in place. It is not because we set the wrong goals.

Goals are what we want, the direction we set for ourselves. Habits are the systems we put in place to make progress towards these goals. So, focus your attention on the systems in your life and you will achieve your goals.

Frequency and Repetition

We have all probably heard it takes 3 weeks to form a new habit. Turns out this is probably a myth. It is not the length of time which is important, but rather the frequency and number of times we do something. Essentially it is all about action!

How to Create a New Habit

Habits are formed in 4 stages: cue, craving, response, and reward. The cue is the prompt which triggers the brain to initiate a behavior; you then crave a change in the current state of things; the response is the action you take initiate a change; and the reward is what you get in terms of satisfaction and feedback for your brain.

The Four Laws of Behavior Change

James links these stages to what he calls The Four Laws of Behavior Change. These 4 laws create a framework for building good habits and getting rid of bad habits. The 4 laws are: make it obvious (the cue), make it attractive (the craving), make it easy (the response), and make it satisfying (the reward).

Make it obvious. To build a new habit make an implementation intention which specifies when and where you will act. James says the easiest way to do this is to fill in the blanks of this sentence: I will (BEHAVIOR) at (TIME) in (LOCATION). I used this to create a new habit around flossing my teeth. My intention stated, I will floss my teeth every night after I brush my teeth in my bathroom.

You can also use habit stacking. Habit stacking is attaching a new habit to an existing one. Using my example above, I specifically tied dental flossing to brushing my teeth (which I do religiously) at night. I chose bedtime as I am less rushed than in the morning. To make this work for you he offers up this sentence: after (CURRENT HABIT), I will (NEW HABIT).

James says a great time to start a new habit for many people is the first day of the week, the month, or the year…I guess that is part of the power behind New Year’s Resolutions!

Make it attractive. To make new actions more attractive he talks about something called Temptation Bundling. Interestingly, it is the idea of the reward, rather than the reward itself which causes us to take an action.

With Temptation Bundling you connect an action you need to do to something you want to do. His formula for doing this: after (CURRENT HABIT), I will (HABIT I NEED)”; then, after (HABIT I NEED), I will (HABIT I WANT). He uses the example of wanting to read the newspaper but trying to create a new habit of gratitude. Using his formula, after you have breakfast, you express gratitude, then after you express gratitude, you get to read the paper.

Make it easy. “The idea is to make it as easy as possible in the moment to do things that payoff in the long run.” James Clear, Atomic Habits, p. 155. One of the best actions you can take is to optimize your environment. For example, I keep my journal with a pen next to my bed, so I have no excuse not to write because I can’t find my journal or a pen.

James also suggests keeping a new habit to something which can be done in under 2 minutes. Keeping with my journal example, this might mean opening my journal to write down 1 item of gratitude rather than trying to fill an entire page. And remember, the easier it is to do something, the more likely you are to do it and the faster it will become a habit.

Make it satisfying. You are more likely to repeat an action if it is immediately satisfying. This could be a pleasurable sensation or finding a way to feel a bit of success around an action. For example, you could mark off days in your calendar with big “x’s” to show progress.  

Success

Use James’ approach to creating new habits and before long you will have achieved your goal and you will not have to think much about it anymore. It will just happen. Then you can repeat the process to form another new habit in an area of your life where you also desire change.

For additional help in building habits, James Clear offers a free, 30-day step by step guide to forming new habits.

Parting Thought

I would not be surprised if one of the areas I touch on above resonates more than others. For me it is all about thinking small. In the past I have often failed to form new habits when I focused too much on the end goal. I have turned the goal into something so big it became too daunting to even start. Focusing on small, daily incremental improvements has been a powerful force for positive change in my life, both personally and professionally.

See you next week…