The 3rd Law – Make It Easy
We have made it through five weeks of Atomic Habits! (Still need a copy? Get one on Amazon) Have you made any changes to your own personal habits? Post it on Instagram or DM me to share how it is going. I would love to be a part of this journey with you!
Here’s our running recap of what we have read so far:
Week 1 - Habits are the compound interest of self-improvement, and your systems are more important than your goals.
Week 2 - You are what you repeatedly do. Your actions determine your identity and your identity determines your actions.
Week 3 - You have to make your habits obvious. This can be with predetermined routines and changes to your environment .
Week 4 - Attractive habits lead to action. We have to be intentional not to blindly follow habits of The Close or The Many, but instead create our own habits based on our unique goals.
Now that we are all caught up, we move on to the 3rd Law of Behavior Change: Make It Easy. This is the core of the entire Atomic Habits concept. Making your desired actions obvious or attractive is helpful to establishing good habits, but making them easy is literally part of the definition of Atomic Habits.
As a reminder, James Clear defines Atomic Habits as “a regular practice or routine that is not only small and easy to do, but also the source of incredible power; a component of the system of compound growth” (pg. 27).
Small and easy. Let’s keep those two words top of mind for the next few minutes.
At this point in the book, you may have started dreaming up grand new routines for your day. Maybe you’ve thought about a morning habit stack complete with making your bed, drinking a gallon of water, journaling, prayer, a workout, a stretching routine, eating a healthy breakfast, and concocting some sort of green smoothie for your drive to work. While that sounds exciting, it is anything but easy.
The 3rd Law gets us back to the basics. Make it easy.
Atomic Habits are not intended to be big wholesale changes all at once. Sure, you can have big goals in mind, but it is the small, consistent steps that leverage the power of compound interest.
Baby Steps
I couldn’t help but think of Dr. Leo Marvin from What About Bob during this section. Atomic Habits are really just baby steps. Everything in this book up this point has fantastic, but core principle should not be overcomplicated: Take at least one small step forward every single day.
This is the heart behind Better Every Day. It doesn’t need to be 100% better, 10% better, or even 1% better. 0.00001% better is still better than yesterday. And you know what? Some days that is still a big ask. Some days we do get worse, stumble, fall, and take a step backwards.
This is why it is so important to make your smallest positive steps easy. You may not want to do the action or even care to have that habit, but that’s not the point. James Clear explains, “You don’t actually want the habit itself. What you really want is the outcome the habit delivers (pg. 152).”
Translation: Most people don’t want the exercise habit, they just want to be fit, look better, feel better, etc. Most people don’t want the studying habit, they want the degree, the education, and the income that comes with it.
The habit is not the goal, the habit is either the conduit or the obstacle to the goal.
I believe this law is where most people stumble when trying to change their habits. In my opinion, this law is the foundation of Atomic Habits. Why? Because making a habit easy normally means making it smaller. It doesn’t have to be perfect, it doesn’t have to be optimized, it just needs to be doable.
2-Minute Rule
Your mind is wired to do the easiest thing. The path of least resistance is a biological default. You are designed to conserve energy, therefore your mind will try to find ways to choose the most convenient option or the easiest way.
But here’s the thing, hard things require hard work. Hard things are the things that will change your life. The problem is, you don’t always feel like doing the hard work. Motivation ebbs and flows. You can try to make your habits obvious (Law #1) and attractive (Law #2), but your motivation will still wane. Making your desired habits small and easy is the best defense against falling off the wagon.
This is where the two minute rule comes in.
Work backwards from your end goal to determine the smallest possible step, something that takes two minutes or less to complete. Something easy with as little friction to complete it as possible.
Want to run a marathon? You have to put your running shoes on and jog for two minutes every day.
Want to learn a language? Do Duolingo for two minutes every day.
Want to write in a journal? Write one sentence every day.
Want to read your Bible? Read one verse every day.
“A new habit should not feel like a challenge” (pg. 163).
Start with something easy and sustainable. You have to master the habit of showing up before you can improve your habit. You have to standardize before you optimize.
I would suggest starting in the morning. Start your day with a win. Make your first action, your first decision, a good one!
Is it two minutes of exercise? Two minutes of reading? Two minutes of mediation or prayer? Two minutes of gratitude? Two minutes of drinking water and deep breathing? How can you set yourself up for a winning day? Start small. Atomically small.
“It is better to do less than you hoped that to do nothing at all” (pg. 165).
Becoming Better Every Day requires you to Show Up every day. Show up for yourself. Show up for your family. Show up for your business. Show up for your community.
Your goals may be big, but your habits are built on baby steps. Start small and see what happens. Master the habit of showing up and then watch your efforts multiply.
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