Atomic Habit Building Cheatsheet (James Clear)
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Cues can come in different forms:
Physical environment cue:
- Leave my journal with pen open next to my bed
Behavioral cue:
- Do my 10 minutes of meditation right after I have my morning coffee (using an existing habit as a cue is called ‘habit stacking’)
Social cue:
- Make my friend an accountability partner so we check-in on each other on our new habits.
2/ Make it Desirable - Craving Dopamine, the neurochemical associated with motivation, is activated before an anticipated event.
In other words, the desirability of your action drives your motivation.
How do we make habits more desirable?
Add delight:
- Put on your favorite cologne/perfume when you workout.
- Do it at the right time
- Do your workout when you are most motivated (don't overestimate yourself)
- Think opportunistically
Add 'I get to..' to any difficult habit.
'I get to workout because I'm not sick.'
3/ Make it Easy - Response Simply taking action is more valuable than optimizing for the best method or strategy.
And for habit building— simply putting in more reps is more valuable and increase likelihood of success than less reps—even if with more intensity.
Here’s how to make habits easier:
- Just start doing it for 2 minutes
- Make the first step within reach
- Make the first step simple and quick to do
4/ Make it Satisfying - Reward Rewards—especially immediate and unpredictable ones—are key for habit building. They release dopamine and wire us with increased motivation.
Delayed rewards and the same boring ones also aren’t motivating which is why it’s best when the rewards are variable/random and immediate.
Attach rewards to your habit efforts:
- Pick a reward with unpredictability
- Chat with a friend about their day on the way back from the gym.
- Share your progress
- Tell a friend, share on social, accountability partner/group..etc about how you did.
- Track visually
Use a habit tracker or check list to feel good every time you check off what you've done