"Atomic Habits": How to change a little bit every day, develop good habits, and become a better version of yourself?

In the new year, how can you change a little bit every day, develop good habits, and become a better version of yourself? "Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones" points out that the brain is a detector that constantly senses the surrounding environment and analyzes information. When you have enough practice, your brain will automatically encode the knowledge acquired through experience, and eventually it will become your intuition or automatic reaction.

This is the basis for cultivating a habit. Do it over and over again, and finally it becomes a habit. However, when the body handles all tasks on autopilot, some bad habits are difficult to change.

Reminder from "Atomic Habits": The reason why you cannot develop good habits is the lack of a clear execution plan

So, if you want to develop a new habit, or change a bad habit, what should you do?

"Atomic Habits" reminds you to first create your "implementation intentions," that is, "how you will execute this specific habit." Consciously be aware of what you are doing and formulate a plan.

In 2001, British researchers conducted an experiment and asked 248 subjects to establish exercise habits. Divide the subjects into 3 groups. The first group only needs to observe the number and frequency of their exercise; the second group, in addition to observation, also has to read some reports, such as what benefits exercise can bring; the third group People, in addition to the first two points above, must also make a clear plan, such as "I will jog on the river embankment for 3 hours next Monday evening."

The results showed that 35% and 38% of the people in the first and second groups exercised once a week respectively, while as many as 91% of the people in the third group exercised once a week. The plan list listed by the subject is execution intention, and its formula is, "When situation A occurs, I will execute response B."

What are the benefits of this? Why do you need Atomic Habits? Imagine that you want to exercise today, but you only have this concept in your mind. You don't know exactly where you want to move, how you want to move, and how long you want to move. In the end, you just don't do it. In other words, the reason why most people cannot develop good habits is not the lack of motivation, but the lack of clear implementation details.

"Learning to Change" points out that when stating implementation intentions, key factors such as "time" and "place" should be included as much as possible. This is also the "if-then plan" proposed by behavioral motivationists. When you Decide on a time and place and it will be easier to take action.

For example, employees are required to "submit reports every week" and "every unit must submit a review report before 4 p.m. every Friday." If employees see the latter sentence, they must know better how to perform the task.

Write down a habit scorecard to detect your good and bad behaviors first and create atomic habits

The first step in changing bad habits is to closely observe your habits. You can write down a "habit scorecard" and mark each habit with symbols such as plus (good habits), equal to (general habits), minus (bad habits), etc., and record the prompts, time and place when executing the habit. Be aware first before you can further think about how to respond to these habits.

Through habit stacking, you require yourself to do thing A and then do thing B, and use the old habit as a reminder for the new habit.

Establishing an intention to perform is only the first step in cultivating a new habit. Then, you can adopt the advanced technique of "habit stacking", a concept first proposed by social scientist BJ Fogg.

The so-called habit stacking means that after completing one habit, you will move on to the next habit. For example, after using the bathroom, you know to wash and wipe your hands, throw the dirty hand towel into the laundry basket a few days later, and buy new laundry detergent a few weeks later. This series of behaviors does not occur alone, they can be said to be a collection of habits.

The biggest benefit of doing this is that you can make the reminder of each habit "obvious", and you don't have to spend time worrying about how to motivate yourself and remind yourself. For example, every time you put on your running shoes, you would send a message to your family telling them where to go for a jog today. This step not only completes the habit of "running", but also maintains the habit of "keeping one's whereabouts clear", killing two birds with one stone.

Likewise, describing the process of habit stacking must be clear enough so that execution will not be a hindrance. For example, "During lunch break, I will do 10 sit-ups." This is a habit-stacked sentence, but this sentence does not indicate whether to do it before eating or after eating, and where to do it.

All in all, whether it is establishing execution intention or habit stacking, these two laws require the executor to speak clearly. The sentences you use are clear enough, which means that the prompt is obvious. In the long run, it will become a good habit.

"Atomic Habits" case: Change the environment, the restaurant also sells mineral water, soda sales dropped 11%

In the process of cultivating new habits, the most common problem people have is lack of motivation. Many people lament that they always spend three days fishing and two days drying the net. But is it really so? "Atomic Habits" believes that compared to self-motivation, the general environment is a more important factor.

"Atomic Habits" gives an example. In order to adjust the eating habits of thousands of employees and patients, Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston quietly changed the "food structure" of the hospital cafeteria without informing everyone. Originally, there was only soda in the refrigerator. Now bottled water is added. Within three months, soda sales in cafeterias dropped 11.4%, while bottled water sales rose 25.8%.

Let's look at another story. In a small town in the Netherlands, each house has almost the same structure, but one household's electricity consumption is significantly lower because their electricity meter is installed at the door, while other households' electricity meters are installed in the basement. .

These cases tell us that the environment is a reminder. If the environment easily triggers a certain "action", you will perform it. The environment implies "inaction", and people naturally lack motivation. In practice, you can put sticky notes on the wall next to the refrigerator or desk, or set a memo on your phone to remind yourself of the good habits you should maintain.

After adopting these methods, if you still cannot establish a habit, another strategy is to imitate the good habits of others and find the highlights to learn from them. "Learning to Change" gives an example. In the 1990s, Save the Children organizer Jerry Sternin was assigned to Vietnam to help local children with malnutrition, but he did not have additional funds to help these poor children at the time.

What does Sternin do? He observed that even though most people come from poor families, there are still children who "grow taller and stronger." He asked the parents of these cases and found that they had a more balanced diet, such as being willing to eat sweet potato leaves (considered a low-grade food in the local area), and would eat their meals four times a day to avoid eating too much at one time and causing indigestion. Imitating a particular practice from others will help you get inspired and assisted faster in the process of building a habit.

"Atomic Habits": Relying on prompts to shorten the decision-making process and create countless benefits

Amazon obtained the patent for one-click ordering in 1997, which has created countless profits for them over the past 20 years. If the user has made purchases on the website in the past, payment information, address and other information will be saved, and next time the user can complete the purchase with just one click. This is a reminder that simplifies the purchasing process, makes consumption more convenient, and invisibly changes consumer decision-making.