📚 The Book in 3 Bullets

• We are what we habitually do. Small improvements every day don’t just add up to big improvements, they compound into great results in the long run.

• Don't give up on a habit even if it feels trivial and you're not making progress. Good things take time and results have a latent period for big goals.

• Make new habits easy, obvious, appealing, and satisfying. Focus on taking action (not I should...)

✍️ My Top quotes

• The real reason habits matter is not because they can get you better results, but because they can change your beliefs about yourself.

• It is the anticipation of a reward—not the fulfillment of it—that gets us to take action. The greater the anticipation, the greater the dopamine spike.

• In order to break bad habits, make them invisible. The most effective way to stop bad habits is by cutting them off at their source. (If you're continually feeling like you're not enough, stop following social media accounts that trigger jealousy and envy)

• The human brain evolved to prioritize immediate rewards over delayed rewards.

📖 Summary & Notes

• A habit is a behavior that has been repeated enough times to become automatic.

• The purpose of habits is to solve the problems of life with as little energy and effort as possible.

• Don't dismiss small changes even if they seem not to matter very much at the moment, by repeating good small habits they will compound into something great.

• Your outcomes are a lagging measure of your habits. You get what you repeat.

• Complaining about not achieving success despite working hard is like complaining about an ice cube not melting when you heat it from 25 to 31 degrees.

• If you want to get better results, stop focusing on your goals and start focusing on your system.

• Small changes often appear to make no difference until you cross a critical threshold. Be patient.

• An atomic habit is a little habit that is part of a larger system.

• Redefine your goals. The goal is not to read a book, but to become a reader. The goal is not to run a marathon, but to become a runner.

• Habits are not about having something, they're about becoming someone.

• The most effective way to change your habits is to focus not on what you want to achieve but on who you wish to become.

• Becoming the best version of yourself requires you to continuously edit your beliefs, and upgrade and expand your identity.

The Four Laws of Habit Change (To break bad habits do the opposite of these)

1. Make it obvious (cue)

2. Make it attractive (craving)

3. Make it easy (response)

4. Make it satisfying (reward)

• With enough practice, your brain will pick up on the cues that predict certain outcomes without consciously thinking about it.

• Once our habits become automatic, we stop paying attention to what we are doing.

• The process of behavior change always starts with awareness. You need to be aware of your habits before you can change them.

• Pointing-and-calling raises your level of awareness from a non-conscious habit to a more conscious level by verbalizing your actions.

• The most common habit cues are time and location.

• Use the formula [BEHAVIOR] at [TIME] in [LOCATION]

  • Example: I will meditate for 1 minute after breakfast at the kitchen table.

• Habit stacking is a strategy you can pair a new habit with a current habit.

• The habit stacking formula is [CURRENT HABIT], I will [NEW HABIT]

• Every habit is initiated by a cue. We are more likely to notice cues that stand out. Make it obvious.

• Motivation is overrated; the environment often matters more.

• Make the cues of good habits obvious in your environment.

  • Set books in plain sight in areas that you visit often if you want to read more.

• It is easier to build new habits in a new environment because you are not fighting against old cues.

• Once a habit is formed, it is likely to be forgotten.

• People with high self-control tend to spend less time in tempting situations. It's easier to avoid temptation than resist it.

• Habits are a dopamine-driven feedback loop. When dopamine rises, so does our motivation to act.

• Temptation bundling is one way to make your habits more attractive. The strategy is to pair an action you want to do with something you need to do.

  • Example: watching Netflix and running at the same time.

• The culture we live in determines which behaviors are attractive to us.

• We tend to adopt habits that are praised and approved of by our culture.

• We tend to imitate the habits of three social groups: the close (family and friends), the many (the tribe), and the powerful (those with status and prestige).

• The normal behavior of the tribe often overpowers the desired behavior of the individual. Most days, we'd rather be wrong with the crowd than be right by ourselves.

• Your habits are modern-day solutions to ancient problems (you check Instagram to feel approved and validated, and you watch youtube to forget about your fears).

• Highlight the benefits of a bad habit to make it appear unattractive.

• Habits are attractive when we associate them with positive feelings and unattractive when we associate them with negative feelings. Create a motivation ritual by doing something you enjoy before a difficult habit.

• The most effective form of learning is practice, not planning.

• Focus on taking action, not being in motion.

• Change your language from “I have to” to “I get to”

  • “I get to wake up early for work, I get to cook dinner for my family”.

• Habit formation is the process by which a behavior becomes progressively more automatic through repetition.

• The amount of time you have been performing a habit doesn't matter as much as the number of times you've performed it.

• Create an environment where doing the right thing is as easy as possible.

• Reduce the friction associated with good behaviors. When friction is low, habits are easy.

  • Meal prep healthy snacks that are easy to grab.

  • The opposite of this is to increase the friction for bad habits like leaving your phone in a different room while working. Or deleting social media after using it.

• Prime your environment to make future actions easier.

  • Set out workout clothes the night before your workout.

• The 2-minute rule states, that when you start a new habit, it should take less than two minutes to do.

• Standardize before you optimize. You can't improve a habit that doesn't exist.

• Many habits occur at decisive moments—choices that are like a fork in the road—and either send you in the direction of a productive day or an unproductive day.

• Onetime choices—like buying a better mattress or enrolling in an automatic savings plan—are single actions that automate your future habits and deliver increasing returns over time.

• Using technology to automate your habits is the most reliable and effective way to guarantee the right behavior.

• The best way to break a bad habit is to make it impractical to do it.

• We are more likely to repeat a behavior when the experience is satisfying.

• Stop searching for quick hits of satisfaction. It feels good at the moment but doesn’t add up to anything. Take the road less traveled of delayed gratification. A longer wait for rewards often yields the greatest results.

• Incentives can start a habit, identity sustains a habit.

• A habit tracker is a simple way to measure whether you did a habit—like marking X on the calendar.

• Habit trackers and other visual forms of measurement can make your habits satisfying by providing clear evidence of your progress.

• Life will inevitably interrupt your habits at some point. Never miss twice, if you miss one day, try to get back on track as quickly as possible.

• Just because you can measure something doesn't mean it's the most important thing.

• An accountability partner can create an immediate cost to inaction. We care deeply about what others think of us, and we do not want others to have a lesser opinion of us.

• A habit contract can be used to add a social cost to any behavior.

• Knowing that someone else is watching you can be a powerful motivator.

• Pick the right habit and progress is easy. Pick the wrong habit and life is a struggle.

• Genes cannot be easily changed, which means they provide a powerful advantage in favorable circumstances and a serious disadvantage in unfavorable circumstances.

• Habits are easier when they align with your natural abilities. Choose the habits that best suit you.

• Genes do not eliminate the need for hard work. They clarify it. They tell us what to work hard on.

• The Goldilocks Rule states that humans experience peak motivation when working on tasks that are right on the edge of their current abilities.

• The greatest threat to success is not failure but boredom.

• As habits become routine, they become less interesting and less satisfying. We get bored.

• Anyone can work hard when they feel motivated. It's the ability to keep going when work isn't exciting that makes the difference.

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

• The upside of habits is that we can do things without thinking. The downside is that we stop paying attention to little errors.

• Habits + Deliberate practice = Mastery

• Reflection and review is a process that allows you to remain conscious of your performance over time.

• The tighter we cling to an identity, the harder it becomes to grow beyond it.

  • Have multiple parts of your identity (I am a reader, I am a curious person, I am an exerciser, I am a nature enthusiast)