The Surprisingly Obvious Trick to Build Better Habits ??
An automatic habit, good or bad, desired or not, is a habit that has become hard wired in our brain. By definition, when an action has evolved to become automatic habit, we do it without making a conscious decision.
Whenever I walk into the office of a specific colleague, I see the glass candy jar on her desk that she always keeps filled with the "good stuff". Without thinking, I always grab myself a treat. I might remove the candy wrapper as I leave her office or I might enjoy it later, but I always grab one. This begs the question: How do we have the same thing happen automatically with our desired habits?
Can You Make It More Obvious?
This book that I'm reading gave the simplest example of the opposite of my not-so-encouraged automatic response to seeing a candy jar. The anecdote goes that some guy began to notice that he has been throwing away most of the apples he buys. But what is happening? He doesn't bring home an absurd number of apples from the grocery stores; he buys the amount that he would like himself to eat - an apple a day. Neither is he keeping the apples where they tend to go bad quicker; he keeps them in a basket inside the pantry cabinet. He simply doesn't go through all the apples before they start going bad.
This all changed when someone suggested that he puts out a bowl on the counter and always have a few apples in it. He walks by the counter every day. That's where he picks up his keys before heading out and that's where he puts his cellphone whenever he gets home. Guess what is on the counter now? The delicious apples in a beautiful fruit bowl. The apples more obvious and visible to him and he is reminded that he likes apples - he eats an apple every day.
Design your environment. Make the cues of good habits obvious and visible. - James Clear
If for some reason this inspired you to eat more apples or any other fruits, I've included a link to help you make the make the cues more obvious and visible ??
领英推荐
Implementation Intention: Time & Location
Besides making the cues for good habits more obvious in our environment, James Clear offers two other techniques. The first one involves using time and location as the cue. The idea is simple: determine a specific time and location where you will perform the behavior. For example, my wife and I have decided that at 6:00pm every Wednesday, we will show up at the apartment complex gym. This has made it more likely for us to follow through our intention than just saying we will do it regularly ???
Habit Stacking: Use Current Habits as The Cues
The next technique is simple and straightforward as well (another reason I enjoy this author's ideas). Identify actions that are already deeply rooted habits which you perform automatically and use them as a cue to perform your new habit. For example, maybe you have a tendency to forget your phone behind when you leave your car, but you always remember to lock the car. Try to make yourself say out loud "Phone!" whenever you press the lock button on the car key. Over time this easy act will come naturally, and you gain a very helpful habit of reminding yourself to make sure you didn't leave your phone behind in the car, perhaps on the phone holder ????
Several years ago, I had the opportunity to visit a Toyota factory in Georgetown, Kentucky. There I noticed whenever the fork truck drivers got to an intersection, they pointed to where they are driving to. This helped the pedestrians know whether the fork trucks are going straight or turning, which was important and could make the difference in avoiding a horrible accident. It was later explained to me that this conscious act of pointing also helps the driver be more conscious of their environment, especially where they are moving towards with the fork trucks. The book gave an example of train drivers in Japan using similar system to help maintain mindfulness which has helped Japanese railway maintained an impressive safety record.
Read Atomic Habits with me! ??