Atomic Habits

James Clear

📚 GENRE: Personal Development

📃 PAGES: 320

✅ COMPLETED: May 30, 2022

🧐 RATING: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

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Short Summary

James Clear delivers the ultimate guide to forming good habits and sticking to them over the long haul. Clear reveals the science behind habit formation and explains why long-term success comes down to performing tiny disciplines day after day, even when you don’t feel like it.

Key Takeaways

1️⃣ Habits and Identity Are Linked — You are literally the sum total of your habits. Focus on who you want to become and form habits that are in line with that identity. Every action you take is a “vote” for the person you want to become. As you repeat the habit over and over and over, the habit become part of who you are. The goal isn’t to read a book, the goal is to become a reader.

2️⃣ Small Habits, Big Rewards — You’re never going to experience huge success overnight. Success is a lot of small things done well, day after day, workout after workout, discipline after discipline. Habits have a compounding effect — over time, tiny habits performed repeatedly lead to huge progress.

3️⃣ Find a Way — It’s critical to find a way to show up every day and put your reps in, even if you don’t feel like it. There WILL be days when you’re too tired and will want to skip a day. It’s easy to show up when you feel good, but it’s the days when you show up even when you aren’t feeling it that are so important to progress. Lost days hurt you more than successful days help you. Every time you perform, even if you’re just going through the motions, you keep the momentum going and you prove to yourself that you’re in charge.

4️⃣ Fall In Love With Boredom — At the end of the day, you have to learn to enjoy the boring process of improvement. Taking the time to read every day isn’t all that fun. Waking up at 5 a.m. to workout isn’t always fun. High performers in every walk of life have sacrificed, put the time in, and committed themselves to the grind. The only way you get great at anything is by doing it repeatedly over years and years. 

Favorite Quote

"Professionals take action even when the mood isn’t right. They might not enjoy it, but they find a way to put the reps in."

Book Notes 📑

Introduction

  • Author James Clear was hit in the face with a baseball bat as a sophomore in high school. He barely survived. 
    • He was later cut from his high school baseball team as a junior. He made the team as a senior, but barely played. 
  • Clear later attended Denison College in Ohio, where he made the baseball team and began to flourish academically. Some of his accomplishments included:
    • Became a starting pitcher for the team 
    • Voted team captain
    • Made the all-conference team
    • Selected to the ESPN Academic All-America Team
  • Clear credits his success in college to habits. Some of these included:
    • Lifting weights regularly
    • Getting to bed early
    • Keeping his space clean and tidy
    • Studying hard daily 
  • Habit — A routine or behavior that is performed regularly and, in many cases, automatically.
  • Quote (P. 7): “We all face challenges in life. This injury was one of mine, and the experience taught me a critical lesson: changes that seem small and unimportant at first will compound into remarkable results if you’re willing to stick with them for years. We all deal with setbacks but in the long run, the quality of our lives often depends on the quality of our habits. With the same habits, you’ll end up with the same results. But with better habits, anything is possible.”
    • The quality of your life over the long run is largely based on the small, daily habits and disciplines you form and stick to. 
    • Focus on your habits. Form good habits and be disciplined to them. It will never happen overnight, but your productive habits will lead to great things over time. 
  • Clear’s Timeline:
    • 2012 — Began publishing articles about habits on JamesClear.com.
    • 2013 — Over 30,000 email subscribers. 
    • 2014 — Over 100,000 email subscribers.
    • 2015 — Over 200,000 email subscribers and signed a deal to write this book. 
    • 2016 — Articles began to appear in Time, Forbes, and more. 
      • Coaches in the NFL, NBA, and MLB were reading his work on habits and teaching them to their teams.
    • 2017 — Launched the Habits Academy, which became the premiere training platform for organizations and individuals interested in building better habits in life and work. 
      • Fortune 500 companies were enrolling their leaders in the academy. 
    • 2018 — Finished this book and has 500,000 email subscribers.
  • Clear has studied habits for years, and this book discusses his framework for productive habit creation. Everything is scientifically-backed. 
    • There are four pillars to his system: 
      1. Cue
      2. Craving 
      3. Response
      4. Reward 
  • Quote (P. 10): “It’s (this book) about the fundamentals of human behavior. The lasting principles you can rely on year after year. The ideas you can build a business around, build a family around, build a life around.”

Ch. 1: The Surprising Power of Atomic Habits

  • 2003 — British Cycling hires Dave Brailsford as its performance director. At that point, British Cycling was a mess. 
    • No British cyclist had ever won the Tour de France in the event’s 110-year history. 
    • Britain has won one Gold Medal in the Olympics since 1908. 
  • Brailsford was different than previous directors because he was intensely focused on “the aggregation of marginal gains”, which is the philosophy of searching for marginal gains in everything you do.
    • The focus was on getting 1% better at everything involving cycling. Some of these improvements included:
      • Rubbing alcohol on the tires for better grip.
      • Making the seats more comfortable.
      • Hiring a surgeon to show riders how to wash their hands to prevent a cold. 
  • 2008 Olympics — British Cycling won 60% of the gold medals available to them.
  • 2012 Olympics — British Cycling set 9 Olympic records and 7 world records. 
    • 2012 — Bradley Wiggins became first British cyclist to ever win the Tour de France.
      • Teammate Chris Froome won it in 2013, 2015, 2016, and 2017. 
  • 2007-2017 — British Cycling enjoyed one of the best runs of all time.
    • 178 World Championships
    • 66 Olympic or Paralympic Gold Medals
    • 5 Tour de France Victories
  • The change in philosophy Brailsford implemented was the most significant reason for British Cycling’s success. 
  • Quote (P. 16): “Habits are the compound interest of self-improvement. The same way that money multiplies through compound interest, the effects of your habits multiply as you repeat them.”
    • Most of us believe big change requires big action. That’s not the case. 
      • Ex. Gym — When you go to the gym three straight days, you’re still not in shape. But when you go to the gym consistently over a long period of time, you will get in shape. 
  • Slow and Steady — Big changes happen over a long period of time and can be made by developing a set of tiny habits designed to make you 1% better every day. 
    • If you get 1% better every day for a year, you are 37% better overall. 
    • Fast results are not common! It takes steady discipline over a long period of time to make big improvements. The key is to stick with it. 
      • As Will Smith says in his biography, focus on the brick not the wall. 
  • Quote (P. 18): “Success is the product of daily habits — not one-in-a-lifetime transformations.”
    • Your daily habits literally dictate your destination in life. 
    • Make the decision to develop habits that will make you 1% better, not 1% worse. 
  • Outcomes Reflect Habits — Your outcomes are a lagging measure of your habits. The results you get in life are usually a direct representation of the habits you engage in every day. They are lagging, but your results are influenced by your habits. 
    • Ex. Weight — Your weight is a lagging measure of your eating habits. 
    • Ex. Knowledge — Your knowledge is a lagging measure of your learning habits. 
  • Quote (P. 18): “If you want to predict where you’ll end up in life, all you have to do is follow the curve of tiny gains or tiny losses, and see how your daily choices will compound 10 or 20 years down the line. Are you spending less than you earn each month? Are you making it into the gym each week? Are you reading books and learning something new each day? Tiny battles like these are the ones that will define your future self.”
  • Breakthroughs — Breakthrough moments can be compared to watching an ice cube melt. At 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31 degrees, the ice cube may not do anything as you watch it. But at 32 degrees, you see a sudden shift and the ice starts to melt.
    • It’s the same concept with habits. You will not see huge changes overnight after starting a new habit. It takes steady discipline and time. This lack of instant results is one of the primary reasons people struggle to stick with a habit. Disappointment sets in. 
      • Ex. New Years Resolutions — People decide to make changes at the start of a new year, but usually won’t make it past three weeks or a month. They get discouraged by the lack of quick tangible results. 
    • Eventually, if you keep at it, you will have a breakthrough moment and you will never be the same. 
      • The constant repetitions that don’t SEEM to be getting you anywhere are actually what lead to the breakthrough. 
  • Quote (P. 24): “The only way to actually win is to get better each day.”
    • Focus on consistent daily progress. 
  • Quote (P. 24): “Goals are good for setting a direction, but systems are best for making progress.”
    • Goals — The results you want to achieve.
    • Systems — The processes that lead to those goals. 
    • You can achieve your goals without necessarily thinking about them and the end result. Focus instead on the process. Be process-oriented. 
  • Problems With Being Strictly Goal-Oriented:
    1. Same Goals
      • People who achieve the goal and don’t achieve the goal ultimately had the same goal. One achieved it and one didn’t. It’s often the system behind the goal that is the difference. 
    2. Momentary Change
      • When you achieve a goal, it’s only a momentary change in your life. It’s easy to relapse if you haven’t defined and committed to the system that led to the goal.
    3. Goals Restrict Happiness 
      • When you are goal-oriented, you’re always thinking about the end goal. You tend to link your happiness with the goal, and you will think you can’t be happy until you accomplish the goal. In other words, you’re always chasing happiness.
    4. Yoyo Effect 
      • Without a defined system in place, there’s nothing left to keep you motivated and pushing once you’ve accomplished your goal. You will revert and lose the good habit. 
      • Quote (P. 27): “True long-term thinking is goal-less thinking. It’s not about any single accomplishment. It is about the cycle of endless refinement and continuous improvement. Ultimately, it is your commitment to the process that will determine your progress.”
        • Many athletes have talked about this. It’s about the process. Fall in love with your daily process. 

Ch. 2: How Your Habits Shape Your Identity (And Vice Versa)

  • Three Layers of Behavior Change
    1. Changing Your Outcomes
      • These are where you goals live. When you think about goals, you’re thinking about outcomes.
      • Ex. Weight Loss — “I want to lose 20 pounds.”
    2. Changing Your Process
      • This is the system level. This is where habits live.
      • Ex. Weight Loss — The exact gym and nutrition routine designed to help you lose those 20 pounds. 
    3. Changing Your Identity 
      • This level is all about self-image and self-belief. It’s concerned with what you think about yourself. 
      • Ex. Weight Loss — “I’m a gym rat who is committed to taking care of my body” instead of “I’m trying to lose some weight.”
  • Start With Identity — Most people think making a change starts by focusing on the outcome (goal). The best approach to spark meaningful change and habits is to focus on your identity first. 
    • Behind every system of actions is a system of beliefs.
      • Ex. Democracy — The system is fueled by beliefs of freedom, majority rule, and social equality. 
    • Focus on who you want to become. Any behavior that is not in line with the beliefs you have about yourself will not last. 
  • Behavior Change is Identity Change — It’s one thing to say you want this. It’s another thing to say you are the type of person who is this. 
    • It’s all about identity. If you see yourself in a certain way, you will develop habits to maintain that identity. 
      • Ex. Hair — If you feel like you have great hair, you will develop hair care routine to maintain it. 
    • All true behavior change starts internally by changing your belief system.
    • Quote (P. 34): “Improvements are only temporary until they become part of who you are.”
      • Ex. Gym — Anyone can get themselves into the gym for a few days in a row. But to develop a true, long-term habit of going to the gym, you have to believe you are a fit person and going to the gym is just part of your process. 
        • When this is the case, you don’t have to convince yourself to train. It’s easy to do the right thing and it bothers you if you don’t get in the gym. 
  • Quote (P. 34): “The goal is not to read a book, the goal is to become a reader. The goal is not to run a marathon, the goal is to become a runner. The goal is not to learn instrument, the goal is to become a musician.
    • Your behavior is a reflection of your identity. 
  • Quote (P. 36): “Becoming the best version of yourself requires you to continuously edit your beliefs, and to upgrade and expand your identity.”
    • A lot of people can’t stick to a habit because the habit is not in line with their belief system. The habit isn’t part of “who they are.”
    • You have to change the beliefs about yourself to begin forming good habits. Focus on breaking the negative beliefs about yourself. 
  • Experiences Dictate Identity — Whatever your identity is right now, you only believe it because you have proof of it. Your experiences shape your identity and self-image. 
    • This is where habits can help you change your identity and beliefs about yourself. If you can form a few good habits and repeat them over and over and over again, your identity slowly begins to change as you pile up the experience. Habits are the path to changing your identity. 
      • Ex. Reading — After reading daily for a few years, I now consider myself a reader and lifelong learner. It’s part of who I am now. 
      • Ex. Public Speaking — The more you put yourself up on and stage and deliver speeches, the more you start to think of yourself as a public speaker, even if you were previously scared of it your entire life. 
    • Quote (P. 38): “Every action you take is a vote for the type of person you wish to become. No single instance will transform your beliefs, but as the votes build up, so does the evidence of your new identity.”
  • Two Steps to Identity Change 
    1. Decide the type of person you want to be
      • Who do you want to become? What kind of person do you need to become to get the goals you’re after? 
      • Ex. Weight Loss — One person lost 100 pounds by asking herself “what would a healthy person do?” This is the question she asked herself before making almost every decision. 
    2. Prove it with small wins 
      • Repeatedly perform habits that are in line with the type of person you want to be. 
  • Quote (P. 40): “The focus should always be on becoming the type of person you want to be, not getting a particular outcome… The true question is: ‘Are you becoming the type of person you want to become?’”
    • Decide the type of person you want to become and how you want to carry yourself. Then form habits to reinforce that behavior. 

Ch. 3: How to Build Better Habits in 4 Simple Steps

  • The Feedback Loop — Behind all human behavior. It is the process of trying, failing, learning, and trying differently. 
    • With practice and repetition, useless and inefficient movement fades and useful and efficient movements are reinforced. 
    • Essentially, you become better at something the more you do it. You learn and adjust each time out.
      • 1898 — An experiment by psychologist Edward Thorndike showed the feedback loop in action with cats. Every time the cat was placed in a box with an escape button, he/she learned to press it quicker. During the first three trials, a cat escaped in an average of 1.5 minutes. During the last three trials, it escaped in an average of 6.3 seconds.
  • Habits Are Automatic — When you face a certain problem or decision repeatedly, your brain begins to create cues. Brain activity decreases each time you are in a similar experience and everything begins to become automatic.
    • This is how habits form. Habits are mental shortcuts learned from experience. 
    • This automatic function of habits frees up your mind. The conscious mind can only focus on one thing at a time. As your habits become automatic and you begin to develop a consistent daily routine, you’re able to focus your mind on new challenges. 
  • The Habit Loop — The science behind how a habit is formed. It’s a neurological loop comprised of four components. If a behavior is insufficient in any of the four stages, it will not become a habit.
    1. Cue — Triggers the brain to initiate a behavior. It is information that predicts a reward. It is all about noticing a reward.
      • Ex. Ancestors — Our ancestors were always looking for cues that signaled the location of food, water, and more. 
    2. Craving — The motivational force behind every habit. Without any sort of motivation to change, a habit will never be formed. It isn’t the habit that you crave, it’s the change in state it delivers. It is all about wanting a reward.
      • Ex. Reading — You don’t crave the book, you crave the increase in knowledge it can deliver. 
    3. Response — The actual habit you perform. Taking action. It needs to be easy enough for you to do; if it’s too challenging (dunking a basketball when you’re not tall enough), you won’t do it. It is all about obtaining a reward. 
    4. Reward — The end reward of performing the habit. Designed to satisfy us and teach us. We are always looking for rewards that bring us the most pleasure. 
  • Quote (P. 51): “All behavior is driven by the desire to solve a problem. Sometimes the problem is that you notice something good and you want to obtain it. Sometimes the problem is that you were experiencing pain and you want to relieve it. Either way, the purpose of every habit is to solve the problems you face.”
    • Problem Stage — Cue and Craving
    • Solution Stage — Response and Reward
  • The Four Laws of Behavior Change — A simple set of rules for creating good habits and breaking bad ones. Based on the cue, craving, response, and reward habit loop. Whenever you want to change your behavior, ask yourself the following:
    1. Make It Obvious (Cue) — How can I make it obvious?
    2. Make It Attractive (Craving) — How can I make it attractive? 
    3. Make It Easy (Response) — How can I make it easy?
    4. Make It Satisfying (Reward) — How can I make it satisfying? 

Ch. 4: Make It Obvious - The Man Who Didn't Look Right

  • Autopilot — Habits, good and bad, become automatic with enough repetition. With enough experience, your brain will pick up on cues and engage in a habit unconsciously. You’ll be on autopilot and not even notice that to do certain things. 
    • Ex. Medical — A paramedic noticed that her dad looked off at a family reunion. She urged her dad to go to the hospital even though he was feeling good. Through her training and experience, the paramedic had developed an ability to see when heart failure was coming. She was right — he had a blocked artery, which was causing blood to go to the major organs and away from peripheral locations near the skin. Her dad’s face looked pale and the blood in his face was unusual. That was the cue the daughter picked up on. 
  • Start With Awareness — Because habits are automatic and we don’t realize we’re doing certain things, it’s important to find ways to become aware of your bad habits. This is the first step to changing the behavior. 
    • Quote (P. 67): “You need to be aware of your habits before you can change them.”
    • The Habit Scorecard — One way you can become more aware of your good and bad habits. Write down a few of your daily habits and put a symbol next to each one indicating whether it’s productive, neutral, or unproductive.
      • (+) — Positive 
      • (-) — Negative
      • (=) — Neutral 
      • When rating, ask yourself, “Does this behavior help me become the type of person I wish to be?” 

Ch. 5: Make It Obvious - The Best Way to Start a New Habit

  • Implementation Intention — A plan you make beforehand about when and where to act. Hundreds of studies have shown that people who make a specific plan for when and where they will perform an new habit are more likely to follow through. 
    • 2001 — Researchers in Great Britain put three groups together to observe habit formation using exercise as the object of observation. 
      • Group 1 — Asked to track how often they exercised.
      • Group 2 — Asked to track how often they exercised and to watch some motivational content.
      • Group 3 — Asked to track exercise, watch the same motivational content, and make a plan about when and where they would exercise. 
      • Results — 91% of Group 3 followed through and worked out once per week compared to 35% and 38% in Group 1 and 2, respectively. 
    • Formula 1 — “When situation X arises, I will perform response Y.”
    • Formula 2 — “I will <Behavior> at <Time> in <Location>.”
      • Ex. “I will study Spanish for 20 minutes at 6 p.m. in my bedroom.”
    • An implementation plan takes the decision-making out of it. Just follow your plan. Do what it says. 
      • Ex. PPT Slide — In my 1-1 notes, I have a daily tasks slide where I outline what I will do every hour of the work day. 
    • An implementation plan also makes it easy to say ‘no’ to unproductive things. It keeps you focused and on track. 
      • Quote (P. 72): “There is another benefit to implementation intentions. Being specific about what you want and how you will achieve it helps you say no to things that the derail progress, distract your attention, and pull you off course.”
  • Habit Stacking — Pairing a new habit with a current habit, rather than pairing it with a time and location. The key is to tie your desired behavior into something you already do each day. 
    • The idea tries to take advantage of momentum and use habits that you already perform as a cue to perform your new habit. You can stack several habits together on top of each other.
    • Formula — “After I <Current Habit>, I will <New Habit>.
      • Ex. “After I sit down for dinner, I will say one thing I’m grateful for today.”
    • The Diderot Effect — Obtaining a new possession often creates a spiral of consumption that leads to additional purchases. 
      • Named after Denis Diderot, who in 1765 was given $150,000 from Catherine the Great, the Empress of Russia. Catherine loved the encyclopedia Diderot created and offered to buy his whole library to help him pay for his daughter’s wedding. 
        • With his new wealth, Diderot payed for his daughter’s wedding and bought a new scarlet robe. The scarlet robe was beautiful and stood out oddly in his collection of low-quality items, which led him to buy completely new possessions to try to match the robe’s beauty. One purchase led to the next and the next and the next. 
      • The Diderot Effect is evident everywhere.
        • Ex. Couch — You buy a brand-new couch and suddenly feel an urge to upgrade the rest of the living room. 
      • Habit Stacking essentially tries to draw on the Diderot Effect to change behavior. 

Ch. 6: Make It Obvious - Motivation is Overrated; Environment Often Matters More

  • Environment Matters — Environment really does matter for a lot of people. People often choose products not because of what they are, but because of where they are. 
    • Hospital Test — Anne Thorndike, a doctor in Boston, decided to change up the cafeteria at the hospital she works at. For 6 months, water was placed in the refrigerators and in baskets next to food stations around the cafeteria. 
      • Over the next 3 months, sales of soda dropped by 11.4 % and sales of bottled water increased by 25.8%. Water was more readily available during the test window and people were buying it. 
    • 1936 — Psychologist Kurt Lewin developed the Lewin Equation, which states that behavior is a function of the person in the environment. It essentially says that people will occasionally buy products not because they want them but because of how they are presented to them. 
      • Formula — B=f(P,E).
      • Ex. Stores — Items at eye level tend to be purchased more than those at the floor level. Expensive brand names will be placed on locations that are highly visible and easy to reach in order to drive revenue. Cheaper alternatives are placed in harder-to-reach places. The end of a row is also a great place where expensive things are placed. Those locations are moneymaking machines because of the heavy foot traffic.
        • Coke — 45% of Coca-Cola sales come from end-of-aisle racks. 
  • Visual Cues Are Big — The human body has about 11 million sensory receptors; 10 million of those are dedicated to sight. Some experts estimate that half of the brain’s resources are used on vision.
    • Therefore, visual cues are very, very powerful and have a big influence on behavior. 
    • As a result, it’s important to fill your environment with positive visual cues. A small change in what you see can lead to a big shift in what you do. 
      • Ex. 1970 — Dutch researchers tracked energy usage and found that in one suburb outside of Amsterdam, homeowners used 30% less energy than their neighbors. The houses were identical except the location of the electrical meter — in some houses the meter was in the main hallway and in others it was in the basement. In the houses where the meter was in the main hallway, less electricity was used. People had easy and clear access to the meter and therefore were able to actively be more disciplined with their energy usage. 
      • Ex. 1990 — An airport in Amsterdam placed a sticker of a bug in the center of the men’s urinals. Apparently, men tried to hit the bug and therefore improved their aim considerably. Spillage was reduced and it reportedly cut bathroom cleaning costs by 8%. 
      • Ex. Reading — If you’re book is stashed in a corner of the house somewhere, you’re less likely to read it. If you place it right there on the couch, you have easy access and are more likely to read it. 
    • Make It Easy — The key here is to make things easy for yourself. If you want to encourage a habit, make everything involved with doing the habit easy and highly visible. Make the visual cue obvious. 
      • Ex. Gym — Lay out your gym clothes and gear the night before. That way, in the morning at 5 a.m., you’re able to easily get dressed and get out the door. No decision to be made. No excuses. 
  • One Space, One Use — We form relationships and contexts with our surroundings and environment. One mantra that works well is: “One space, one use.” The kitchen is for cooking. The office room is for working. 
    • Ex. Bed — The bed should only be used for sleep. Researchers have helped insomniacs by telling them to go out to another room if they can’t fall asleep in bed and then return to the bed when they are tired. By doing this, the subjects learned to condition their minds to the fact that the bed is where sleep happens. 
    • Quote (P. 90): “If you want behaviors that are stable and predictable, you need an environment that is stable and predictable. A stable environment where everything has a place and a purpose is an environment where habits can easily form.”

Ch. 7: Make It Obvious - The Secret to Self-Control

  • 1971 — As the Vietnam War entered its 16th year, researchers found that 15% of U.S. soldier stationed there were heroin addicted. 
    • Special Action Office of Drug Abuse Prevention — President Nixon started this to promote prevention and rehabilitation and to track addicted service members when they returned home. The program found that only 5% of the addicts became re-addicted within a year. Nine of 10 soldiers who used heroin in Vietnam eliminated their addiction right away. This upended conventional thought at the time, which believed that heroin addiction was permanent and irreversible. 
      • The reason for the reverse addiction was that soldiers returned home and got away from the crazy environmental cues that caused them to dip into heroin while at war. 
        • This was a startling finding. In conventional rehab, 90% of graduates get re-addicted. They go from an environment where all cues were eliminated to getting thrown back into an environment where all of the cues that caused them to get addicted are there.
  • Remove the Cue — Once we have formed a habit, it’s hard to get rid of it. If you want to eliminate a bad habit, eliminate the cue and stop it at the source. The environment plays such a big role in habit formation. 
    • Ex. Video Games — If you want to stop playing video games so frequently, unplug the console and put it in the closet after every use. 

Ch. 8: Make It Attractive - How to Make a Habit Irresistible

  • Orosensation — The process of optimizing how a product feels in your mouth. Food companies have entire departments dedicated to this. 
    • Dynamic Contrast — A term used in the food industry to describe a combination of sensations, like crunchy and creamy. Foods high in dynamic contrast keep the experience interesting and encourages you to eat more. 
      • Ex. Pizza — Gooey melted cheese on top of a crispy pizza crust.
      • Ex. Oreos — The crunch of an Oreo combined with the cookie’s smooth center. 
  • Make It Attractive — The more attractive an opportunity, the more likely it is to become a habit. If you want to increase the odds that a behavior will occur, you need to make it attractive. 
    • This is because, when you make it attractive, you’re taking advantage of dopamine releases in the brain. By making it attractive, you will look forward to performing the habit, which will release dopamine in the brain, which inspires you to act and perform the habit. 
  • Dopamine — The importance of dopamine on habits became apparent in 1954, when researchers ran tests on rats that involved placing electrodes in their brains to block the release of dopamine. The rats lost all will to live. They didn’t crave anything and died of thirst in a matter of days.
    • The Follow Up — Researchers followed this up a few years later by conducting tests that involved flooding the rats’ brains with dopamine. The animals responded by performing habits at breakneck speed. 
      • Humans react to dopamine in a similar way. The average slot machine player will spin the wheel 600 times per hour. 
    • Quote (P. 106): “Habits are a dopamine-driven feedback loop. Every behavior that is highly habit-forming — taking drugs, eating junk food, playing video games — is associated with higher levels of dopamine.”
  • Dopamine and Habits — Dopamine is released not only when you experience pleasure, but when you anticipate it. When you predict that an opportunity will be rewarding, dopamine levels rise. When dopamine rises so does your motivation to act. 
    • Brain Design — The brain was constructed to want rewards more than like rewards. The ‘want’ sections of the brain (brains stem, ventral tegmental area, amygdala, etc.) are much larger than the ‘like’ sections of the brain.
    • Quote (P. 106): “Interestingly, the reward system that is activated in the brain when you receive a reward is the same system that is activated when you anticipate a reward.”
      • This is one of the reasons why the anticipation of something you’re looking forward to often feels better than the actual attainment of it. 
        • Ex. Vacation — The anticipation of going on a great vacation feels as good, if not better than, the actual vacation itself. 
    • What Does It Mean? — The fact that the brain was designed to release more dopamine in anticipation of something means that we need to make our habits attractive, to the point where our brain will release plenty of dopamine in anticipation of performing the habit. The greater the anticipation, the greater the dopamine spike. The more dopamine, the more motivation to act. 
      • Quote (P. 108): “Desire is the engine that drives behavior. Every action is taken because of the anticipation that precedes it. It is the craving that leads to the response.”
  • Temptation Bundling — Links an action you want to do with an action you need to do. It’s essentially rewarding yourself for performing a habit. 
    • Ex. Netflix — I want to watch Netflix, but I need to do my reading. I will reward myself by watching Netflix after I read.

Ch. 9: Make It Attractive - The Role of Family and Friends in Shaping Habits

  • We Love Tribes — Humans want to fit in. We want to belong. Our ancestors belonged to tribes. We have a herd mentality. This is why our upbringing plays such a big role in our early habits. We tend to imitate the habits of a few key groups:
    1. The Close
      • We tend to observe and adopt the habits of those closest to us. This includes family, friends, and coworkers. 
        • Ex. Weight — One study tracked 12,000 people for 32 years and found that “a person’s chances of becoming obese increased by 57% if he or she had a friend who became obese.”
      • Quote (P. 117): “One of the most effective things you can do to build better habits is to join a culture where your desired behavior is the normal behavior.”
        • You become like those you are around the most. This is true for habits and life in general. 
        • Your culture and environment play such a big role in who you become. Surround yourself with people who have the habits you want for yourself.
    2. The Many
      • We have such a strong, natural desire to fit in and go with the tribe. 
      • 1950s — Psychologist Solomon Asch conducted several studies where a subject was inserted into a room filled with actors. Together, the group had to pick out lines that were similar in length on two separate cards. 
        • Through this study, Asch found that people will ignore their own intuition and go with what everyone else is doing or saying. Despite the lines in question on each card being almost identical in length, subjects would side with the actors, who were coached to purposely pick the wrong lines. The findings held especially true when many people were in play. If it was just one other person who disagreed with the subject, the subject would still stick to his/her intuition. But as more people disagreed with the subject, the subject was more likely to change their mind and pick the obviously incorrect answer in order to fit in. 
          • Quote (P. 120): “By the end of the experiment, 75% of the subjects had agreed with the group even though it was obviously incorrect.”
    3. The Powerful
      • We are drawn to behaviors that earn us respect, approval, admiration and status.
      • Once we fit in, we want to stand out. This is why we imitate the habits of successful people and companies — we want to stand out above the crowd and be successful ourselves. 

Ch. 10: Make It Attractive - How to Find and Fix the Causes of Your Bad Habits

  • Common Motives — Every move we make and action we take is driven by an underlying motive. The specific cravings we feel and habits we perform are an attempt to address fundamental underlying motives. 
    • When a habit successfully satisfies a motive, you develop a craving for it again. 
    • The most common include:
      • Conserve energy
      • Obtain food and water
      • Find love and reproduce 
      • Connect and bond with others
      • Win social acceptance and approval
      • Reduce uncertainty
      • Achieve status and prestige 
  • Reframe Tough Habits — Habits are attractive when we associate them with positive feelings. Develop consistency with tough habits by reframing how you think about them in your mind. 
    • Be grateful for getting to perform the habit. Think of the benefits the habit is delivering. 
      • Ex. Gym — Instead of, “I have to get up at 5 a.m. to lift weights,” reframe it in your mind: “I get to get up at 5 a.m. to lift weights. By working out, I’m going to feel good and get my day started right.”
      • Ex. Wheelchair — One man who was paralyzed and needed a wheelchair was asked why he wasn’t sad about it. He replied saying that, without the wheelchair, he would be stuck in bed 24/7. The wheelchair actually allowed him to move around and do things. He looked at it with that perspective. 

Ch. 11: Make It Easy - Walk Slowly, But Never Backwards

  • Motion vs. Action — It’s very easy to get distracted by planning to perform a task or habit. But in the process of trying to make a “perfect plan,” we forget to actually act. Excessive motion is bad because you progress so much faster when you try, fail, adjust, and try again. 
    • Motion — Planning Stage 
    • Action — Performing Stage 
    • Motion makes you feel like you’re getting a lot done, but, in reality, you’re just preparing. 
  • Fear of Failure — The main reason we tend to get obsessed with trying to develop the “perfect plan” is we’re afraid to fail. When we’re in the planning phase, there’s no chance of failing. 
    • Quote (P. 142): “But more often than not, we do it because motion allows us to feel like we’re making progress without running the risk of failure.”
  • Get Your Reps In — You need to act and get tons of reps in. Taking repeated action is critical to progress in any skill or habit. Acting is how you get better. 
    • Long-Term Potentiation — The more you act, the more automatic the skill or habit becomes. Your brain naturally helps you become more efficient at the task. Neurons in the brain strengthen their connections and cell-to-cell signaling improves with repeated action. 
      • Ex. Writing — The more you write, the better you get at it. You acquire natural instincts and learn how to frame sentences, structure paragraphs, and develop strong word selection. 
  • Quote (P. 144): “Each time you repeat an action, you are activating a particular neural circuit associated with the habit. This means that simply putting in your reps is one of the most critical steps you can take to encoding a new habit.”
    • There’s no way around it; no shortcut. If you want to improve a skill, you have to do it over and over and over again. 
  • Reps vs. Time — It’s not about how long you’ve been practicing something; it’s about how many reps you’ve put in.
    • Quote (P. 146): “What matters is the rate at which you perform the behavior. You could do something twice in 30 days, or 200 times. It’s the frequency that makes the difference.”
      • Ex. Spanish — If you’ve been practicing Spanish for 5 years but only put in 5-10 minutes per day, you’re not going to be as far along as someone who also practiced for 5 years and put in an hour per day. Person No. 2 simply has performed more reps. 

Ch. 12: Make It Easy - The Law of Least Effort

  • The Law of Least Effort — When deciding between two similar options, people will naturally gravitate towards the option that requires the least work. Our brains are wired to conserve energy and follow the path that requires the least effort.
    • The Principle of Least Action — This is the same concept in the world of physics. 
  • Make Habits Easy — Because we are naturally wired to be lazy and pick the option that requires the least amount of effort, it is crucial to make your habits easy to follow through on. 
    • Typically, the more energy a task or habit requires, the less likely we are to do it. On the other hand, habits that require little to no effort are more likely to occur. 
      • Ex. Television vs. Reading — The majority of people watch television at night rather than read a book. Watching TV requires little to no effort, whereas reading a book requires effort and energy. 
    • The idea is to make your difficult habits as easy as possible and eliminate friction. When you do this, you’re able to stick to your habits and execute them with greater frequency, even on bad days when you really don’t feel like doing it. 
  • ‘Lean Production’ — In the 1970s, Japanese firms adopted a strategy called ‘Lean Production’ where they purposely eliminated waste of all kinds from the production process. The idea was to make every process as efficient as possible. Eliminate the wasted motion. 
    • Ex. Workstations — Setups were redesigned so workers didn’t have to waste time twisting and turning for tools. 
    • 1974 — Service calls for American-made color TVs were 5 times as common as Japanese TVs. 
    • 1979 — It took American workers three times as long to assemble TV sets. 
    • Quote (P. 154): “Similarly, when we remove the points of friction that sap our time and energy, we can achieve more with less effort.”
      • Actively look for ways to make yourself and your process more efficient. Look for ways to streamline. Cut out any wasted motion. It’s all about maximizing your time. 
      • At a company level, always look for ways to eliminate steps in your processes and in your delivery to customer. 
        • Ex. Approval — You shouldn’t need 5 people to review and approve everything. You’re wasting time and energy. 
        • Ex. British Government — To increase tax collection rates, the British government began linking the form in an email to citizens rather than directing them to a web page where they would then fill out the form. 
  • Prime Your Environment — This idea involves getting your environment ready for your next action so everything is easy for you. Your eliminating friction. It’s giving yourself a “Green Light”, as Matthew McConaughey says in his biography. 
    • Ex. Gym — Set your clothes out the night before. This makes things easy and efficient for you the next morning when you wake up early to go to the gym. 
    • Bad Habits — This concept can also work to make bad habits hard. Increase the friction and make it difficult on yourself if you want to curb a bad habit. 
      • Ex. Video Games — If you want to stop this habit, unplug the console and put it in your closet after playing it. This makes it difficult on you the next time you think about playing. 

Ch. 13: Make It Easy - How to Stop Procrastinating Using the 2-Minute Drill

  • Two-Minute Drill — When you start a brand-new habit, it should take you two minutes or less to complete. These act as ‘Gateway Habits’, helping you to gain momentum and get started on a new habit. 
    • Momentum — Once you’ve started to do the right thing, it’s easy to continue. The end goal with this is not to stop after two minutes; the goal is to have the two minutes get you started and then you continue on from there. You’ll find that you naturally want to continue rather than stopping after two minutes. 
      • The difficult part about beginning a new habit is just getting started. The ‘Two-Minute Drill’ is designed to help you get off the ground.
    • Showing Up — A habit has to be established before it can be improved. The ‘Two-Minute Drill’ helps to master the art of showing up. 
      • Ex. Meditation — Begin by meditating for 2 minutes every day.
      • Ex. Weight Loss — One reader began his weight loss journey by simply driving to the gym and showing up for five minutes. After a few days or weeks of doing this, he naturally wanted to stay longer since he was there already. He went on to lose 100 pounds. 
  • Something is Better Than Nothing — Showing up, even when you’re just going through the motions or aren’t into it that day, is better than doing nothing at all. The key to developing strong habits is having the discipline to show up, day after day after day. Even when you don’t feel like it. 
    • Ex. Gym — Even if you’re really tired and have to simply go through the motions for one workout, it’s better to get to the gym than to skip it. 
    • Ex. Spanish — Even if you really don’t feel like doing your daily Spanish work, just show up and put in 5 minutes. Something is always better than nothing at all. 

Ch. 14: Make It Easy - How to Make Good Habits Inevitable and Bad Habits Impossible

  • Commitment Strategy — A choice you make in the present that controls your actions in the future. You’re essentially making it impossible to misbehave later by removing any possibility of a future decision altogether. This concept is discussed by Richard Thaler in his book Misbehaving. 
    • Ex. Chips — If you put a handful of chips in a bowl, you’re almost guaranteed to eat less than if you sit and eat them out of the bag. 
    • Ex. Restaurant — If you ask your waiter to box half of your meal before it is even served, you’re going to prevent yourself from eating the full amount of calories. 
    • Ex. Yoga — Sign up for a yoga class and pay ahead of time. This makes it really difficult to back out later on; you would need make the effort to cancel the meeting. 
    • 1830 — Victor Hugo used this strategy to write his book, The Hunchback of Notre Dame. He was given 6 months to write it. He asked his assistant to lock away all of his clothes so he had nothing to wear in public. This forced him to sit down and write the book. The book was published on January 14, 1831 — two weeks ahead of time. 

Ch. 15: Make It Satisfying - The Cardinal Rule of Behavior Change

  • Make It Satisfying — The fourth and final law of behavior change. This rule states that we are more likely to repeat a behavior when the experience is satisfying. Conversely, we are less likely to repeat a behavior that isn’t satisfying.
    • Ex. Gum — Wrigley introduced flavored gum in 1891 and almost instantly became the largest chewing gum company in the world. Before Wrigley introduced flavors like Spearmint and Juicy Fruit, gum was chewy but did not have any taste. By adding flavor and marketing the product as a way to achieve a “clean mouth”, the company made gum chewing satisfying. Sales skyrocketed. 
  • Delayed Return Environment — We now live in this type of environment, where you have to be thinking about and preparing for your long-term future. Good choices and habits tend to have a very delayed reward rather than an instant reward. On the other hand, bad habits tend to come with an instant reward but have terrible long-term consequences.
    • Ex. Fast Food — Consistently eating fast food is terrible for your long-term health, but feels great in the moment. It gives you a dopamine surge and makes you feel full, happy, and satisfied. 
    • Immediate Return Environment — This is the environment our ancestors lived in, when thinking about life in the short-term was essential to surviving every day. Thinking about the long-term wasn’t needed; it was all about surviving the day. As a result, our brains evolved and are programmed to favor immediate rewards over long-term rewards. 
  • Time Inconsistency — Term used by behavioral economists to describe the human tendency to value our present selves over our future selves. We prefer to take the certain reward available to us now over the long-term reward that might be available down the line.
    • Instant Gratification — This way of valuing rewards leads to us making decisions that will deliver the greatest payoff NOW, even if those choices are harmful over the long run.
      • Ex. Smoking — People who smoke know it’s harmful for their long-term health but choose to light a cigarette because of the instant reward available to them now. 
    • Quote (P. 189): “With our bad habits, the immediate outcome usually feels good, but the ultimate outcome feels bad. With good habits, it is the reverse: the immediate outcome is unenjoyable, but the ultimate outcome feels good.”
      • The cost of your good habits is in the present. The cost of your bad habits is in the future. 
  • Present vs. Future Decisions — Because our brains are programmed to favor immediate gratification over long-term rewards, we can’t rely on ourselves to make some future decisions.
    • Ex. Gym — It’s easy to skip your workout in the moment and say, “I’ll make up for it by going to the gym on a scheduled off day later in the week.” But when the time actually comes to make up that workout later in the week, we’re unlikely to follow through. 
  • Quote (P. 190): “Our preference for instant gratification reveals an important truth about success: because of how we are wired, most people will spend all day chasing quick hits of satisfaction. The road less traveled is the road of delayed gratification. If you’re willing to wait for the rewards, you’ll face less competition and often get a bigger payoff.”
    • This ☝️☝️
    • Many people you come across every day are wired to choose things that will give them satisfaction now. Most people aren’t willing to fight that natural tendency for instant gratification and choose daily habits and disciplines that are designed for long-term payoffs. 
      • By being disciplined to your routine, working hard, and focusing on getting better every day, you can be successful and stand out because not many people are willing to do those things. 
      • Learn to enjoy the daily grind of improving. The rewards aren’t instant, but they will come in time. 
  • Habit Rewards — If you can establish a habit and stay disciplined to it until you see some long-term rewards of the habit, those rewards act as confirmation that you’re doing the right things to be successful and will reinforce your commitment to the habit. The habit becomes part of your identity.
    • Ex. Gym — You’re not going to see immediate results after going to the gym for a few days. But if you stick to it and begin to see your arms get bigger, that will excite you and make you even more committed to the habit. You won’t want to lose what you’ve gained.
      • Being a gym rat is part of your identity at that point, which is really how any habit or discipline sticks. 

Ch. 16: Make It Satisfying - How to Stick With Good Habits Every Day

  • Habit Tracking — Keeping a visual log of your habits. We are motivated by progress. By keeping a calendar or journal and tracking your daily progress, you’re able to look back and see all the progress you’re making. 
    • Quote (P. 198): “The most effective form of motivation is progress. When we get a signal that we are moving forward, we become more motivated to continue down that path.”
      • When you see yourself improving, it becomes easy to remain disciplined to the habit. Progress is exciting and motivating. 
    • Habit Stacking Is Satisfying — Habit tracking is inherently satisfying. It feels good to mark an ‘X’ or make some sort of markup that shows your commitment to the habit. It’s fun to track your habits, which can help you stick to them. 
      • Ex. Reading — It feels good to keep a running log of all the books I’ve read. When I complete one, I log it. That is a satisfying part of habit tracking. 
      • Ex. Gym — Keeping a workout note in my phone to track my numbers. After every set, I log the weight and number of reps I did. 
  • Three Main Habit Stacking Benefits — In summary, there are three primary benefits to tracking and measuring your habits. 
    1. Visual — Creates a visual queue that can remind you to act.
    2. Motivating — Is inherently motivating because you see the progress you are making and don’t want to lose it.
    3. Satisfying — Feels satisfying whenever you record another successful instance of your habit.
  • ‘Don’t Break The Chain’ — A phrase Jerry Seinfeld used in the documentary Comedian. Seinfeld was discussing his commitment to writing jokes every day, even if it was just one or two.
    • It’s important to show up, even if you’re having a tough day and can only go through the motions or put just 5 minutes into the habit. Keep at it. 
      • Ex. Spanish — On Duolingo, the app keeps track of your daily streak. The idea with any habit is to be displayed and keep going every day. 
  • Never Miss Twice — It’s impossible to be perfect and never miss a day. The key to always keep in mind is this: Never miss twice. If you miss one day with a habit, that’s perfectly OK. Just make sure you get back in there the next day and get back to it. 
    • When you miss a day but get back to it, you reinforce the habit and reinforce your discipline. When you start to skip the habit multiple times, that’s when you can slip out of the habit and become undisciplined.
      • Ex. Spanish — If you miss one day for whatever reason, that’s fine! Just make sure you get back into it the next day. 
    • Quote (P. 201): “The first mistake is never the one that ruins you. It is the spiral of repeated mistakes that follows.”
    • Quote (P. 201): “This is a distinguishing feature between winners and losers. Anyone can have a bad performance, a bad workout, or a bad day at work. But when successful people fail, they rebound quickly.”
  • Show Up On Bad Days — The problem we have is that we sometimes get into an all-or-nothing mode with our habits. Even if you can’t engage in your daily habit for the full amount of time or with full energy, it is really valuable to just show up and do your best. It reinforces your identity and maintains the long-term compounding effects of the habit. 
    • Ex. Gym — Even when you don’t feel like it, it’s really valuable to just get to the gym and do you best, even if you have to go through the motions for one workout. You take command and ownership of yourself when you do this. You prevent excuses and laziness from holding you back. 
    • Quote (P. 201): “You don’t realize how valuable it is to just show up on your bad (or busy) days. Lost days hurt you more than successful days help you.”
    • Quote (P. 202): “It’s easy to train when you feel good, but it’s crucial to show up when you don’t feel like it — even if you do less than you hope.”

Ch. 17: Make It Satisfying - How an Accountability Partner Can Change Everything

  • Make It Unsatisfying — This is one way you can stop bad habits. When we make performing a bad habit painful, we are less likely to engage in the bad habit. We engage in bad habits because they serve us and provide immediate gratification. Our mind is programmed to prefer short-term rewards over long-term rewards. To stop bad habits, we need to attach an immediate consequence to them. 
    • Quote (P. 206): “Pain is an effective teacher. If a failure is painful, it gets fixed. If a failure is relatively painless, it gets ignored. The more immediate and costly a mistake, the faster you will learn from it.”
      • If the consequences of performing the bad habit aren’t severe enough, we will not change. We start to change when the pain is uncomfortable. 
        • Ex. Bills — Customers pay their bills on time when they are charged a late fee.
        • Ex. Attendance — Students show up to class when their grade is linked to attendance. 
  • Laws and Regulations — These are ways the government applies punishment to keep people in line. Laws and regulations are a good example of making certain bad behavior unsatisfying. 
    • Ex. Seat Belts — The first seat belt law was passed in New York in 1984. At the time, just 14% of people in the U.S. regularly wore seat belts. Today, 49 of the 50 states have seat belt laws (New Hampshire is the one exception). In 2016, over 88% of Americans reported regularly wearing their seat belt. The law, and the consequences of not following it, changed our seat belt habit. 

Ch. 18: Advanced Tactics - The Truth About Talent

  • Genes Matter — Genetics factor into almost everything in our lives, physical, mental, and emotional. We are all born with certain natural talents, skills, and interests. It’s important to focus your attention, habits, and discipline on the areas where you have a genetic advantage and on the things that interest you most. Doing so, combined with hard work and commitment, gives you the best chance for big success. 
    • Ex. Olympics — Michael Phelps has won the most Olympic gold medals in history (28 total, 23 gold). But if he tried to compete in distance running, he would not have done well because he is 6‘4” tall and the average height of distance running Olympic gold medalists is 5’10”. 
      • This is a small example of what it means to focus your attention and resources in the right area. 
    • Quote (P. 220): “It is now at the point where we have stopped testing to see if traits have a genetic component because we literally can’t find a single one that isn’t influenced by our genes.” — Robert Plomin, a Behavioral Geneticist at King’s College in London. 
  • Genetics and Personality — Together, your unique set of genetics predispose you to a particular personality. Specifically, genetics impact these five areas:
    1. Openness to Experience — From curious and inventive on one end to cautious and consistent on the other.
    2. Conscientiousness — Organized and efficient to easy-going and spontaneous.
    3. Extroversion — Outgoing and energetic to solitary and reserved. Extroverts and introverts.
      • This can be determined at birth. Researchers played loud music in the nursing ward of several hospitals and noted which babies turned toward it and which ones turned away. When the researchers tracked the children through life, they found that those who turned toward the loud music were more likely to be extroverts. Those who turned away went on to be introverts for the most part. 
    4. Agreeableness — Friendly and compassionate to challenging and detached.
      • People who rank high in agreeableness are kind, considerate and warm. They also have higher levels of oxytocin, a hormone that plays an important role in social bonding, increases feelings of trust, and can act as an antidepressant. 
    5. Neuroticism — Anxious and sensitive to confident, calm, and stable.
      • Those who rank high in neuroticism tend to be anxious and worry a lot. They have a lot of sensitivity in the amygdala, the portion of the brain responsible for noticing threats. Fight or flight. 
  • Go Where Your Talent Is — Based on your set of genes, there will be certain skills or tasks you are naturally better at than others. There will also be areas that you naturally find more interesting. Go towards these areas. Work at these skills and develop your natural talent in these areas. 
    • Efficient Progress — It’s easier to make progress in the areas that come easiest to you. Identify the areas you are naturally strong in and then work hard to maximize your potential in those areas. 
  • Genes Provide Clarity — Your set of genes provide clarity and give you direction in life. They tell you what you should be working on and spending your time on. Take the time to understand your particular strengths then work hard to develop those areas as much as possible. 
    • Quote (P. 226): “Once we realize our strengths, we know where to spend our time and energy. We know which types of opportunities to look for and which type of challenges to avoid. The better we understand our nature, the better our strategy can be.”

Ch. 19: Advanced Tactics - How to Stay Motivated in Life and Work

  • Steve Martin — One of the most successful comedians of all time. In 1955 at 10 years old, Steve managed to get a job at Disneyland selling guidebooks and worked his way into the magic shop. He discovered his love for comedy and spent the rest of his life delivering at clubs and honing his skills. He was a regular on The Tonight Show and Saturday Night Live, and his solo routine sold out everywhere he went. 
  • The Goldilocks Rule — You experience peak motivation when working on tasks that are right on the edge of your current abilities. Not too hard. Not too easy. Just right. With habits, you want to make sure they are not too difficult that you lose motivation but also not too easy that you don’t progress. You have to find the happy medium. This keeps you motivated.
    • Ex. Tennis — If you’re playing tennis against a 4-year-old, it’s too easy. You’re going to win every point. If you play against Roger Federer, you’re going to get smoked. It’s not fun. But if you play against someone who is comparable in skill level to you, it will be a challenging match and you’ll enjoy it. 
  • Learn to Love The Grind — Boredom, not failure, is the greatest threat to success. When a task or habit becomes repetitive and boring, most people quit right there. They get bored and they quit. Do not be this person. At some point, it comes down to who can handle the boredom of training every day. Who is committed to putting in the reps every day to get better. Mastery requires practice and repetition. You have to have the discipline to show up every day and put in the work when it’s repetitive and not all that enjoyable. This is a common lesson in many of the books I’ve read on successful people.
    • Discipline, Discipline, Discipline — Learn to enjoy the daily grind of improving. There will be days where you won’t want to do it, but those who have a set of daily habits and disciplines and execute them day in and day out are going to be successful over time. Legendary college basketball coach John Calipari said, “Learn to love the grind because life is the grind.”
      • Ex. Basketball — The player who shows up to the gym every single day and works on different elements of his game is going to be successful. The growth this player will experience over the long haul will be huge. 
    • Quote (P. 234): “Really successful people feel the same lack of motivation as everyone else. The difference is that they still find a way to show up despite the feelings of boredom.”
    • Quote (P. 235): “At some point, everyone faces the same challenge on the journey of self-improvement: you have to fall in love with boredom.”
    • Quote (P. 235): “We all have goals that we would like to achieve and dreams that we would like to fulfill, but it doesn’t matter what you are trying to become better at, if you only do the work when it’s convenient or exciting, then you’ll never be consistent enough to achieve remarkable results.”
    • Quote (P. 236): “Stepping up when it’s annoying or painful or draining to do so — that’s what makes the difference between a professional and an amateur.”
    • Quote (P. 236): “Professionals stick to the schedule; amateurs let life get in the way.”
    • Quote (P. 236): “Professionals know what is important to them and work toward it with purpose; amateurs get pulled off course by the distractions of life.”
    • Quote (P. 236): “Professionals take action even when the mood isn’t right. They might not enjoy it, but they find a way to put the reps in.”

Ch. 20: Advanced Tactics - The Downside of Creating Good Habits

  • Mastery — Habits are the backbone of mastery. As you become better and better at a skill by putting in the reps, the basics of the skill become memorized and automatic. This opens up additional brain power for effortful thinking and allows you to begin to improve other areas of the same skill. This is mastery in motion. 
    • Ex. Basketball — When the basics of dribbling become automatic, an elite basketball player can begin to focus on other areas of his game. He’s no longer thinking about how to dribble. He can now put his mental effort toward teaching himself to finish at the run with his non-dominant hand. 
  • Mastery Requires Improvement — Mastering a skill requires consistent improvement. It’s really important to be deliberate with your practice. One issue with habits is that, after you get past the point of establishing the habit and it begins to become automatic, it’s easy to just go through the motions every day without really improving the skill. You’re almost coasting on autopilot rather than deliberately improving. You’re putting in mindless reps. 
    • Ex. Spanish — 30 minutes of Spanish practice every day is great, but there needs to be a sense of urgency to improve in those 30 minutes. Try to avoid coasting through the 30 minutes. Really focus on improvement in that time slot. Come into the session with a deliberate plan to improve in a certain area (“We’re working on the preterit tense today. We’re going to work on memorizing the verb endings.) 
    • Formula — Habits + Deliberate Practice = Mastery 
    • Quote (P. 240): “You can’t repeat the same things blindly and expect to become exceptional.”
  • Review and Reflect — Taking some time to review and reflect on your habits, discipline, goals, and core values is a big part of being successful. By reviewing and reflecting on yourself and your performance, you’re able to see where you can improve. You’re able to see what you’re doing well, what you’re improving at, and what needs work. Progress is a constant process of performing, reflecting, and refining. Whenever possible, take notes and record your performance. Try to steadily improve your numbers. 
    • Ex. Los Angeles Lakers — Following the 1985-86 season, head coach Pat Riley developed and implemented a system he called the ‘Career Best Effort’ program in an effort to get the most out of his players. The system rated players on performance and effort. He constantly showed his players their rating, and showed how they stacked up with other players around the league. He also showed players how their rating was stacking up against their rating from the previous year. The idea was for players to reflect on their performance and find ways to improve their rating. 
    • Ex. Chris Rock — When testing new material, Chris Rock performs at small nightclubs to see how the material is landing with people. He has a notepad and records audience reaction in his notes throughout the performance. 
  • Annual Review — A system for reviewing your year and reflecting on your progress. Conduct your annual review in December. There are three key questions to answer: 
    1. What went well this year?
    2. What didn’t go so well this year?
    3. What did I learn? 
  • Integrity Report — A mid-year check in conducted in the summer (June or July). Take a hard look at your performance in the first six months of the year to determine if you’re making progress and living in alignment with your core values. Use this to keep yourself on course. Key questions:
    1. What are the core values that drive my life and work?
    2. How am I living and working with integrity right now?
    3. How can I set a higher standard in the future? 

Conclusion

  • Quote (P. 252): “Each of the people, teams, and companies we have covered has faced different circumstances, but ultimately progressed in the same way: through a commitment to tiny, sustainable, unrelenting improvements.”
    • The key to success is discipline and a relentless commitment to getting better every day. Actors, athletes, musicians — every highly successful person, regardless of their field, has this in common. 
  • Quote (P. 252): “Success is not a goal to reach or a finish line to cross. It is a system to improve, an endless process to refine.”
  • Quote (P. 253): “The secret to getting results that last is to never stop making improvements. It’s remarkable what you can build if you just don’t stop… It’s remarkable the knowledge you can build if you don’t stop learning.”
    • Focus on getting 1% better every day. Focus on training, learning, and growing in every way. Stay at it day after day after day. The results of tiny daily habits over the long haul are huge. 

Appendix

  • Curios is Better Than Smart — When you’re curious about the world and interested in learning, you act on that and do what it takes to learn and become more knowledgeable. If you’re smart but lack curiosity, you won’t be driven to act. Be a lifelong learner. Be curious about the world and different topics. 
  • Emotions Drive Behavior — Every decision is an emotional decision at some level. Your thoughts and actions are ultimately fueled by your emotions. This is why you can get through to many people more effectively when you appeal to emotion rather than logic or reason. 
  • Suffering Drives Progress — The source of all suffering is the desire for a change in state. This is also the source of all progress. The desire to change your state is what powers you to take action. If your level of discomfort, pain, or motivation doesn’t exceed your comfort level in your current state, you will not do anything to change your current state. That’s how it works.
  • Actions Reveal True Motivations — At the end of the day, a person’s actions reveal what they really want. If you keep saying that something is a priority but you never act on it, then you don’t really want it. Actions reveal true motivations. Watch people’s actions instead of their words. 
  • Reward Follows Sacrifice — You have to sacrifice for success. The rewards of success come after a lot of sacrifice and discipline. There’s no shortcut. 
  • Expectation Determines Satisfaction — Our expectations in life play a huge role in our overall level of satisfaction. If you have high expectations going into something and the experience doesn’t meet your high expectations, even if it was a good experience overall, you will come out feeling disappointed. It’s important to keep any eye on your expectations before going into something or doing something. 
    • Ex. Cash — If you expected to get $10 but got $100, you’re pumped. If you expected $100 and got $10, you feel disappointed despite receiving $10. 
    • Ex. People — Before doing something nice for people, you need to go into it without expecting a huge response back. If you do something nice for someone while expecting a huge reaction in return, you’re opening yourself up to feeling big disappointment.