Habits: Build desired habits and break unwanted habits
Make it obvious, attractive, easy and satisfying; or invisible, unattractive, difficult and unsatisfying.
In the previous phase you determined which habits you want to build or break to become the type of person you want to be. In this phase you will build or break these habits using strategies and techniques based on James Clear’s four-step habit model: cue, craving, response, and reward (see References).
Increase the chance of successfully building a habit by asking yourself:
🤔 How can I make it obvious, attractive, easy and satisfying?
Increase the chance of successfully breaking a habit by asking yourself:
🤔 How can I make it invisible, unattractive, difficult and unsatisfying?
⚒️ Cue: make it obvious or invisible
When you want to build a habit, ask yourself: How can I make it obvious?
When you want to break a habit, ask yourself: How can I make it invisible?
Every habit is initiated by noticing the relevant cue, the thing that starts off the habit for you. Cues that stand out are more likely to be noticed. You can add or remove cues from your physical environment, move to a different location to escape cues that trigger unwanted habits, or use implementation intentions and habit stacking to make it obvious when and where you plan to perform a new habit.
For details see:
🔗 Habits: Make the cue obvious or invisible
⚒️ Craving: make it attractive or unattractive
When you want to build a habit, ask yourself: How can I make it attractive?
When you want to break a habit, ask yourself: How can I make it unattractive?
Craving is the motivating force behind our behaviour. When we expect a certain behaviour to be rewarding (= attractive), our craving for that behaviour rises, which increases our motivation to act. You can make behaviour more attractive by linking something you have to do with something you like to do (temptation bundling), reframing difficult habits, creating a motivation ritual that puts you in the right mental state, or joining a social environment where your desired behaviour is the usual behaviour. You can break a bad habit by replacing it with a more helpful behaviour through the underlying motive of the habit.
For details see:
🔗 Habits: Make behaviour attractive or unattractive
⚒️ Response: make it easy or difficult
When you want to build a habit, ask yourself: How can I make it easy?
When you want to break a habit, ask yourself: How can I make it difficult?
Humans are lazy by nature: we tend to put as little effort into tasks as possible, because our brains are wired to conserve our precious energy whenever possible. The less energy an action requires, the more likely we are to perform it. You can make behaviour easier or harder by redesigning your physical environment, managing decisive moments that have a major impact on what follows, and using commitment devices that limit your options in the future. Using the Two-Minute Rule makes it easy to start a new habit.
For details see:
🔗 Habits: Make behaviour easy or difficult
⚒️ Reward: make it satisfying or unsatisfying
When you want to build a habit, ask yourself: How can I make it satisfying?
When you want to break a habit, ask yourself: How can I make it unsatisfying?
We tend to repeat behaviours that are immediately satisfying and avoid behaviours that are not. You can make desired behaviour immediately satisfying by adding a reward at the end of the behaviour, or by making your progress visible with a habit tracker. You can make unwanted behaviour unsatisfying by having an accountability partner or entering into habit contracts that contain an immediate penalty for failure to fulfil agreed obligations.
For details see:
🔗 Habits: Make behaviour satisfying or unsatisfying
🎉👏🎈
The four-step habit model gives you a useful framework for devising techniques that will increase your chances of successfully building desired habits and breaking unwanted ones. All with the ultimate goal of becoming the type of person you want to be.
References
Atomic Habits, by James Clear
My blogposts about habits are available here:
https://www.a3lifedesign.com/blog-english/category/Habits
