What was the first thing you did this morning after waking up? Did you remind yourself how busy your day is? Did you check your phone? Did you rush to the kitchen to prepare breakfast? Did you rush for a shower? I first checked my phone and then, reminded myself how busy my day is, and rushed to the kitchen.
Most of the choices we make at any point of time throughout the day look like a well-considered decision, but they are not. They are HABITS. Simply put, they are a set of behaviors that we do without thinking or conscious effort.
It is a fact that our daily routines and behaviors, like our morning routine or the times for which we pick up our phones and check social media or number of times we complain about the weather or traffic etc. are purely well-established habits!!!! And it is also a fact that if awareness, planning and efforts are employed we can very much rewire our brain to accept or reject particular behaviors.
It is rightly said, “We first make our habits, then our habits make us.” Essentially, habits have the power to influence our personal life, relationships, health, finances and so our entire future!!!!
A lot has been said and written about, installing new healthy effective habits and getting rid of old harmful ineffective ones.
Getting up at 5am unhurriedly and allowing myself 1 hour of ‘ME’ time, is on top of my priority list, of habit installation. I have been stumbling over a lot of hurdles but have not yet given up. I recently read the book ‘Atomic Habits’ by James Clear. I am sure most of you know about it or have read it. This book proved to be a total game changer to me personally. Let me share a small summary of the book in this blog. I will write about how much I could implement from the book and how much I could benefit from it in the next blog.
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Here are few key topics covered in the book:
# The science of how habits form:
The process of habit formation can be divided into four simple steps: Cue→ Craving→ Response→ Reward. These four stages of habit are best described as a feedback loop. This ‘Habit Loop’ is continually scanning the environment, predicting what will happen next, trying out different responses, and learning from the results.
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- Cue: A piece of information that suggests there is a reward to be found. It triggers our brain to initiate a behavior
- Craving: The anticipation of positive reward or the avoidance of negative reward. It motivates a response
- Response: The habit itself.
- Reward: Positive reward received after the actual behavior
# The Four Laws Of Behavior Change:
- 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
- How to break a Bad Habit:
The inversion of all the above 4 laws:
- Make the Cue invisible
- Make It unattractive
- Make it difficult
- Make it unsatisfying
What else can you discover in the book…
# The most effective way to change our habits is to focus not on what we want to achieve, but on who we wish to become.
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“For deeper habit-building guidance, feel free to explore our structured self-improvement Courses.”
# Exercises like Point-and-calling and Habits Scorecard can be used to become more aware of our behavior.
# One of the most effective things to build better habits is to join a culture where the desired behavior is the normal behavior.
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# Habits are attractive when we associate them with positive feelings and unattractive when we associate them with negative feelings.
“If you’re looking to begin your own transformation journey, our Courses page provides step-by-step support.”
#Human behavior follows the Law of Least Effort. We will naturally gravitate toward the option that requires the least amount of work.
And there is so much more. Do grab a copy of the book ‘Atomic Habits’ to systematically redesign your daily routine and introduce the habits which you have always wanted to.
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Success is the product of daily habits, not once in a lifetime transformation.
James Clear