Habit Compound

Two excellent books I absorbed in rapid succession were The Power of Habit and Atomic Habits. The first was written by Charles Duhigg, whilst the second was by James Clear.

According to these authors, changing any habit is possible and a huge amount of research has gone into this subject. We now understand the science behind habits.

Significant studies have unveiled fascinating insights; for example habits cannot be eradicated, they must be replaced. With the same cue and the same reward, a new routine can be inserted.

We need to believe that change is possible, and ideally we need the help of a community to accelerate habit change.

If we want a habit to change, we must find an alternative routine and our odds of success go up dramatically when we commit to something as a group, or as an individual with an accountability partner.

Habits allow us to achieve the seemingly impossible by making a tough task a mechanical habit. Don't overthink a task, go into auto-mode to get it done. What starts as a belief can lead to change. The new reality, with persistence, can become an inevitability.

Duhigg provides a practical framework to address cue-routine-reward; a kind of manual for where to go next:

1. Identify the "routine" loop - cue/routine/reward. A personal habit example for me; kids have gone to bed, sit down in front of TV, relax and enjoy some entertainment.
2. Experiment with rewards - these are powerful because they satisfy cravings. For example I could journal about the first 3 things that come to mind once my kids are in bed.
3. Isolate the cue - environmental cues are critical. For example, location, time, emotional state, other people involved, immediately preceding action, etc.
4. Have a plan (to change the routine if it is one you don't value)!

For example, my TV watching habit is triggered at a certain time. I would then need to have a plan to mitigate cue-routine-reward to change the behaviour.

Implementation intentions are vital, these help us to be very specific. For example Mel Robbins in her book the 5 Second Rule, said, when her alarm went off every morning, in her bed she would say 5,4,3,2,1 and would then sit up and get out of bed.

In his book "Atomic Habits", James Clear explains that habits help fulfil potential. He offers an operating manual, an insight into the science of creating and changing behaviour. He talks about cue-craving-response-reward.

Thankfully, Clear summarises each chapter in his book. I've summarised his summaries to emphasise the excellent key points he conveys.

Chapter 1: Habits are the compound interest of self improvement: 1% every day can work for or against us. Small changes appear to make no difference until they do. There is a delayed effect, we need patience. Atomic habits are a little part of a larger system.

We do not rise to the level of our goals, we fall to level of our systems!

Chapter 2: There are 3 levels of change; outcome change, process change, identity change. Identity emerges out of our habits; every action is a vote for who we want to become. Habits can help us change our beliefs about ourselves, as well as helping us unleash the best version of ourselves!

Chapter 3: A habit is a behaviour that has been repeated enough times to become automatic. The ultimate purpose of a habit is to solve the problems of life with as little effort as possible. Habits can be broken down to cue-craving-response-reward.

The laws of behaviour change are as follows: 1. Make it obvious. 2. Make it attractive. 3. Make it easy. 4. Make it satisfying.

Chapter 4: 1st Law - Make it obvious: With enough practice, our brains will pick up on cues that predict certain outcomes without conscious thought. Once habits become automatic, we stop paying attention to what we are doing. Behaviour change starts with awareness, we need to be aware of our habits before we can change them. "Pointing and calling" is a way to achieve awareness, and using a habit scorecard is a simple exercise.

Chapter 5: Make our plans specific: "During the next week, I will____ on____ at____ in____. This is an implementation intention sentence which according to research, significantly increases the chance of the plan becoming a reality. The most common cues are time and location. Habit stacking is a strategy whereby we can pair a new habit with a current habit: After ____, I will ____.

Chapter 6: Small changes in context can lead to large changes in behaviour over time. Every habit is initiated by a cue, if this is made obvious and stands out, the cue becomes associated with the context. It is easier to build a habit in a new environment (like a fresh start). Environment matters, for example, bedroom for sleep, study to study, office to work, etc.

Chapter 7: The inverse/reverse applies, so make cues invisible or unobvious to remove bad behaviours. For example, remove junk food from the pantry!

Chapter 8: 2nd law - Make it attractive: This is more likely to be successful for habit forming. Habits are dopamine driven and anticipation is key. Want vs need, we need to want to do the thing we are trying to implement (for example go to the gym every week day).

Chapter 9: The culture we live in determines the habits that are important/attractive to us. We adapt to what is important/praised and approved. We tend to align to the close, the many, the powerful. Join a community and culture where our desired behaviour is normal behaviour. If a habit can get us approval, respect and praise, we will find it attractive. For example the Hungarian chess prodigies - the Polgar sisters.

Chapter 10: To cement a good habit, make it obvious, use card implementation intentions, apply habit-stacking. Make it attractive, want and need, join a culture where desired is normal. Try and make it enjoyable. To remove a bad habit, highlight the benefit of avoiding it!

Chapter 11: 3rd law - Make it easy: The most important/effective form of learning is practice not planning, focus on being in action not just motion, habits become more automatic through repetition. The number of times we do something is more important than the amount of time spent on it, in order for a habit to form. For example meditating for 1 minute a day has more chance of survival than once a week for 7 minutes.

Chapter 12: Human behaviour gravitates towards the least possible amount of work. Create an environment where doing the right thing is as easy as possible. Reduce the friction associated with good behaviours, if friction is low, habits are easy. Increase the friction associated with bad behaviours, prime the environment to make future actions easier!

Chapter 13: Habits can be completed quickly but have a long term impact, many habits can be choices that are like a fork in the road, they affect a productive or unproductive day. The 2-minute rule states that when we start a new habit it should take less than 2 minutes to do. The more we ritualise the beginning of a process, the more likely it becomes that we can slip into the state of deep focus that is required to do great things.

Standardise before we optimise, we can't improve a habit that does not exist!

Chapter 14: To embed a good habit: make it easy, decrease friction, prime the environment, master the decisive moments. Remember the 2-minute rule. Automate habits. To remove a bad habit: make it difficult, increase friction, control the environment!

Chapter 15: 4th law - Make the habit satisfying: we are more likely to repeat activities when they are satisfying. The human brain evolved to prefer immediate over delayed rewards. So the cardinal rule of behavioural change:

What is rewarded is repeated, what is immediately punished is avoided. To get a habit to stick we need to feel immediately successful even if in a small way. Satisfaction increases the likelihood that the habit will be repeated next time.

Chapter 16: Satisfaction is linked to a sense of making progress. Habit trackers can help, we need to evidence progress, keep our habit streak alive, don't break the chain. BUT, just because you can measure something does not make it the most important indicator in your life. "Fitbits" which track daily steps may be a good example of this point.

Chapter 17: To break a bad habit, make it unsatisfying, make the cost of doing it public and painful (if necessary)!

Chapter 18: The secret to maximising the odds of success is to choose the right field of competition for ourselves. Choose the right habit and progress is easy. Habits are easier when they align with our natural abilities. However, we should remember that the right genes do not eliminate the need for hard work!

Chapter 19: The "Goldilocks rule" is that humans experience peak motivation when working on tasks that are right on the edge of our current abilities. The greatest threat to success is boredom. The ability to keep going when work is not exciting is what makes the difference.

Professionals stick to the schedule, amateurs let life get in the way.

Chapter 20: The upside of habits is that we can do things without thinking. The downside is that we stop paying attention to little errors. Reflection and regular review is essential.

Habits plus deliberate practice = mastery.

Conclusion: The author illustrates the concept of atomic habits with the analogy of a pile of coins. Initially the pile might not be enough to represent a level of notable wealth. But if a coin is added at regular intervals (say every minute), at some point that individual will be considered truly wealthy. Repeated action, at some point enables a breakthrough.10,000 hours and 1,000 1% improvements allow a disciplined professional to one day become an "overnight success"!

As an improvement "junkie" myself, I found these books extremely helpful and I recommend them to one and all. As a professional performance coach, I was inspired by some of the insights. These key insights are the ones I've highlighted for our collective learning benefit in this article. Certainly the first one strikes the strongest chord given my experiences helping campaign leaders at the frontline... "we fall to the level of our systems"!

A proven performance management system ensures a high level of performance. Let us ensure we are all investing in a system of habits that helps us get better and better.