How To Break Bad Habits and Form Good Ones

1. All Habits are Based on a Four-step Pattern

1.1. The environment is the invisible hand that shapes human behavior.

1.2. The four-step pattern:

1.2.1. Cue.

1.2.2. Craving.

1.2.3. Response.

1.2.4. Reward.

2. You Must Make Habits Obvious, Attractive, Easy, and Satisfying

2.1. Four laws of behavior change:

2.1.1. Make it obvious.

2.1.1.1. Don’t hide your fruits in your fridge, put them on display front and center.

2.1.2. Make it attractive.

2.1.2.1. Start with the fruit you like the most, so you’ll actually want to eat one when you see it.

2.1.3. Make it easy.

2.1.3.1. Don’t create needless friction by focusing on fruits that are hard to peel. Bananas and apples are super easy to eat

2.1.4. Make it satisfying.

2.1.4.1. If you like the fruit you picked, you’ll love eating it and feel healthier as a result!

2.2. Apply these to all kinds of good habits

2.3. Do the opposite for bad habits. Make them invisible, unattractive, difficult, and unsatisfying.

3. Use Habit Trackers to Stick to Your New Behaviors

3.1. Keep yourself accountable without becoming overwhelmed by tracking your habits with a habit tracker.

3.2. Keep a record of all the behaviors you want to establish or abandon and, at the end of each day, mark which ones you succeeded with.

3.3. This record can be a single piece of paper, a journal, a calendar, or a digital tool, like an app.

3.4. Mark your calendar with a big ‘X’ every day, when you succeed with a habit

3.5. Soon, your goal will be to not break the chain.