We all have our fair share of bad habits. We’ve all hit the snooze button for “five minutes,” only to roll out of bed much later. We’ve all skipped a workout, resolving to hit the gym tomorrow instead (which eventually turned into next week).
We’re told we just need more motivation — more “willpower” — but I’ve never bought that idea. It’s not about effort—it’s about setting yourself up for success by making the “healthy” or “responsible” choice easier.
Smart people find ways to make doing the "right" thing easier.
They don’t just set goals—they change their bad habits and build upon good ones, “shaping the charge” so that the best version of themselves is the one most likely to show up. Small changes compound over time so eventually, they become that type of person.
This is what James Clear teaches in his bestselling book Atomic Habits. According to Clear, people repeat bad habits not because they lack willpower, but because they haven’t designed the right environment for the right behaviors to manifest.
Clear’s philosophy resonated with me as someone who has always struggled with weight, even after losing 50 lbs. It didn’t help that I had to learn to operate 100% from home, just a few feet away from my wife, during the pandemic. For example, alone, I already struggled with making healthy eating choices. But I found that when my wife and I are together, if either of us is leaning towards the “less healthy” choice, we both end up making the less healthy choice, compounding bad habits.
Here’s what I learned from implementing some of Clear’s philosophies —hopefully, you’ll pick up a few things you can apply in your own life.
What I’ve Learned From Implementing Atomic Habits
1. List Your Existing Habits, Practice Habit Stacking, and Be Intentional About How You’ll Implement Your Plans
One interesting tactic was the practice of Habit Stacking: “After [current habit], I will [new habit].” It’s a form of implementation intention that takes advantage of the natural momentum leading from one action to the next—like a row of dominoes.
I used to change into gym clothes but not leave home, procrastinating for hours instead. But recently I’ve started stacking two habits—drinking a pre-workout beverage and changing into gym clothes—that helped me with my exercise goals. The pre-workout drink takes effect after 10 minutes, and if I don’t work out it will make me jittery, which creates a sort of negative consequence of not going to the gym after taking it. But the real power is the sequence: change into gym clothes, take the pre-workout drink, jump in the car. No sitting down—just jump in the car immediately after the drink. It works, and it’s been working nearly without fail for six months.
One additional suggestion from Clear: Write down your habit stack and say each habit out loud. This adds pressure by raising your level of awareness of what you should be doing to a more conscious level.
2. Create an Environment That Makes the Good Choice the Easy Choice
Environment plays a huge role in shaping human behavior. Make the cues for good behaviors obvious in your environment.
Part of Google’s Project Oxygen entailed researchers studying common HR practices. They found that the consumption of junk food could be reduced by simply hiding the snacks rather than removing them completely.
In the same vein, I decided to make working out at home a little easier, putting my yoga mat, dumbbells, and resistance bands next to the TV. I’d be staring at them (and them back at me) every evening while watching TV, a silent yet effective reminder to stretch and lift. I didn’t have to think about it, leave the living room, or go to the gym. It became an easy way to keep busy in front of the TV.
3. Anticipation Is Better Than Fulfillment
Desire drives behavior. It is the anticipation of a reward—and not the actual fulfillment of the reward—that drives us to take action. That’s because the brain has more areas dedicated to wanting rewards than areas dedicated to liking them. That’s why gamblers get a dopamine spike before they place their bets and not after they win. That’s also why we’re more excited about the idea of opening holiday gifts than actually owning them.
Building upon this idea, I bought a 12-month calendar and mounted it on a wall in our apartment. I use it to mark all the trips that we have planned: vacations, weddings, birthday weekends, anniversary trips, out-of-town festivals, etc. It helps us visualize all the exciting rewards that we can look forward to, making it easier to delay gratification in the present. For example, if we get the urge to order Grubhub on a weeknight, the calendar can serve to remind us that we’re just 15 weeknights away from a big LA trip, where we’ll be eating to our hearts’ content.
4. By Defining Cultural Norms, You Can Shape What Behaviors People Find Fulfilling
Humans have an innate drive to belong. You should be familiar with this concept if you’ve also read Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari. I think that we can get the most impact if we combine the evolutionary desire to be accepted by the tribe, with the idea that we can actually shape the framework that the tribe uses to measure someone’s worth.
At Coding Dojo, I’ve been experimenting with this framework by assigning a north star metric to each member of my team. The north start metric is next to their names, and the north star metric target vs. the actual outcome is projected on a screen once a week for full transparency, creating an environment of continuous improvement and innovation.
By defining which traits will make a person accepted by a tribe, you can also determine what they will derive joy and fulfillment from. When you join a culture where the desired behavior is the norm, you’ll find it easier to make the right choices.
Motion makes you feel like you’re getting things done, but you’re actually just preparing to do so.
5. Taking Action Is Better Than Being In Motion
Clear defines being in motion as “planning and strategizing and learning…all good things, but they don’t produce a result.” Taking action, on the other hand, is defined as “the type of behavior that will deliver an outcome.” Outlining ideas for the next blog post is motion. Actually writing the blog post is action. Motion makes you feel like you’re getting things done, but you’re actually just preparing to get things done.
The key is to not aim for perfection. “The best is the enemy of the good,” said Voltaire. You don’t need to be a master at the onset—that’s nearly impossible, anyway. Mastery comes from repetition. Practice makes perfect because the action becomes automatic over time, simply because you’re doing the same thing again and again and again.
6. Be Aware of the Cues That Lead to Good and Bad Habits
A cue triggers your brain to do something that could result in a reward. It’s the first step in the Habit Loop—when you realize that you need to take action. It’s important to identify the cues that are associated with your good and bad habits so you can take action.
One of my bad cues is when I bid my wife good night because I’d watch my favorite TV show next, and then I’ll get a dessert to cap off the evening. I’m undermining sleep and indulging in unhealthy food, both of which go against my desire to be more fit.
On the other hand, drinking the pre-workout drink I mentioned earlier is a good cue. That’s because after ingesting the drink, I have to leave for the gym within the next five minutes to get the most of its benefits, and it’s too much caffeine for my body otherwise. This motivates me to leave immediately—I used to procrastinate when it comes to working out, but not anymore.
7. Find a Reward System That Works for You
The most important thing about sticking to a good habit is the feeling of success associated with it—the sheer knowledge that your habit has paid off and that all your work was worth the effort. And in a perfect world, the reward for a good habit is the habit itself—that small bit of self-improvement. But we don’t live in a utopia, and as such, good habits only tend to feel worthwhile when they’ve provided you with something tangible.
That’s why I created a reward system for shipping projects, getting leverage on my time, and writing religiously. Since I’m already logging the hours I spend each day for my three consulting clients, I just added two more columns to my spreadsheet: one for my writing activities and another for my side business. Every time I do any work on either of those two columns, I get to set aside $25 toward a gift I’ve been wanting for many years.
I also created a separate “loyalty program” where I give myself $1 towards something fun for every hour that I write. This motivates me to spend more time writing, and indulging afterward in the small reward becomes absolutely worth it.
8. Play to Your Strengths
The best way to increase your odds of success is to choose the right field of competition. It’s easier to maintain habits when they’re aligned with your natural abilities, so choose habits that best suit you.
One simple way to find what you’re good at is to ask yourself, “When are you enjoying yourself when others are complaining?“ What’s an activity that brings you joy, but not to the people around you? That’s what you were born to do. For me, that’s playing around with data and doing podcast interviews, so I focus on these.