What Really Makes a Habit Stick?

When it comes to goal setting, the ‘go big or go home’ mindset will only get you so far.

What’s works instead are tiny, minuscule changes to our life that erase bad habits and create new ones.

Maybe a race car can go from zero to sixty in 6 seconds but forming a habit does not use the same formula. James Clear shares his road map to cultivating habit forming life changes in his book, Atomic Habits.  

In his first chapter he writes, “It is so easy to overestimate the importance of one defining moment and underestimate the value of making small improvements on a daily basis. Too often, we convince ourselves that massive success requires a massive action.” 

A tiny change. A marginal gain. A 1% improvement over time is astounding. Clear calculates, “If you can get 1 percent better each day for one year, you’ll end up thirty-seven times better by the time you’re done.” Worth a try, right?

There is no substitute for reading Atomic Habits but here are a few take-aways to ponder.

• Bundle a new habit with an existing one. For instance, if your doctor prescribed a medication you must take in the morning, add it into your morning ritual.  Put the medication by the coffee pot and before you start making your first cup, take your pill.  

• Create reward systems. If you like to watch a little TV at night, first do something you would normally avoid, such as washing your dishes. Instead, put them in the dishwasher and wipe down the countertops, then watch TV.  

• Focus on your aspirational identity. Stop being governed by the task itself but instead start honing in on WHO you want to be.

• Optimize your surroundings to make a new habit easier.  Want to read more?  Make a list of books you want to read and make your reading goals attainable.  For example, “I will read 10 pages a day if it’s a 300 page book.”  All of the sudden you are now reading a book a month. 

Mark Twain wrote, “Nothing so needs reforming as other people’s habits.” A reminder that we often see a need for change in others instead of ourselves. Instead, we can create the change we desire in ourselves by taking steps one habit at a time and with a little help from trailblazers like James Clear.