"In the insightful book The Power of Habit, author Charles Duhigg describes a lost soul -- Lisa Allen, a middle-aged woman who had always struggled with her weight, who had begun drinking and smoking when she was sixteen, and whose husband had left her for another woman. Lisa had never held a job for more than a year and had fallen deeply into dept. But in a four-year span, Lisa turned her life around completely. She lost sixty pounds, was working toward a master's degree, stopped drinking and smoking, and was so fit that she ran a marathon. To understand how Lisa made these changes, we need to understand habit."

Barbara Oakley - A Mind For Numbers

Our lives are built from habits:

  • When do you get up in the morning, do you look after a phone?
  • Do you think much about driving a car? Or is it more automatic?
  • When are you a moment before sleep, do you brush your teeth?
  • Do you put your hands under your nose when you are deeply thinking?
  • When you return from work or school and go immediately play video games or watch videos?
  • Do you read before sleep every day?
  • Do you meditate each morning day?

I could go for ages. Our days are a big part composed of habits that we have developed or copied from others. They can build us up or tear us down. So is important to reevaluate them often.

"Your identity emerges out of your habits. Every action is a vote for the type of person you wish to become."

James Clear - Atomic Habits

Parts of Habit

If we want to use habits to our advantage, we need to first understand what’s actual habits made of. Barbara Oakley in her book A Mind for Numbers defines four it’s parts:

The Cue

When something triggers you response to do something:

  • It’s cold.
  • It’s evening and you have to do anything urgent.
  • It’s time to go to sleep.

The cue is not much important, it’s how we respond to it, that matters.

The Routine

In response to the cue, you perform the act. This action is what matters. In many cases the trigger is healpful, logical one. But in many cases we can undervalue ours best intetions.

  • Let’s find some extra clothes or go inside.
  • Well, the new Netlix series came in, and I want to watch it. My personal project that I have been thinking long time can wait…
  • Let’s clean my teeth.

The Reward

The habits have an effect because they have pleasant consequence. And so we want to get this pleasant consequence again. The cycle continues.

  • The feeling of warmth! No longer cold!
  • Ahhh, this is so nice. The action, the story… (As you experience dopamine fill your senses)
  • The fresh feeling in your mouth and knowing that you have made something good for the teeth health.

The Belief

Habits have power because of the underlying belief. If you believe that you cannot concantrate on learning math or are bad at it. You will have a much harder time evaluating this habit.

  • It’s good to stay warm. It’s more pleasant and also I will not be chilled.
  • The whole project is stupid idea. I am so dump at coding. I will never be good at it, so why try? This is a better use of my time.
  • It’s important to clean teeth. They will stay healthy and also it’s quite pleasent to have the fresh feeling.

On the Edge of Choice

Habits can be good and bad. Between you entering the “zombie” mod and doing something almost automaticly there is a small space that will determine your life outcomes. You are on the edge: you have a choice. You can choose something useful.

Make a habit to respond to thoughts and ideas, instead of reaction to it. Consider what is important to you, your life vision, the ideal self, the person you want to be for other people, and ask yourself. Will this get me closer to it? And over time as your subconsiesce mind rewires, your thoughts will change and so your character.

"Your identity emerges out of your habits. Every action is a vote for the type of person you wish to become."

James Clear

Why do I care?

Habits are incredible usefull approach to transforming your life. James Clear, author of famous book - The Atomic Habits - shares his own experience when he trully embraced the idea. He was able to study with A’s, play very sucesfully a football and make very signification changes in many other areas. The main idea is that he didn’t did anything special, just many minor habits.

Habit Ideas

  • Reading before sleep
  • Morning meditation or training
  • Regular excercise
  • Eating breakfeast
  • Cleaning desk each evenin
  • Learning every day (school, musical instrument)

Habit Applications

Or you can try mine. Its more minimalistic, but elegant, yet completely free - HabitMaster