Atomic Habits

It’s been already some time since I finished this book, and it helped to cut a lifelong bad habit: nail-biting. I used to listen to this book during my workout routines, and I do not regret it. I’d like to share my key findings of this book and what applied to me the most with some personal examples from what I can recall.

How to break a bad habit.

Change your mindset, do not say, I’m quitting smoking, I’m stopping to eat my nails. Say I’m not a smoker, I do not eat nails. When you do this your brain assimilates you as a new type of person.

Cue

Your brain associates trigger to habits, if every time you had lunch you eat a bar of chocolate afterward, your brain associates lunch with chocolate reward. You have to replace this, make it clear, every time I have lunch, I’ll brush my teeth afterward. With time the connection will fade.

Craving

We do not crave smoking, eating chocolate, drinking alcohol, having sex, or watching pornography. We crave the reward it gives us. The satisfaction, the release of dopamine. Ideally, you should cut your craving, but if not possible reduce it. Buy a bar of chocolate you don’t like or a bad-tasting cigarette.

Response

It’s normal to fail and do the bad habit again, when this happens take some action to make it harder to happen again. Throw your chocolates in the trash, this way it will force you to go to the supermarket and buy again. Put your tv and phone away when you are in your bedroom, this way you won’t be lured to watch tv, social networks, and so on.

Punishment

Good habits are formed by rewards and bad ones are cut by punishments. Whenever you make a bad habit find a way to make it unpleasant. Have an accountability partner, put away one item you like, or transfer to your long-term savings some amount of crash.

How to build a good habit

Make obvious:

If you make the trigger to do the action harder you probably won’t do:

• If you want to start eating fruits, put them on the table
• Don’t hide the dumbbells where is the hardest place to take them out, put them at your living room
• Put the face creams in front of you when you brush your teeth in the morning

Make it attractive

If you want to start eating more fruits and don’t like eating kiwis, don’t pick it, pick the fruit you like the most at first, then eat the other one. This way you will start and will be less likely to avoid it at first.

Make it easy

If it takes you too much effort to do you probably will skip:

• Don’t commit to 30min reading, but 2 pages at a day
• Don’t commit to going to exercise 5 days a week, start by one a week

Make it satisfying

Reward yourself after your habit, if you study for 45 min, you can surf on the internet 15min. This way you will be creating a habit. Using apps to track habits makes you know how good you are doing it, when you have a streak reward you with something like going out, being allowed to eat certain food.