It’s extraordinary how bad habits seemed to be easy to adopt and good habits difficult.

A book we highly recommend you either listen to, or read, is Atomic Habits by James Clear.

A couple of key take outs from the book include small changes are easier to implement but add up to great results, work on systems rather than goals and what he calls the four laws of behaviour change.

His argument is to take small steps, that a 1% change is easier to implement, and you will have less resistance to change. With less pain and will power, over time all those 1% changes add up.

The second take out is that setting goals is easy, but to achieve those goals is much more difficult. His suggestion is that you work on incremental improvement in the systems that you use, and those incremental changes become routine and will add up to successful achievement of those goals.

The four laws of behavioural change are a cycle and follow:

1. cue: make it obvious,
2. craving: make it attractive,
3. response: make it easy,
4. reward: make it satisfying.

Further details below:

1. Cue, make it obvious. If you want to change certain habits, his suggestion is that you write them down, be specific so you don’t fudge, add what new habit you are going to substitute and design cues to make those new habits obvious and visible.
2. Craving, make it attractive. Pair an action you want to do with an action you need to do. Join a culture where the behaviour is the normal behaviour and do something you enjoy immediately before a difficult habit.
3. Response, make it easy. Reduce the number of steps between you and your good habits, automate your habits with apps, downscale your habits until they can be done in 2 minutes or less.
4. Reward, make it satisfying. Give yourself an immediate reward when you complete your habit. When avoiding a bad habit design a way to see the benefits. Never miss twice, when you forget to do a habit make sure you get back on track.

This summary does not do justice to the book. With all the distractions of the world, habits can make or break you. Build systems in small steps and the results will add up.

If you have questions in relation to the above, or any other matters, please do not hesitate to contact our office on 1300 620 345.