FIRST LAW: MAKE THE CUE OBVIOUS

 FIRST LAW: MAKE THE CUE OBVIOUS

Habits are mental shortcuts learned from experience. In a sense, a habit is just a memory of the steps you previously followed to solve a problem in the past. Whenever the conditions are right, you can draw on this memory and automatically apply the same solution.

The ultimate purpose of habits is to solve the problems of life with as little energy and effort as possible.

LAWS OF HABIT CREATION

Eliminate the cue and your habit will never start. Reduce the craving and you won’t experience enough motivation to act. Make the behavior difficult and you won’t be able to do it. And if the reward fails to satisfy your desire, then you’ll have no reason to do it again in the future. 

Without the first three steps, a behavior will not occur. Without all four, a behavior will not be repeated. In summary, the cue triggers a craving, which motivates a response, which provides a reward, which satisfies the craving and, ultimately, becomes associated with the cue.

Whenever you want to change your behavior, you can simply ask yourself:

1. How can I make it obvious?
2. How can I make it attractive?
3. How can I make it easy?
4. How can I make it satisfying? 

  THE CUE: The first stage of habit formation is the cue, often described as the trigger that initiates the habit loop. You don’t need to be aware of the cue for a habit to begin.

Cues can be external, such as a specific time of day, a particular location, or the presence of other people. Alternatively, they can be internal, like an emotional state or a preceding action. Understanding and identifying these cues are essential in deliberately designing habits. The key is to make cues obvious, as clarity in triggers significantly influences the likelihood of habit formation.    

MAKING THE CUE OBVIOUS

1. IDENTIFY YOUR CURRENT HABITS: 

Before we can effectively build new habits, we need to get a handle on our current ones. This can be more challenging than it sounds because once a habit is firmly rooted in your life, it is mostly unconscious and automatic.  The more automatic a behavior becomes, the less likely we are to consciously think about it.

One of our greatest challenges in changing habits is maintaining awareness of what we are actually doing. This helps explain why the consequences of bad habits can sneak up on us.

1.1 EXERCISE AND PRACTICE:

* Make a list of your daily habits. Categorize your habits  ( + - =) by how they will benefit you in the long run. (Does this behavior help me become the type of person I wish to be?) The goal is to simply notice what is actually going on.

* Try Pointing-and-Calling. Say out loud the action that you are thinking of taking and what the outcome will be. If you want to cut back on your junk food habit but notice yourself grabbing another cookie, say out loud, “I’m about to eat this cookie, but I don’t need it. Eating it will cause me to gain weight and hurt my health.” Pointing-and-Calling raises your level of awareness from an unconscious habit to a more conscious level by verbalizing your actions.

2. IMPLEMENTATION INTENTION:

Implementation Intention is when you intend to do something at a specific location and time. This also sounds like affirmation but is more actionable. This primes you up for what is coming.

The simple way to apply this strategy to your habits is to fill out this sentence:

I will [BEHAVIOR] at [TIME] in [LOCATION].

• Meditation. I will meditate for one minute at 7 a.m. in my kitchen.
• Studying. I will study Spanish for twenty minutes at 6 p.m. in my bedroom.
• Exercise. I will exercise for one hour at 5 p.m. in my local gym.

2.1 EXERCISE AND PRACTICE:

* Write down 3 statements of Implementation intention for the 3 habits that you want to accomplish.

3. HABIT STACKING:

One of the best ways to build a new habit is to identify a current habit you already do each day and then stack your new behavior on top. This is called habit stacking. Habit stacking is a special form of implementation intention. Rather than pairing your new habit with a particular time and location, you pair it with a current habit.

The habit stacking formula is:

“After [CURRENT HABIT], I will [NEW HABIT].”

• Meditation. After I pour my cup of coffee each morning, I will meditate for one minute.
• Exercise. After I take off my work shoes, I will immediately change into my workout clothes.
• Gratitude. After I sit down to dinner, I will say one thing I’m grateful for that happened today.

4. DESIGN YOUR ENVIRONMENT:

The environment you are in has a significant impact on your habits and behavior. 

People often choose products not because of what they are, but because of where they are. The more obviously available a product or service is, the more likely you are to try it.

Given that we are more dependent on vision than on any other sense, visual cues are the greatest catalyst for our behavior. For this reason, a small change in what you see can lead to a big shift in what you do.

Environment design is powerful not only because it influences how we engage with the world but also because we rarely do it. Most people live in a world others have created for them. 

• Stop thinking about your environment as filled with objects. Start thinking about it as filled with relationships. Think in terms of how you interact with the spaces around you. For one person, her couch is the place where she reads for an hour each night. For someone else, the couch is where he watches television and eats a bowl of ice cream after work.

• It is easier to build new habits in a new environment because you are not fighting against old cues. When you step outside your normal environment, you leave your behavioral biases behind. You aren’t battling old environmental cues, which allows new habits to form without interruption.
• Create a separate space for work, study, exercise, entertainment, and cooking. The mantra I find useful is “One space, one use.”  For example, the bed is only associated with sleep. If I cannot fall asleep, go somewhere else till I am tired enough to sleep. Whenever possible, avoid mixing the context of one habit with another. When you start mixing contexts, you’ll start mixing habits—and the easier ones will usually win out. This is one reason why the versatility of modern technology is both a strength and a weakness.
• If your space is limited, divide your room into activity zones: a chair for reading, a desk for writing, and a table for eating. You can do the same with your digital spaces. Every habit should have a home.

 If you want behaviors that are stable and predictable, you need an environment that is stable and predictable.