Have you ever wanted to quit or change a habit? If yes, this post is for you!
I wanted to talk about habits because I just read an incredible book by James Clear called Tiny Changes, Remarkable Results. Atomic Habits – an easy and proven way to build good habits and break bad ones.
Atomic – an extremely small amount of a thing; the single irreducible unit of a larger system.
Habit – A routine or practice performed regularly; an automatic response to a specific situation.
I’m going to summarize for you but I got so much out of this book and I hope you will too. James grew up as an athlete and was badly injured in high school. After a long year of recovery, he was able to come back junior year only to find out he didn’t make the Varsity baseball team. But he didn’t quit. And by senior year, he made Varsity, but he rarely got any playing time.
He went onto college and decided to play baseball at Denison. This is where James learned that small habits, practiced consistently, made for outstanding results! When everyone else stayed up at night playing video games, James went to sleep early; in the world of messy dorm rooms, James kept his room very tidy; when they ate junk food, James ate healthy. He also improved his study habits and got all A’s and as the time passed, he realized that his small yet consistent habits, would ultimately lead to unimaginable results. He went from being in a coma in high school, and not playing much baseball, to being selected as the top male athlete at Denison University and named to the ESPN academic All -America team, and honor given to just 33 players across the country.
*His philosophy is that improving by 1% each day for a year, you’ll end up 37 times better by the time you’re done. Conversly, if you get 1% worse each day for one year, you’ll decline nearly down to 0. Basically, he believes that what starts small, sometimes not even noticeable, can lead to massive results. I don’t know about you, but SIGN ME UP!!
He explains that this is how habits work;
CUE, CRAVING, RESPONSE, REWARD
First you experience a cue which triggers your brain to initiate a behavior. The craving is the second step and are the motivational force behind every habit. These differ from person to person. Next is your response which is the actual habit your perform which can take the form of a thought or an action. Finally comes the reward. Rewards are the end goal of every habit – therefore the cue is about noticing the reward. The craving is about wanting the reward and the response is about obtaining the reward.
*Here is how he explains how to create a good habit:
Cue – make it obvious
Craving – make it attractive
Response – make it easy
Reward – make it satisfying
Here’s how to break a bad habit:
Cue – make it invisible
Craving – make it unattractive
Response – make it difficult
Reward – make it unsatisfying
This is taken directly from his book, which if you choose to read, goes into depth on the how and the why for each step. If you have habits you want to break, try to mentally put them in each of these boxes and see if it helps you. For me, I’m trying desperately to stop biting my nails, and SWEAR ON MY MORNING COFFEE, I haven’t stopped completely, but most of the time I think about it and don’t do it. Ha, I wish I could say the same before I grabbed a glass of wine each night, but one step at a time baby!! But seriously ladies, it’s not the AHA moment that will set us apart and change everything automatically. It’s a process, it takes time, and it works. As they say, enjoy the ride!!!
I choose to write about things that I believe will help you and have helped me along this journey☺
*James Clear Atomic Habits: An Easy and Proven Way to Build Good Habits and Break Bad Ones
