Ready or Not, Here I Form…

You are constantly forming new habits, whether you realize it or not. Habits are an important mechanism that allows humans to perform daily tasks on autopilot and are essential to our survival as a species. Essentially, habits are actions that have become automatic.

In fact, according to psychologist Wendy Wood, author of Good Habits, Bad Habits, habits drive around 43% of our daily actions. That’s a lot!

“… habits drive around 43% of our daily actions.”

In short, habits are important; we are constantly creating habits (whether we are aware of them or not), and unconscious habits drive a good part of our daily actions.

Habits: A Double Edge Sword

Habit creation can play with us or against us. Since we are constantly constructing new habits and reinforcing old ones, if we are not conscious of our actions, we risk reinforcing unproductive behaviour that, later on, can be much more difficult to change.

It is much easier to cultivate a new habit than to remove an old one. As the author of Atomic Habits, James Clears, puts it:

“The task of breaking a bad habit is like uprooting a powerful oak within us. And the task of building a good habit is like cultivating a delicate flower one day at a time.”

Why Small Actions Triumph Big Changes

Opposed to what popular culture might tell us, tiny changes, not massive overhauls, are the key to transforming your life. Atomic Habits reveals that success isn’t about dramatic shifts. Instead, it’s about small, consistent habits that compound over time to create extraordinary results.

Clear breaks it down with this powerful formula:

Small Habits + Consistency + Time = Remarkable Results.

Imagine your life as a series of 1% improvements. Alone, they seem insignificant. But over time, they stack up, leading to life-changing outcomes. Like compound interest grows your money, habits compound to shape your identity, productivity, and success.

However, habit-building takes patience, and because a 1% change increase doesn’t deliver immediate results, it is easy to get discouraged.

“You get what you repeat.”

Forget Goals. Focus on Systems.

Goals give you direction, but systems drive progress.

“Winners and losers have the same goals.”

While goals have a place in focusing your strategy, by themselves, goals are not a good vehicle to drive your habit-building for a few reasons:

• Goals only focus on momentary Change.
• Goals tend to restrict happiness.
• Goals are focused on the finish line rather than changing your identity in the long term.

On the other hand, systems look at the bigger picture of your life and the science of habits to put you in the best position possible to create new, effective habits and minimize bad ones.

“If you are having trouble changing your habits, the problem isn’t you. The problem is your system.”

Let’s take a look at the system proposed by the author.

The 4 Laws of Behaviour Change

In his book Atomic Habits, Clear introduces a foolproof framework to build good habits and break bad ones. He calls this system The 4 Laws of Behaviour Change.

These laws are:

• Make it Obvious
• Make it Attractive
• Make it Easy, and
• Make it Satisfying

Law #1: Make Habits Obvious

Habits are created and reinforced by a habit loop.

In simple terms, the habit loop’s formula looks something like this:

Cue + Creaving + Response + Reward = Habit

The first law (make it obvious) deals with the first part of the formula, the cue. A cue is a situation that triggers a habit, which can happen consciously or unconsciously.

The most common cues tend to be time and location. However, there are all sorts of cues. For example, the smell of cookies can be a cue that triggers you to crave something sweet, feeling stressed can be a cue that triggers you to crave a cigarette, and so on.

If you want to create a new habit, the idea is to make the new cue as obvious as possible.

Strategies to make habits more obvious:

1. Change your environment

This is one of the easiest and most powerful ways to create new cues (and habits). Change the space around you to make new cues obvious.

Want to read more? Leave a book on your pillow. Want to exercise in the morning? Take out your workout clothes the night before and put them where you can easily see them when you wake up.

2. Use a scorecard to measure your daily habits

Record your actions for a day. Beside each action, you can add a + or — depending on whether the behaviour is productive or not for your overall well-being. This will help bring awareness to your current habits and potential cues.

3. Create new cues by being specific

Be specific about your actions and create cues to help you implement new habits. The author offers the following formula to help you implement new cues:

“When situation X arises, I will perform response Y.”

For example, “When I wake up, I will put my working out clothes on.”

4. Leverage habit stacking

According to Clear, no behaviour happens in isolation. For this reason, habit staking is one of the most powerful ways to leverage current habits to create new ones. As the name suggests, the idea is to stack a new habit on top of an existing one. Here is the formula:

“After I [CURRENT HABIT], I will [NEW HABIT].”

For example, “After I have breakfast, I will drink two glasses of water.”

Law #2: Make Habits Attractive

Let’s face it — if something feels boring or painful, you won’t stick with it. That’s why James Clear’s second law of behaviour change is all about hacking your brain to crave good habits.

When a habit is attractive, it triggers a dopamine rush (the feel-good hormone), pulling you in like a magnet. So, instead of relying on sheer willpower, you make the habit something you want to do.

“The more attractive an opportunity is, the more likely it is to become habit-forming.”

How to Make Your Habits Attractive:

1. Temptation Bundling

Combine something you need to do with something you love to do.

For example, only watch your favourite show while working out. In this way, now Netflix = Exercise.

This makes the new habit more “digestible” and easier to adopt since we associate the new behaviour with positive feelings.

”Doing the thing you need to do means you get to do the thing you want to do.”

2. Surround Yourself with Positive Influence

Habits are contagious. Hang around people who already have the habits you want. In the same way, try to limit your exposure to people with habits you want to avoid.

“One of the most effective things you can do to build better habits is to join a culture where your desired behaviour is the normal behaviour.”

3. Reframe Your Mindset

When performing a new or challenging task, shift from “I have to” to “I get to.”

Instead of saying, “I have to write a new article,” say, “I get to write a new article.” Instead of “I have to meal prep,” think, “I get to nourish my body with healthy food.”

This small but powerful shift helps to reframe your mindset to highlight the benefits of a new behaviour instead of the drawbacks.

4. Leverage Dopamine

Dopamine (the feel-good hormone) isn’t just about the reward — it’s about anticipation. In a way, cravings (the second part of the habit loop) are more about anticipation than the reward itself. To leverage this, create excitement for your habits by celebrating small wins and visualizing success.

Law #3: Make Habits Easy

Look, despite what self-improvement propaganda might tell you, we are a lazy species. Well, maybe we are not lazy, but we are biologically wired to seek the path of least resistance. This is why making new habits as easy as possible is so important.

When a habit is new and shiny, it is easy to be on fire. But as many of us know, this feeling doesn’t last forever.

This is why it is crucial that on bad days, you “have as many things working in your favour as possible so that you can overcome the challenges that life naturally throws your way.”

Tips to make habits easy:

1. Practice Environment Design

This practice involves changing your space to remove any friction that might prevent you from performing your new habit. For example, if you want to be a YouTuber, dedicate a space for your studio so that you don’t have to set up your equipment every time you want to film.

2. Stick to the 2-minutes rule:

When creating a new habit, start by performing the new task for a maximum of 2 minutes and stop as soon as you reach 2 minutes.

For example, if you want to practice yoga every morning, start by taking out your yoga mat, and that’s it.

The idea here is to develop the habit of showing up first.

Once you master showing up, you can slowly increase the time you spend on the desired habit. Don’t skip this step. It is impossible (or at least very difficult) to master a new habit if you cannot master showing up consistently.

“A new habit should not feel like a challenge. The actions that follow can be challenging, but the first two minutes should be easy.”

Law #4: Make Habits Satisfying

Similar to the previous law, if a habit is not rewarding, chances are you will not stick to it.

“Pleasure teaches your brain that a behaviour is worth remembering and repeating.”

At the same time, if an experience is painful or uncomfortable, we learn not to repeat this behaviour.

Considering this fact, we should seek to make the rewards of new habits as satisfying as possible.

But we do not need just any type of reward; we need instant rewards.

One reason bad habits are so tempting is because they offer instant rewards. An ice cream will feel really good instantly, but if we eat ice cream every day, we might become overweight later.

On the other hand, good habits tend to be the opposite. Good habits tend to offer delayed gratification, so they might be harder to implement in the present but offer better rewards in the future.

“As a general rule, the more immediate pleasure you get from an action, the more strongly you should question whether it aligns with your long-term goals.”

How to Make Your Habits Satisfying:

1. Track Your Progress

Few things are more satisfying than seeing your progress build up. You can use a habit tracker or check off each day you complete your habit. That streak will keep you hooked!

2. Reward Yourself

Celebrate the small wins. After completing your habit, give yourself a mini-reward. For example, have you finished a workout? Treat yourself to a smoothie or 10 minutes of guilt-free scrolling.

3. Focus on the Immediate Win

Even if the long-term benefits take time, you can find a way to make the habit feel good today. For example, instead of “saving money for retirement,” think, “I’m building financial freedom today.”

4. Don’t Break the Chain

Consistency is its reward. Every day you stick to your habit, you reinforce the identity you’re building — and that feels amazing.

Breaking Bad Habits

As we previously learned, The 4 Laws of Behaviour can help us systematically build new habits. However, we can also use the inverse version of these laws to help us break bad habits.

If you want to break a bad habit, follow these steps:

1. Make the habit invisible.
2. Make the habit less attractive.
3. Make the habit very difficult, and lastly,
4. Make the habit as unsatisfactory as possible.

“ ‘Disciplined’ people are better at structuring their lives in a way that does not require heroic willpower and self-control. In other words, they spend less time in tempting situations.

The people with the best self-control are typically the ones who need to use it the least.”

A Word on Identity

Creating new, effective and healthy habits is a worthy cause. That said, too many people try to change their outward behaviour without changing who they are inside.

According to the author, there are three layers to behaviour change:

• Layer 1: changing your outcome
• Layer 2: changing your process
• Layer 3: changing your identity

“Outcomes are what you get. Processes are what you do. Identity is what you believe.”

The problem arises when people try to change their outcomes without changing their internal beliefs.

“[People] never shift how they look at themselves, and they don’t realize that their old identity can sabotage their new plans for change.”

True behaviour change comes with identity change. When you truly believe you can do something, you are much more likely to do it.

Instead of saying, “I need to eat healthier,” you should say, “I am a healthy person who enjoys nourishing my body.”

The idea is not only to do the thing but to become the kind of person to whom the desired behaviour is a normal part of their day.

Patience is Key

In a world obsessed with quick fixes, Atomic Habits reminds us that greatness isn’t about sudden breakthroughs. It’s about showing up every day and letting the small habits work their magic.

Small, consistent actions are the keys to massive and lasting Change. This means that Change isn’t always visible right away. However, your efforts are still well-spent even if you don’t see results now.

Trust the process and stay consistent. Success is just below the surface.