How many times have you grabbed a motivational book only to lose your new found motivation? Motivation is the sudden push to make things happen. What comes next once you have reached your ultimate goal.

You need to have a system set up to make progress daily. These small changes add up to create a big picture. You need to create an identity for yourself which includes small changes which will propel your steps towards your goals.

Habits shape personal identity; this will increase in productivity hacks to form new habits that can bring lasting change.

Atomic Habits author is James Clear, who talks about the power of small habits reminiscent of transforming professional world. This book postulates that real change comes from countless small decisions giving way to big ones. A considerable focus is on creating a system, instead of focusing on goals.

It has made its point across countless anecdotes, and real life examples. He takes you on a journey of self- improvement.

Key Takeaways from Atomic Habits

1. Focus on making adjustments to your behaviour, as small changes lead to lasting achievements.
2. Use the habit loop cue which includes craving, response and reward. It reinforces the process to create a new habit.
3. Align your habits with the identity you want to build. Your personal habits will lay down the path you wish to undertake.
4. Integrate a new habit you wish to undertake: Existing cues and human behaviour make it easier to take up new habits.
5. You need to have patience, as the process of habit formation is not always visible.
6. You need to design your environment to support the process of habit formation.
7. Breaking down habits into two minute tasks makes them much more visible.
8. Habit formation is a process of continuous improvement.

Forming Good Habits:  A Breakdown of Atomic Habits’ Laws

Clear ‘s four laws of human behaviour change stem from the concept of the habit loop.  This loop comprises four stages:

1. Cue
2. Craving
3. Response
4.  Reward

• Stage 1: Cue: This cue acts as a trigger which initiates the good habit loop that can be anything from a specific time to an emotional state.
•  Stage 2: Craving:  The cue is followed by a craving- A motivational force representing the desire for a reward associated with the habit.
• Stage 3: Response: The response is the actual behavior, or action performed in response to the cue and craving which constitutes the habit itself.
•  Stage 4 Reward:  A reward is the positive outcome, or satisfaction resulting from completing the habit, reinforcing the loop, and increasing the likelihood of habit repetition.

Clear created four laws that help you build a successful habit loop. In each of the four tactics, he has given 3-4 tactics for habit building and the tactic to break it.

Law 1. Make it Obvious

Are you aware of the habits you must build and break? If not, you can train your mind to act in a certain way. The mind acts on cues and a loop of bad habits. There is a cue that gives a cue to make your brain act in a certain manner. Then, the behaviour, or response becomes automatic.

1. Habit Scorecards: This is a checklist in which you jot down daily activities. You then, figure out, if an object is positive, negative, or neutral. The goal of your scorecard is to gain awareness, and identify the patterns hindering progress. You need to list your daily activities at home.  Categorise your activity as positive, negative, or neutral. Rate each habit, according to its overall impact. See your progress, and then, make changes such as work more on high priority tasks, check progress and adjust plans.

• Implementation Intention: This step involves planning, when, and where to take specific actions to reach your goals. First, you need to spot a gap in your existing habits. Now, set a goal like this ”I will reflect on my day, and plan for tomorrow.” Second, you need to use habit stacking, a technique to pair a new habit with an old one. Then, you need to introduce the cues for better habits in your environment.

• Breaking A Bad Habit- making it invisible: Do you know that people with high self- control tend to spend less time in tricky situations? They reduce exposure to the cue that makes them take a bad habit.

For example: you have a bad habit of using your phone in working hours, scrolling through it, Suppose, you break this bad habit by keeping your phone away. This will make the bad habit truly invisible.

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Law 2. Make it Attractive

In this second law, Atomic Habits author mentions that habits work on a dopamine driven fixed loop. The dopamine goes up, the urge to take action. The anticipation of rewards is so powerful that it makes it easier to break the spectrum of bad habits, and take up new ones.

 Temptation Building Strategy

 For example, you minimize distractions, and wish to focus on the tasks you love. Here is what you can do to dissipate distractions. 

• Designate time blocks for specific tasks
• Listen to a podcast which you like a lot.

Combine Habit Stacking with Temptation Building

• This is the formula given by the author:
• After (Current Habit), I will (Habit, I need)
• After (Habit I need), I will (Habit, I want)
• After lunch, I will work on my marketing report for half an hour.
• Breaking Bad Habits- Repogram your Mind

Now, we should know what are the bad habits we have, so we can decide to correct them. Example: you wake up at nine every morning, and you need to leave for work at 10. You have been trying hard to break this loop and want to wake up early.

So keep telling yourself: I want to wake up early, but I am not able to.

I get to wake up at 5 am every morning and feel the breeze on my face. (You need to shift your attitude for a shift in mental makeup.

The idea is to associate hard habits with positive experiences.

Law 3. Make it Easy

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

The more you repeat an old habit, the more the mind gets used to. Let us see you introduce a new project management software in your organisation, it gets time getting used to because the old system is outdated, yet people are used to it.

Here the environment is made conducive to learning and good work habits are adopted.

The Two Minute Rule: Our brain is programmed to avoid doing difficult things. So, the mind tries to resist change. You need to have a two-minute rule for habits/ changes. Such as if you want to build a reading habit, start with one page/ day.

Law 4. Make it Satisfying

You are more likely to repeat a habit, when the experience is satisfying. According to the author, we are conditioned to prioritize immediate rewards.

The Cardinal Rule of Behaviour Change

if you put the laws into motion by making things obvious, appealing and effortless.  The next rule is to make a change of habits rewarding.

Habit Tracker

Having a habit tracker can be a life saver. It makes you monitor your progress with every change in habits.

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