A short summary of Atomic Habits
Make unconscious conscious.
- List your daily behaviors. Categorize as positive, negative or neutral.
- Find underlying motives behind behaviors.
System is better than goals.
- Show up without fail. Lost days hurt you more than successful days help you.
- Temptation bundling. Combine “what u need to do” with “what u want to do”
- Stack habits. After [this habit] i will [new habit]
- State your intention to act clearly. I will [behavior] at [time] in [this location]
1% increment every day.
- Small changes will roll up to a major behavior change over time. Have patience.
Prime your environment.
- Environment works better than motivation.
- Make things visible. Out of sight is out of mind.
- Make bad habits invisible or unattractive. eg. Put your phone in a different room
- Make separate zones. One space, one use.
- Find groups of like minded people.
- Reduce friction. Mediocre gym close by is better than a great gym 20 minutes away.
- Automate or prime the environment to aid a habit. eg. Have a night routine to set everything up which you might need to start on an activity on the next morning.
Make it easy, satisfying, attractive and pleasurable to do positive things
- Dopamine spikes due to the anticipation of something, not when we actually get it. Craving causes us to act.
- Find a 2 min activity. Gradually increase.
- Have small wins.
- Measure progress in a visual tracker.