Why Mastering Habits Is The Most Important Skill You Will Ever Learn

1. TLDR Summary

Your habits will have a larger impact than anything else on your success in life, regardless of your endeavor.

Habits are actions you have repeated so many times that they have become automatic.

The key to creating or eliminating habits is to shape your environment to make your good habits easier and your bad habits more difficult.

2. What is a habit?

Habits are actions that you have repeated so many times that they have become automatic.

There are 4 steps to create a habit:

• Cue: A trigger that initiates the following habit sequence
• Craving: The feelings that make you take action
• Response: The action or thought that you perform
• Reward: The reward you get from completing the habit.

(Simplified from James Clear’s Atomic Habits).

Personally, I just do step 1 and 3. If I have problems with getting the habit to stick, I’ll look at step 2 and 4.

3. Why are habits so important?

Understanding how to create good habits and eliminate bad habits can completely change your life trajectory. It will single-handedly determine whether you reach your goals.

4. How can you create or eliminate habits to improve your life?

The key to creating or eliminating habits is to shape your environment to make your good habits easier and your bad habits more difficult.

To explain how you can create or eliminate habits with 2 examples from my own life.

4.1 Creating a good habit:

Habit: Train strength 3 times per week.

Pro tip: For good habits that are actions, specify when and where in your calendar. E.g. I go to my local gym Fresh Fitness at 06:30 on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.

Habit Loop:

• Cue: Make it visible
  • Example: Putting on my gym clothes (visible) as I get out of bed.
• Craving: Make it attractive
  • Example: I don’t want to die early and I want to be able to play with my son’s children when I get old.
• Response: Make it easy
  • Example: Going to the gym. By putting out my clothes and packing my bag, and breakfast, I’ve made it easy to go to the gym.
• Reward: Make it satisfying
  • Example: I feel amazing for several hours after I go to the gym. I feel bad if I miss my workouts for a week due to illness. Also, tracking and seeing my progress over time is super motivating.

4.1.1 The most common reason smart people fail when creating good habits?

Problem: They try to create too many new habits at once, so they forget, don’t have time, or get overwhelmed. I know this from experience.

Solution:

• List: Make a list of habits you want to make.
• Max 5: Stop once you reach 5 (I guarantee you that habit number 6 is not going to be the most impactful).
• Pick 1: Prioritize it based on the potential impact they can have on your life.
• Action: Implement the most important one.
• Reps: Perform the habit 30 times.
• Repeat: Once you’ve done this once, you can repeat the process.

This brings me to a new and important concept:

4.2 Habit Stacking

Habit Stacking: Stack habits on top of each other, using the end of a habit as a cue to initiate the next one.

Example: I run on a treadmill after I complete my strength work at the gym. As I’m warm and have my workout clothes on, this makes it a lot easier than doing it as a separate workout on another day. Plus I save time on only needing to shower once for 2 workouts.

4.3 Eliminating/replacing a bad habit

Habit: Stop eating candy (I’ve not eaten candy in 5 years).

Pro tip: It is easier to replace a bad habit than to eliminate it.

Habit Loop:

• Cue: Don’t make it visible
  • Example: Never buy candy and never have it at my house (not visible). And have a healthier option in my refrigerator when the cravings hit. I eat Greek yoghurt or berries.
• Craving: Make it unattractive
  • Example: Sugar spikes blood glucose —> diabetes —> 4 most common diseases people die from. I don’t want to die early.
• Response: Make it difficult
  • Example: I did not have candy at my house. In the beginning, I had a rule that it was ok if I walked (= hard, driving = easy) to the store specifically to buy it. Eventually, I ate less and less, turns out walking to the store was a new habit that was difficult, so I did not stick to it. I ate candy less regularly, eventually cutting it out. I also started a new habit, using the cue of “I want sugar” to eat Greek yoghurt, which I always have in my refrigerator (easy).
• Reward: Make it unsatisfying
  • Example: In the past, I felt awful an hour after I ate candy. Now my energy levels are very stable throughout the day and I feel much better.

4.3.1 The most common reason people fail when eliminating bad habits?

Problem: They give up once they fail.

Solution: What happened when I failed, walked to the store, and ate a full bag of candy?

It was ok. By never storing it in my house, I was moving in the right direction.

You don’t have to do it right every time. Only the majority of the time to get better.

After my candy experiment, I’ve been cutting out one unhealthy food group per year. Chips and ice cream are gone. This year my goal is to quit bakery goods. I’ve slipped once on my son’s birthday. But 1 piece of cake in 6 months is a big step in the right direction.

4.4 The best tools for creating good habits

Check out this Notion template to create awareness or the app Strides to get notifications that remind you.

4.5 How long does it take to make a new habit stick?

Research is mixed. Anywhere from 30-70 days.

Measuring in days is flawed though. Better to count the reps. Aim to get to 30. If you do something 30 times it’s a good start. Once you do, go for 100 to be sure.

4.6 Want to learn more about habits?

Check out James Clear’s book: Atomic Habits. Of all the books I’ve read, it’s had the most impact on my life because it explains habits in depth. However, like most books, you can get 90% of the ROI in 10% of the time by understanding the main concept and how to apply it in real life, which I’ve explained above.

5. Key takeaways

5.1 Habits are actions you do automatically

5.2 Habits will determine your success in life

5.3 Do 30 reps to make a habit stick and shape your environment to make it easier to perform good habits.

6. Journal Prompts

6.1 Which habit can I implement that will have the most impact on my life?

6.2 How can I shape my environment to make this habit easier?

6.3 Which habit can I eliminate/replace that will have the most impact on my life?

6.4 How can I shape my environment to make this habit more difficult?

Author: Marius Norheim