Change Your Habits, Change Your Life
This week’s blog lays out the four laws of behavior change based on the book Atomic Habits by James Clear. Although it may not sound sexy, your habits influence your behavior every day which can change your life and increase the likelihood that you will achieve your goals. For those of us who are setting goals and creating the framework to achieve them, habits are an important part of that framework.
The first law is: make it obvious. The best way to start a new habit is to use the Implementation Intention formula - I will (behavior) at (Time) in (Location). I will work out every morning at 9 am at the YMCA. I will write in my journal at 7 am at my desk.
One way to make it obvious is to make it part of a “Habit Stack.” Habit stacking was created by BJ Fogg at Stanford University as part of his Tiny Habits program to begin a new habit. His formula is: “After I (current habit), I will (new habit). Let’s say you want to start drinking more water, here’s what you do. After you brush your teeth in the morning, you will drink 16 ounces of water. One of my morning habit stacks is to 1) read for 5 minutes, then 2) plan my day and prioritize what needs to get done in my calendar, then 3) I write 3 things I am grateful for in my gratitude journal and I keep my reading, calendar, and journal together on my desk. I know I should meditate every day so this week I will begin meditating by adding it to my stack. After I read, I will meditate, and since my habits are ingrained I will continue with the rest of my existing habits. Environmental Triggers also make it easier to implement habits. I will put a chime on my desk with my reading, calendar, and journal to trigger my new meditation habit. Making things visible, the obvious choice, helps you do those things.
The second law is: make it attractive. There is a method called Temptation Bundling which takes an Action you want to do and adds something you need. I created a habit of doing a horizontal plank exercise for 3 minutes every day by playing one of my favorite songs, “Good Day for a Good Day” by Michael Franti for those 3 minutes. I can sing along with the music and think positive thoughts while I increase my strength.
The third law is: make it easy. I make it easy to plank every day by keeping a yoga mat next to my desk. If I start to review what I did during the day and I realize I haven’t done my 3 minutes yet, I unroll my mat and grab my phone. It’s super easy and does not require a lot of thought. Another way of saying that is that you can make it easy by reducing the friction. The opposite is true when you want to stop a “bad” habit. You increase the friction. If you want to stop eating junk food or if you want to stop drinking soda, don’t keep it in the house. If you need to go to the store you will increase the friction. Keeping what you want accessible and easy to find reduces friction, which makes it easy to do.
The fourth law is: make it satisfying. Satisfy your senses. If it smells good, tastes good, or in my case, sounds good, it increases the pleasure of doing it. The Cardinal Rule of Behavior Change is ”What is rewarded is repeated. What is punished is avoided.” This ensures that you will repeat the habit. Singing and dancing to a song I like, even while planking is satisfying and pleasurable. We all like instant gratification. I feel satisfaction every time by checking off my habit on my list. You can also celebrate your accomplishment by doing a little dance or giving yourself a reward like a sticker or a hot shower.
I hope you were able to make it through these laws to understand some of the thinking behind habits, how to add them into your life, and how to change your habits. Believe it or not, if you change your habits, you can change your life.
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find a way to take care of yourself and all of your responsibilities pulling in so many different directions
figure out what’s working and what’s not working in your life
make changes with encouraging support
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