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Way to many highlights, and not enough insights
Atomic Habits
by James Clear psychology memory
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- Topics: Self-Help
Liked this note on the book: Atomic Habits
Summary James Clear ()
THE PHENOMENAL INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER: 1 MILLION COPIES SOLD Transform your life with tiny changes in behaviour, starting now. People think that when you want to change your life, you need to think big. But world-renowned habits expert James Clear has discovered another way. He knows that real change comes from the compound effect of hundreds of small decisions: doing two push-ups a day, waking up five minutes early, or holding a single short phone call. He calls them atomic habits. In this ground-breaking book, Clears reveals exactly how these minuscule changes can grow into such life-altering outcomes. He uncovers a handful of simple life hacks (the forgotten art of Habit Stacking, the unexpected power of the Two Minute Rule, or the trick to entering the Goldilocks Zone), and delves into cutting-edge psychology and neuroscience to explain why they matter. Along the way, he tells inspiring stories of Olympic gold medalists, leading CEOs, and distinguished scientists who have used the science of tiny habits to stay productive, motivated, and happy. These small changes will have a revolutionary effect on your career, your relationships, and your life. ________________________________ A NEW YORK TIMES AND SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER âA supremely practical and useful book.â Mark Manson, author of The Subtle Art of Not Giving A F*ck âJames Clear has spent years honing the art and studying the science of habits. This engaging, hands-on book is the guide you need to break bad routines and make good ones.â Adam Grant, author of Originals âAtomic Habits is a step-by-step manual for changing routines.â Books of the Month, Financial Times âA special book that will change how you approach your day and live your life.â Ryan Holiday, author of The Obstacle is the Way
Key ideas James Clear (2018-10-18)
AI generated information:
Clear introduces a framework known as the Four Laws of Behavior Change to guide readers in forming positive habits and eliminating detrimental ones.
1. The Power of Tiny Gains
Overview: Clear emphasizes that making small, incremental improvements leads to significant transformations over time. He illustrates that improving by just 1% each day results in being 37 times better after a year, whereas declining by 1% daily leads to a decrease in overall progress.
Key Insight: Focus on consistent, minor enhancements rather than seeking immediate, drastic changes.
2. Systems Over Goals
Overview: The book suggests prioritizing systemsâthe processes that lead to desired outcomesâover merely setting goals. While goals provide direction, systems are the actionable steps that drive progress. â goals suck
Key Insight: Developing effective systems ensures continuous improvement and sustainable success.
Source: James Clearâs Summary
3. Identity-Based Habits
Overview: Clear proposes that lasting behavior change stems from identity transformation. Instead of setting specific objectives, individuals should focus on becoming the type of person who can achieve the desired outcome.
Key Insight: Aligning habits with oneâs identity fosters consistency and resilience.
4. The Four Laws of Behavior Change
Overview: The framework consists of four principles to establish good habits:
The Four Laws of Behavior Change
- Make It Obvious: Design your environment to make cues for good habits visible.
- Make It Attractive: Pair habits with positive experiences to increase their appeal.
- Make It Easy: Simplify actions into manageable steps to reduce friction.
- Make It Satisfying: Implement immediate rewards to reinforce positive behavior.
Key Insight: Applying these laws systematically can effectively build new habits and break unwanted ones.
Table of Contents
Notes
Imported highlights
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Introduction: My Story
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I wasnât going to be starting on the baseball team anytime soon, so I focused on getting my life in order. While my peers stayed up late and played video games, I built good sleep habits and went to bed early each night. In the messy world of a college dorm, I made a point to keep my room neat and tidy. These improvements were minor, but they gave me a sense of control over my life. I started to feel confident again. 9/5/21 6:30 PM
sense of control leads to confidence
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rippled into the classroom as I improved my study habits and managed to earn straight Aâs during my first year 9/5/21 6:30 PM
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A habit is a routine or behavior that is performed regularlyâand, in many cases, automatically. 9/5/21 6:33 PM
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I never ended up playing professionally. However, looking back on those years, I believe I accomplished something just as rare: I fulfilled my potential. 9/5/21 6:34 PM
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There wasnât one defining moment on my journey from medically induced coma to Academic All-American; there were many. It was a gradual evolution, a long series of small wins and tiny breakthroughs. 9/5/21 6:34 PM
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I had felt like an impostor when I began writing two years earlier, but now I was becoming known as an expert on habitsâa new label that excited me but also felt uncomfortable. I had never considered myself a master of the topic, but rather someone who was experimenting alongside my readers. 9/5/21 6:36 PM
imposter syndrome
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To write a great book, you must first become the book 9/5/21 6:36 PM
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My contribution, I hope, is to find the ideas that matter most and connect them in a way that is highly actionable. 9/5/21 6:38 PM
an idea is only usefull if itâs actionable
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B. F. Skinner in the 1930s and has been popularized more recently as âcue, routine, rewardâ in The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg 9/5/21 6:41 PM
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THE FUNDAMENTALS: Why Tiny Changes Make a Big Difference
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Brailsford had been hired to put British Cycling on a new trajectory. What made him different from previous coaches was his relentless commitment to a strategy that he referred to as âthe aggregation of marginal gains,â which was the philosophy of searching for a tiny margin of improvement in everything you do id:: 615bc2e6-6e72-4a61-a04e-ee3a55b58cee 9/7/21 12:36 AM
many small steps become a long journey
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They hired a surgeon to teach each rider the best way to wash their hands to reduce the chances of catching a cold. 9/7/21 12:37 AM
handwashing, no unimportant details!
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Habits are the compound interest of self-improvement. id:: d2bdc6fd-06d7-4d7a-89d3-ba2eca9fb816 9/7/21 12:39 AM
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it doesnât matter how successful or unsuccessful you are right now. What matters is whether your habits are putting you on the path toward success. You should be far more concerned with your current trajectory than with your current results. 9/7/21 12:41 AM
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If you want to predict where youâll 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 ten or twenty years down the line. 9/7/21 12:42 AM
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Productivity compounds. Accomplishing one extra task is a small feat on any given day, but it counts for a lot over an entire career. The effect of automating an old task or mastering a new skill can be even greater. The more tasks you can handle without thinking, the more your brain is free to focus on other areas.
Knowledge compounds. Learning one new idea wonât make you a genius, but a commitment to lifelong learning can be transformative. Furthermore, each book you read not only teaches you something new but also opens up different ways of thinking about old ideas. As Warren Buffett says, âThatâs how knowledge works. It builds up, like compound interest.â
Relationships compound. People reflect your behavior back to you. The more you help others, the more others want to help you. Being a little bit nicer in each interaction can result in a network of broad and strong connections over time.
Negative Compounding
Stress compounds. The frustration of a traffic jam. The weight of parenting responsibilities. The worry of making ends meet. The strain of slightly high blood pressure. By themselves, these common causes of stress are manageable. But when they persist for years, little stresses compound into serious health issues.
Negative thoughts compound. The more you think of yourself as worthless, stupid, or ugly, the more you condition yourself to interpret life that way. You get trapped in a thought loop. The same is true for how you think about others. Once you fall into the habit of seeing people as angry, unjust, or selfish, you see those kind of people everywhere.
Outrage compounds. Riots, protests, and mass movements are rarely the result of a single event. Instead, a long series of microaggressions and daily aggravations slowly multiply until one event tips the scales and outrage spreads like wildfire. 9/7/21 12:43 AM
life keys
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All big things come from small beginnings. The seed of every habit is a single, tiny decision. But as that decision is repeated, a habit sprouts and grows stronger. Roots entrench themselves and branches grow. The task of breaking a bad habit is like uprooting a powerful oak within us. And the task of building a good habit is like cultivating a delicate flower one day at a time. 9/7/21 12:44 AM
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Eventually, I began to realize that my results had very little to do with the goals I set and nearly everything to do with the systems I followed.
Whatâs the difference between systems and goals? Itâs a distinction I first learned from Scott Adams, the cartoonist behind the Dilbert comic. Goals are about the results you want to achieve. Systems are about the processes that lead to those results.
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Now for the interesting question: If you completely ignored your goals and focused only on your system, would you still succeed? For example, if you were a basketball coach and you ignored your goal to win a championship and focused only on what your team does at practice each day, would you still get results?
I think you would.
The goal in any sport is to finish with the best score, but it would be ridiculous to spend the whole game staring at the scoreboard. The only way to actually win is to get better each day. In the words of three-time Super Bowl winner Bill Walsh, âThe score takes care of itself.â The same is true for other areas of life. If you want better results, then forget about setting goals. Focus on your system instead. 9/13/21 10:05 AM
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Goal setting suffers from a serious case of survivorship bias. We concentrate on the people who end up winningâthe survivorsâand mistakenly assume that ambitious goals led to their success while overlooking all of the people who had the same objective but didnât succeed. 9/13/21 10:05 AM
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We think we need to change our results, but the results are not the problem. What we really need to change are the systems that cause those results. When you solve problems at the results level, you only solve them temporarily. In order to improve for good, you need to solve problems at the systems level. Fix the inputs and the outputs will fix themselves. 9/14/21 10:48 PM
systems > goals
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The problem with a goals-first mentality is that youâre continually putting happiness off until the next milestone 9/14/21 10:49 PM
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A systems-first mentality provides the antidote. When you fall in love with the process rather than the product, you donât have to wait to give yourself permission to be happy. You can be satisfied anytime your system is running. And a system can be successful in many different forms, not just the one you first envision. 9/14/21 10:49 PM
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The purpose of setting goals is to win the game. The purpose of building systems is to continue playing the game. True long-term thinking is goal-less thinking. Itâs not about any single accomplishment. It is about the cycle of endless refinement and continuous improvement. Ultimately, it is your commitment to the process that will determine your progress. 9/14/21 10:50 PM
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Habits are like the atoms of our lives. Each one is a fundamental unit that contributes to your overall improvement. At first, these tiny routines seem insignificant, but soon they build on each other and fuel bigger wins that multiply to a degree that far outweighs the cost of their initial investment. They are both small and mighty. This is the meaning of the phrase atomic habitsâa regular practice or routine that is not only small and easy to do, but also the source of incredible power; a component of the system of compound growth. 31/05/2023 07:26
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Habits are the compound interest of self-improvement. Getting 1 percent better every day counts for a lot in the long-run.
Habits are a double-edged sword. They can work for you or against you, which is why understanding the details is essential.
Small changes often appear to make no difference until you cross a critical threshold. The most powerful outcomes of any compounding process are delayed. You need to be patient.
An atomic habit is a little habit that is part of a larger system. Just as atoms are the building blocks of molecules, atomic habits are the building blocks of remarkable results.
If you want better results, then forget about setting goals. Focus on your system instead.
You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems. 9/14/21 10:50 PM
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Changing our habits is challenging for two reasons: (1) we try to change the wrong thing and (2) we try to change our habits in the wrong way. 9/17/21 8:26 AM
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FIGURE 3: There are three layers of behavior change: a change in your outcomes, a change in your processes, or a change in your identity. 9/17/21 8:26 AM
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The first layer is changing your outcomes. This level is concerned with changing your results: losing weight, publishing a book, winning a championship. Most of the goals you set are associated with this level of change.
The second layer is changing your process. This level is concerned with changing your habits and systems: implementing a new routine at the gym, decluttering your desk for better workflow, developing a meditation practice. Most of the habits you build are associated with this level.
The third and deepest layer is changing your identity. This level is concerned with changing your beliefs: your worldview, your self-image, your judgments about yourself and others. Most of the beliefs, assumptions, and biases you hold are associated with this level. 9/17/21 8:27 AM
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Outcomes are about what you get. Processes are about what you do. Identity is about what you believe. 9/17/21 8:27 AM
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They never shift the way they look at themselves, and they donât realize that their old identity can sabotage their new plans for change. 9/17/21 8:30 AM
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You have a new goal and a new plan, but you havenât changed who you are. 9/17/21 8:30 AM
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The ultimate form of intrinsic motivation is when a habit becomes part of your identity. Itâs one thing to say Iâm the type of person who wants this. Itâs something very different to say Iâm the type of person who is this. 9/17/21 8:30 AM
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The goal is not to read a book, the goal is to become a reader.
The goal is not to run a marathon, the goal is to become a runner.
The goal is not to learn an instrument, the goal is to become a musician. 9/17/21 8:31 AM
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Your behaviors are usually a reflection of your identity. What you do is an indication of the type of person you believe that you areâeither consciously or nonconsciously.* Research has shown that once a person believes in a particular aspect of their identity, they are more likely to act in alignment with that belief. For example, people who identified as âbeing a voterâ were more likely to vote than those who simply claimed âvotingâ was an action they wanted to perform 9/17/21 8:32 AM
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âIâm terrible with directions.â 9/17/21 8:32 AM
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There is internal pressure to maintain your self-image and behave in a way that is consistent with your beliefs. You find whatever way you can to avoid contradicting yourself. 9/17/21 8:33 AM
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This is why you canât get too attached to one version of your identity. Progress requires unlearning. Becoming the best version of yourself requires you to continuously edit your beliefs, and to upgrade and expand your identity. 9/17/21 8:33 AM
AQ: A shark is constantly moving
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Your identity emerges out of your habits. You are not born with preset beliefs. Every belief, including those about yourself, is learned and conditioned through experience.* 9/17/21 8:34 AM
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More precisely, your habits are how you embody your identity. When you make your bed each day, you embody the identity of an organized person. When you write each day, you embody the identity of a creative person. When you train each day, you embody the identity of an athletic person. 9/17/21 8:34 AM
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The more you repeat a behavior, the more you reinforce the identity associated with that behavior. In fact, the word identity was originally derived from the Latin words essentitas, which means being, and identidem, which means repeatedly. Your identity is literally your ârepeated beingness.â 9/17/21 8:34 AM
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Whatever your identity is right now, you only believe it because you have proof of it. If you go to church every Sunday for twenty years, you have evidence that you are religious. 9/17/21 12:28 PM
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Of course, your habits are not the only actions that influence your identity, but by virtue of their frequency they are usually the most important ones. 9/17/21 12:28 PM
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As you repeat these actions, however, the evidence accumulates and your self-image begins to change. The effect of one-off experiences tends to fade away while the effect of habits gets reinforced with time, which means your habits contribute most of the evidence that shapes your identity. In this way, the process of building habits is actually the process of becoming yourself.
This is a gradual evolution. We do not change by snapping our fingers and deciding to be someone entirely new. We change bit by bit, day by day, habit by habit. We are continually undergoing microevolutions of the self. 9/17/21 12:29 PM
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Every action you take is a vote for the type of person you wish to become. No single instance will transform your beliefs, but as the votes build up, so does the evidence of your new identity. This is one reason why meaningful change does not require radical change. Small habits can make a meaningful difference by providing evidence of a new identity. And if a change is meaningful, it actually is big. Thatâs the paradox of making small improvements. 9/17/21 12:29 PM
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It is a simple two-step process:
Decide the type of person you want to be.
Prove it to yourself with small wins.
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Identity change is the North Star of habit change. 9/17/21 12:30 PM
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The first step is not what or how, but who. 9/17/21 12:30 PM
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Building better habits isnât about littering your day with life hacks. Itâs not about flossing one tooth each night or taking a cold shower each morning or wearing the same outfit each day. Itâs not about achieving external measures of success like earning more money, losing weight, or reducing stress. Habits can help you achieve all of these things, but fundamentally they are not about having something. They are about becoming someone.
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Chapter Summary
There are three levels of change: outcome change, process change, and identity change.
The most effective way to change your habits is to focus not on what you want to achieve, but on who you wish to become.
Your identity emerges out of your habits. Every action is a vote for the type of person you wish to become.
Becoming the best version of yourself requires you to continuously edit your beliefs, and to upgrade and expand your identity.
The real reason habits matter is not because they can get you better results (although they can do that), but because they can change your beliefs about yourself. 9/17/21 12:31 PM
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place each cat inside a device known as a puzzle box 10/5/21 5:30 AM
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From his studies, Thorndike described the learning process by stating, âbehaviors followed by satisfying consequences tend to be repeated and those that produce unpleasant consequences are less likely to be repeated.â 10/5/21 5:27 AM #key
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This is the feedback loop behind all human behavior: try, fail, learn, try differently. With practice, the useless movements fade away and the useful actions get reinforced. Thatâs a habit forming.
Whenever you face a problem repeatedly, your brain begins to automate the process of solving it. Your habits are just a series of automatic solutions that solve the problems and stresses you face regularly. 10/5/21 5:29 AM
key â habit
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Jason Hreha writes, âHabits are, simply, reliable solutions to recurring problems in our environment.â id:: 6232e6ef-86bd-4810-ba71-bf9b9e42dcd5 10/5/21 5:30 AM
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Habits are mental shortcuts learned from experience. quote habit 10/5/21 5:30 AM
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In a sense, a habit is just a memory of the steps you previously followed to solve a problem in the past. Whenever the conditions are right, you can draw on this memory and automatically apply the same solution. The primary reason the brain remembers the past is to better predict what will work in the future.
Habit formation is incredibly useful because the conscious mind is the bottleneck of the brain. It can only pay attention to one problem at a time. As a result, your brain is always working to preserve your conscious attention for whatever task is most essential. Whenever possible, the conscious mind likes to pawn off tasks to the nonconscious mind to do automatically. This is precisely what happens when a habit is formed. Habits reduce cognitive load and free up mental capacity, so you can allocate your attention to other tasks. 10/5/21 5:31 AM
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Building habits in the present allows you to do more of what you want in the future. 10/5/21 5:32 AM
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The process of building a habit can be divided into four simple steps: cue, craving, response, and reward.* Breaking it down into these fundamental parts can help us understand what a habit is, how it works, and how to improve it.
workflow of habits
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Cues are meaningless until they are interpreted. The thoughts, feelings, and emotions of the observer are what transform a cue into a craving. 10/5/21 5:35 AM
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The response is the actual habit you perform, which can take the form of a thought or an action. Whether a response occurs depends on how motivated you are and how much friction is associated with the behavior. If a particular action requires more physical or mental effort than you are willing to expend, then you wonât do it. 10/5/21 5:37 AM
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Finally, the response delivers a reward. Rewards are the end goal of every habit. The cue is about noticing the reward. The craving is about wanting the reward. The response is about obtaining the reward. We chase rewards because they serve two purposes: (1) they satisfy us and (2) they teach us. 10/5/21 5:37 AM
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ometimes the problem is that you notice something good and you want to obtain it. Sometimes the problem is that you are experiencing pain and you want to relieve it. Either way, the purpose of every habit is to solve the problems you face. 10/5/21 5:38 AM
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How to Create a Good Habit
The 1st law (Cue): Make it obvious.
The 2nd law (Craving): Make it attractive.
The 3rd law (Response): Make it easy.
The 4th law (Reward): Make it satisfying. 10/5/21 5:40 AM
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How to Break a Bad Habit
Inversion of the 1st law (Cue): Make it invisible.
Inversion of the 2nd law (Craving): Make it unattractive.
Inversion of the 3rd law (Response): Make it difficult.
Inversion of the 4th law (Reward): Make it unsatisfying. 10/5/21 5:40 AM
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A habit is a behavior that has been repeated enough times to become automatic.
The ultimate purpose of habits is to solve the problems of life with as little energy and effort as possible.
Any habit can be broken down into a feedback loop that involves four steps: cue, craving, response, and reward.
The Four Laws of Behavior Change are a simple set of rules we can use to build better habits. They are (1) make it obvious, (2) make it attractive, (3) make it easy, and (4) make it satisfying. 10/5/21 5:41 AM
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Quotes
Habits are mental shortcuts learned from experience. In a sense, a habit is just a memory of the steps you previously followed to solve a problem in the past. Whenever the conditions are right, you can draw on this memory and automatically apply the same solution. The primary reason the brain remembers the past is to better predict what will work in the future.