So far, in this "building better habits journey with James Clear," we have looked at three lessons.
Here are the lessons:
Lesson 1: How To Choose A Habit That Sticks
Lesson 2: The Two-Minute Rule for Building Lasting Habits
Lesson 3: How to Fit New Habits in Your Life
Go check them out. There's a lot about forming the right habits in those lessons that will tremendously help you.
This brings us to the fourth lesson in this journey.
Lesson 4 of 11
Week 2
How to Design Your Environment for Success
By now [if you have been closely following], you should have discovered the right identity you want to develop; you also have a two-minute version of your habit that reinforces that identity, and you have designed a clear "implementation intention" for inserting this tiny habit into your daily life.
In this lesson, James goes into detail.
When we desire to build better habits, we must deliberately and consciously do things that will make it easy to build those habits.
And one of these conscious steps is designing our environments to accommodate the habits we want to build by placing strong cues all over our environment that trigger us and sends an impulse to our mind about that habit we want to build.
Make The Cue Obvious
These cues must be conspicuous enough. Place them strategically in your physical or digital environment [your phone's screen and/or PC's screen].
Now, let's take the example of developing a reading habit.
When you have developed a good plan and an implementation intention [I will read two or three pages of "this book—the lord of the rings or harry potter or atomic habits" in the morning after breakfast in my library or on my reading desk], you now take a step further by making sure that book is placed in a position in your environment where you can easily reach out for it, maybe on your reading table and not tucked in between books in your library or reading shelf.
Use reminders on your phone's screen [digital environment] and notes placed at strategic high-traffic locations in your environment, like in your kitchen or restrooms.
"If you want to make a habit a big part of your life, you need to make the cue a big part of your environment. Make sure the best choice is the most obvious one. In the long-run (and often in the short-run), your willpower will not beat your environment." - James Clear.
I discovered that building the right habit is first about being deliberate and very determined.
If you aren't determined enough, all these tactics and strategies will do nothing for you.
Most of these bad habits we want to change have been with us for many years, becoming part of us, and it will take a lot of work to get rid of them. And the more complex a habit is, the more work one will have to do to make it become part of one's life.
At the end of my brief summary/study of each lesson, I always encourage readers to take the course directly. There's a lot in there that I have not included in my study.
If you are desperately serious about building better habits that will change your life, take the course here yourself. It's free. And if you find it interesting, I hope you can also share what you are learning with us [I wouldn't even mind publishing what you learn along the way].
And before I leave you to enjoy the remaining hours of your calm Sunday, I want to tell you about a writing course created by Tim Denning.
You may know Tim Denning if you are familiar with online writing. Great guy.
I respect him so much [when I started writing online, he was one of the few writers I went to for real inspiration when I felt like giving up and becoming a monk].
His online writing course will change your writing career forever! Full assurance.
I have observed that starting or early-stage creatives need a hard push out of their comfort zones.
Something to make them create every day, to make them show up at all times—in front of the canvas, microphone, or laptop screen. And these courses I share with you are designed to do just that.
Seize your spot among the "baddest" writers in the galaxy.
Go on, enter here! Tim's waiting for you.
And finally, final, an article by Ryan Holiday I enjoyed so much. He brought together powerful advice from an army of highly talented, celestial-like writers. I would love for you to read it. It's amazing. You won't regret it. Check it out here.
And finally, a James Altucher interview.
James Altucher’s story is inspiring. It gives you the juice to keep grinding.
When I need a boost, I run to interviews, especially those featuring writers and creators I love and admire. From those interviews, I draw inspiration to keep me going. I know you will enjoy this interview. Check it out here.
Catch you soon.
And have a “wonder full” week ahead!
[Remember to always share goodness with those you genuinely love].