Never miss twice: The secret to habit building

+ New announcements and formats

Hey

Hope you are having a great start to the year.

Sharing the new format of this newsletter - with a focus on not just ideas, but also retention of ideas.

Here goes the format we’ll follow for this year:

1. 📅 Monthly theme
   Each month, we will focus on a theme. To start with, this Jan- let’s talk about Habit building.
   Given that the year has just begun, I believe that’s a great time to learn how to build habits - how to double down on the right ones and break the bad ones.

   
   For the rest 11 months of this year, I will share a list of themes by next week for you to share your feedback.

2. From now on, you will get (big) ideas from a book every Saturday.
   Expect 5 -7 ideas.

3. Notable quotes/sentences from the book, the next Wednesday - ensuring that you retain those ideas (scientifically speaking, this approach is called spaced repetition).

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The free subscribers will get a trimmed down version while premium subscribers will have unlimited access to all the posts.

I am aware that our subscribers from India are having a tough time paying due to regulatory issues - so have enabled an alternative payment method from Razorpay (we’ll take care of the rest).

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Now that we are talking about habits, the one book that tops the list is..well..Atomic Habits.

Here are the big ideas from the book that are truly timeless.

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Identity Change = Habit Change

Photo by Felicia Buitenwerf on Unsplash

To form a new good habit or break an old bad one, simply alter your identity in the eyes of yourself and others.

If you want to quit smoking, then whenever anyone offers you a cigarette, say, "I'm not a smoker."

If you want to build a good reading habit, tell others that you are a good reader. When you start saying like that your subconscious takes it as an order and tries to act according to that.

Identity change is the north star of Habit Change.

JAMES CLEAR

The Habit Loop

Any habit can be broken down into a feedback loop that involves four steps: 

• Cue: is that thing (mainly visual) that reminds you about the thing you are about to do.

• Craving: Then you wanted (thinking) to do that thing.

• Response: You do that thing.

• Reward: You get a reward after completing that thing.

  

If the cycle is completed successfully then you have created a habit to do that particular thing.

Good and Bad

Building Good Habits

• Make the CUE visible.

• Make it attractive (more CRAVING).

• Make your RESPONSE easy.

• Give yourself a satisfying REWARD. 

Breaking Bad Habits

• Make the CUE invisible.

• Make it unattractive (less CRAVING).

• Make your RESPONSE very hard.

• Give yourself an unsatisfying REWARD.

2 Minute Rule

The Two-Minute Rule states, ‘When you start a new habit, it should take less than two minutes to do.'

The more ritualized the beginning of a process, the more likely it is that you will be able to enter the state of deep focus required to accomplish great things.

So for new habits just try to do it only for minutes but every day. If someday it feels like you can't do that, then just do it for 2 minutes.

But..what about temptations?

Make the CUE invisible or remove those things from which you are more distracted.

Never Miss Twice: The Secret of Habit Tracking

A habit tracker is a simple way to measure whether you completed a habit, such as marking an X on a calendar or using an app.

(I use a todo app for this)

Habit trackers and other visual measurements can make your habits satisfying by providing clear evidence of your progress.

Never miss twice. If you miss one day, try to get back on track as quickly as possible.

Happy Habit building!

-ashish.