The 1st Law – Make It Obvious
So far, we have learned the massive power of small habits through compound interest. We have also learned that you are what you repeatedly do and what you repeatedly do is who you are. So we certainly understand that our habits are vital to the direction of our lives.
That’s all great in theory, now we need the HOW. How do we create new habits (and eliminate old ones)?
Make it obvious.
You want to make the cue or the trigger associated with the habits you want so obvious that you don’t have to think or decide if you want to do the habit, you just do it. Remember from Chapter 1, habits are actions that are on autopilot. Because of the automatic, nonconscious nature of habits, the first step is in changing them is first noticing the habits you currently have.
Inventory
James Clear encourages taking an inventory of your habits and then classifying them as positive, neutral or negative habits. The question you need to ask your self when labeling each habit is, “Does this habit help me become WHO I want to be?”
Once you have your list, you can then determine which habits you want to get rid of and which habits you want to keep and build on.
Now comes the fun part. You get to take your desired identity, WHO you believe yourself to be, and determine what sorts of things would that type of person do on a regular basis?
For example, do you want to be a healthy person? They might get 8 hours of sleep each night, eat vegetables with every meal, workout 3 days per week, and drink a gallon of water each day.
How do you take those ideas, those concepts, and make them habits?
Implementation Intentions
First, make them specific. Clear calls these Implementation Intentions. Don’t say, “I’m going to start eating healthier” or “I’m going to try to workout more.” Instead, try this formula, “I will [behavior] at [time] in [location].”
This would look like, “I will eat a salad for lunch at noon every day in the kitchen” or “I will workout at 7:00 AM on weekdays at the gym.”
Habit Stacking
Taking that a step further, you can anchor new habits you would like to develop to existing habits you would like to keep. This is called Habit Stacking and you can think of it as your routine. This, to me, is even more powerful that Implementation Intentions.
This would look like, “After [existing habit], I will [new habit].” It is fascinating that your next action is generally based on what you have just finished doing. Think about your typical morning, it could begin something like this:
After you wake up, you turn off your alarm. After you turn off your alarm, you make your bed. After you make your bed, you turn on the coffee machine. After you turn on the coffee machine, you unload the dishwasher. And so on…
If you wanted something to your morning routine, what would it come after? Maybe you want to add a quick prayer to start your day, where would that fit? Maybe you would insert it after you make your bed, you sit down and pray for 1 minute. Boom. You have an addition to your habit stack.
Personal observation: I have built my morning habit stack over the last year and I have found that adding one habit at a time is the best way to create a habit stack that sticks. I have gotten overzealous in the past, created some elaborate 3 hour long, 20 step habit stack that includes every “good habit” you can imagine.
Reading, praying, journaling, reviewing my goals, drinking water, deep breathing, stretching, lifting weights, riding my bike, walking my dog, making breakfast. You can see how this could get overwhelming quickly and then I end up throwing it all right out the window and instead just hit snooze and got a little more sleep.
So my advice? Take it slow. Remember, small, atomic sized improvements make a huge difference in the long run.
What is one small habit you can add to your daily routine? I recommend starting with your morning routine, I’ve found it is easiest to change and control. Is it 1 minute of prayer? 5 minutes of exercise? 1 sentence of journaling. 1 chapter in the Bible? 1 page of a devotional? 5 minutes of reflection? 1 full glass of water?
Make It Obvious
The final step, no matter what you choose to add to your Habit Stack, is to make it obvious. This means you need to adjust your environment to set yourself up for success. We are visually dominate creatures. We rely on our eyesight more than any other sense. What we see sparks what we do. Our environment matters.
“You don’t have to be a victim of your environment. You can also be the architect of it.” (pg. 84)
Recently, my wife modelled this perfectly. Lora wanted to start taking her vitamins more consistently. Her Habit Stack was: After I eat dinner, I will take my vitamins. We eat dinner at the kitchen table every night, so Lora put her vitamins on the kitchen table to serve as a cue to trigger her to take her vitamins. I don’t think she has missed a day of vitamins since.
Whether it’s a small change, like leaving your vitamins in plain sight, or a large change like reorganizing furniture or choose a different location for you habit, environmental changes can make all the difference in the success of your habits.
Self Control
Environmental changes are more important that internal self control or discipline. An astonishing study found that 20% of soldiers that returned from the Vietnam War were addicted to heroin, one of the most addictive drugs on the planet. Upon return to the United States, about 90% of the addicted soldiers never used heroin again.
Compare that to the stats of heroin addicts in the US that go to a rehab facility, stop using, and then return to their home (the environment where all their cues and triggers remain). 90% of this group become readdicted once they return home.
Why?
Environment matters.
“The people with the best self-control are typically the ones who need to use it the least.” (pg. 93)
Small changes go a long way. Don't feel like you need to reorganize your entire house or completely overhaul your daily routines. Make small changes. Little tweaks. These adjustments will compound over time. Trust the process.
Homework
Here are the steps for the week:
Make your habit inventory
Decide WHO you want to be and what habits that kind of person would do
Add or subtract one habit this week from your routine (remember, small changes have a big impact)
Adjust your environment to set yourself up for success with your habits (leave the vitamins out, fill up a water bottle, move your desk, go to a different coffee shop, etc.)
Let me know on Instagram what habit you are working on this week!
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