If you imagine the structure of your life as a brick building, your habits are the bricks. They are the foundation that allow you to lead the life you desire, the life of your design. The reason habit formation is so important is because the conscious brain can only focus on one task at a time. Rote habits are carried out by the subconscious (or nonconscious) mind, and the more aspects of your daily life that you can pass off to your subconscious, the more mental bandwidth you have available to concentrate on other problems.
In his book, Clear lays out four laws that influence habit formation: Make it obvious, make it attractive, make it easy, and make it satisfying. Each of these laws govern both our good habits and our bad habits, and they are the roadmap for change. For example, if we want to start exercising first thing in the morning, we can make it obvious by putting our running sneakers next to the bed the night before. For another example, if we are trying to quit a bad habit like smoking, we might make it difficult (the reverse of making it easy) by locking our cigarettes up in a place that is difficult to get to.
The two biggest cues that activate a habit are place and time. If you eat breakfast at the same time every morning, your body will learn to get hungry at that time. Similarly, if you always smoke cigarettes in your garage, when you go in there to do your laundry, your body will crave nicotine. This is because our “environment is the invisible hand that shapes human behavior.” We often think that changing bad habits into good ones requires diligent will-power, and while this internal approach does sometimes work, it is not the only solution: sometimes changing the external environment that we are existing in can be just as impactful. This is because “our behavior is not defined by the objects in the environment but by our relationship to them.” If your relationship with your garage is that it is a quiet place where you go to smoke, then anytime you go there for any other reason, you will be triggered to smoke. You must change your relationship to your garage in order to curb the desire to smoke every time you enter.
The biggest misconception about habits is the difference between setting goals and building systems. “The purpose of setting goals is to win the game,” Clear writes, “the purpose of building systems is to continue playing the game.” You might start a habit because you are motivated to do so, but you’ll stick with it because it becomes a part of your identity. It is the difference between saying to yourself “I am going to lay 100 bricks” and “I am going to be the best brick layer I can be.” Achieving a goal only changes your life momentarily, whereas adjusting your system changes your life forever. This is the purpose of creating strong and healthy habits: to improve your life one small brick at a time.
Reading this book led me to a personal revelation about my writing. When I first started writing book reviews, I set the goal of completing three a month. This inevitably became tiresome. Instead of remaining chained to this goal, I decided to change my mindset: Instead of writing three a month, I simply write as many as I can with the time that I have. I may have some months where I only produce one or two book reviews, but this will not take any wind out of my sails. My goal is no longer to write three reviews a month, but instead it is to be the best writer I can be. Reading and writing book reviews started off as something I was motivated to do because I wanted to share my favorite books with the world. Now it has become a part of my identity. I am a writer.
I humbly thank you for reading!