#10 - A Proven System to Change Your Behaviour

Last week we covered my Rule of 5.

5 of my favourite habits.

All with an easy way to get started with each.

Now we are going to take a step back.

We are going to look at the universal principles that underlie behaviour change.

These principles come from the International bestseller Atomic Habits by James Clear (required reading by the way).

The essence of the book is that small changes, implemented for long enough, will produce outstanding results.

This is what I was trying to capture with my Rule of 5.

But the question is, how do you implement these changes?

That is what this piece is all about.

Throughout, we are going to use going to the gym as a real-world example of how to implement each of these laws.

I will also provide the opposite of each law.

These principles can be used to break bad habits.

Before we dive in, here is a cautionary note.

Don’t start something you can’t continue.

One of my core beliefs is that we should optimise for the long term as much as we can.

Think in decades. Act in days.

In my view, we shouldn’t be filling our days with things that compromise us later down the line.

Let’s take fitness as an example.

If you are just starting, you might see a high-level athlete training 6-7x per week.

You therefore try to adopt the same schedule.

This is admirable but misguided.

The chances of you continuing a 6-7x per week training schedule month-to-month, year-to-year and decade-to-decade are low in the beginning.

Start smaller.

2x per week or 3x per week.

This is much less likely to feel overwhelming and is much easier to stick to consistently.

Thus, a much more solid foundation is built to train more often once the habit has been built.

A small thing becomes a big thing.

Don’t start what you can’t continue.

Now, let’s get stuck into these 4 laws of behaviour change.

Step 1 - Make it Obvious.

It is difficult to notice what we cannot see or are not aware of.

The first step to implementing a new habit is to make it easy to see.

Make it so obvious it cannot be missed.

Considering our example of going to the gym, here are some possible action steps:

• Schedule when you will go to the gym in your phone calendar with a notification

• Have your gym clothes put in a visible space in your house. Out and ready to go

• If you drive to the gym, put your keys next to your clothes. This way you are reminded of the gym every time you think about driving somewhere

If you need to break a bad habit, make the cue for the habit invisible.

• Delete certain apps from your phone

• Keep junk food out of the house

Step 2 - Make it Attractive.

Once your mind has registered a habit, you now need to feel compelled to do it.

This is where having a valued goal comes in.

If the habit you are building aligns with the goal you want to achieve, you will be driven to do the habit.

If there is no goal or the habit does not align with a purpose, the drive and motivation won’t be there.

With our gym example, you need to be driven to actually go and train.

This might be because you want to perform better, look good or build self-respect.

Whatever habit it is for you, have a strong purpose and why behind it.

1. Have a goal

2. Reverse engineer it and figure out what habits will get you there

3. Implement those habits

When breaking a bad habit, make the thing really unattractive.

The best way to do this is again to have a goal.

This will naturally discourage things that get in the way of pursuing the goal.

Step 3 - Make it Easy.

Convenient. Not much friction.

We humans are often lazy.

We are meant to conserve energy.

Cultivating discipline and willpower is great. But, becoming overly reliant on them for habits could drain you.

Instead, make habits easy to start.

By removing friction and making things convenient for yourself, you are much more likely to get started with your habit.

James Clear says you should strive to get started with your habit in 2 minutes or less.

In our gym example, this might be putting on your gym clothes.

As you’re now dressed and ready, you might as well go and train right?

Small changes done right have big positive results downstream of them.

For a bad habit, make the bad habit difficult to do.

• Make distracting apps on your phone hard to access

• Put your phone on the other side of the house when working

Step 4 - Make it Satisfying.

We are likely to repeat what we enjoy.

Therefore, do what you can to make your desired habit more fun.

This acts as a small form of reward.

Rewards get us to do things again.

If we do positive habits again and again, we will naturally move in a great direction.

In the case of fitness, do a type of training that you enjoy.

Bodybuilding. Running. Yoga. Whatever it might be.

Having a dedicated music playlist that you like can help a lot too.

Enjoy your habit. You’ll do it more often.

For a bad habit, make it not enjoyable.

• Have short app timers on things that distract you

• Have an accountability partner who you don’t want to let down

That’s it for today.

Those who master behaviour change have mastered a key part of life.

Have a good one!

• Adam