How To Change:
The Habit Guide You'll Ever Need

HOW TO CHANGEWhen we want to change our behavior, there are 3 levels where we can do so.Outcomes: changing your results, e.g. losing weight. Most of the goals you set are at this levelProcess: changing your habits and systems, Most of the habits you build live at this levelIdentity: changing your beliefs, e.g. your worldview or self-image.Most of the beliefs, assumptions, and biases you hold are associated with this levelThe most effective way to change your habits:Focus on who you wish to become — not on what you want to achieve.When a habit becomes part of who you are, it is intrinsically motivating.This means the process of doing the habit is the reward, and you want to engage in it just because you enjoy it.In a nutshell, To permanently change your habits, you must also change who you are.


1% BETTER EVERY DAYFor us to grow drastically, it does not take a lot of change from day to day.If we can consistently get only 1% better every single day, we will grow exponentially over time.The same applies to bad habits.
If we get only 1% worse every day for a year, we will have dramatically declined by the end of that period.The effects of your habits multiply as you repeat them.They seem to make little difference on any given day, yet when looking back two, five, or perhaps ten years later — the value of good habits becomes strikingly apparent.


GOALS VS SYSTEMSWhen we are working towards something, there are always 2 major components: A goal and a system.Our goal is the target we want to hit.The amount of money we want to earn, the weight we want to lose, the pages we want to write, and so on.Our systems are the actual processes we need to follow to reach this goal.For example: If my goal is to put on muscle, my system is what I need to do to get there. This is going to be the workout routine I follow, the meals I eat, and how I recover my muscles.We often put a lot of attention on our goals, but not enough on the systems we need to get there.This is a reason why many people fail to accomplish the goals that they set.Goals are good for setting a direction, but systems are what we need to make meaningful progress towards our goals.Achieving a goal is a momentary change.If I set the goal to lose 50 pounds in 3 months, I may reach it, but there is also a good chance I will immediately gain the weight back.Systems solve a problem - for good.If I like exercising, it will be much harder for me to get fat, because my identity has now been built around being in shape.Systems make you fall in love with the process rather than the outcome.This way you aren’t waiting to get the 6-pack to be happy, and you’re able to enjoy life before and after you get to your goal.This doesn’t mean we don’t set goals or use them to motivate us, it just means that we focus more on the processes we need to hit those goals.In a nutshell, Process > Goal.

Focus on systematizing the process and making the process something part of your identity.Otherwise, there is a good chance you revert right back to where you started from.


HOW TO BUILD AMAZING HABITSAny habit can be broken down into a feedback loop of four steps:
Cue: what triggers your brain to initiate a behavior.This is a piece of information that predicts a reward.Craving: This is the motivational force behind every habit. You don’t crave the habit itself, but the change in state it delivers.For example, you do not crave smoking a cigarette, you crave the feeling of relief it provides.We desire the end result, the feeling this provides.Response: This is the actual habit you perform, as a thought or action.Whether a response happens or not depends on how motivated we are by the craving and how hard doing the habit is.Reward: The end goal of each habit. This is the dopamine hit we get when our craving is satisfied.A good reward will teach us to do an action in the future.A mediocre or bad reward will teach us not to do this action in the future.These four steps are automatically occurring in every habit we have.If a behavior doesn’t hit all four of these stages, it is not and will never be a habit of ours.Without the first three steps, we won’t do it. And without all four steps, we won’t repeat it.So by using these four steps, we can create good habits.And by messing them up, we can get rid of old, bad ones.Follow these laws and you will make great progress in your habits.Reverse them and you can get rid of habits.


THE 4 LAWS OF HABIT CHANGE:The 1st Law: Make It Obvious.Our goal with this law is to create cues for good habits.We need to build a trigger to get us to do something.Here are the concrete, actionable steps to accomplish just that: Create A Habit Scorecard.Write down your current habits in a list, and then write whether they are good or bad(whether or not they will get you closer to who you want to be).If you are struggling to think of habits, list everything you do daily in order. These are all habits.Use implementation intentions.These are statements that remind us of what we are doing ahead of time.The formula for them is as follows: “I will [new habit] at [time] in [location]”.Use habit stacking.This is when we make new habits after ones we already do to make them feel more familiar to us.The formula is as follows: “After I [current habit], I will [do new habit]”. For example, “After I drink my coffee, I will work out”...and btw, you can combine this with implementation intentions. For example:
“I will [habit] at [time] in [location]” “After I do [current habit], I will [do new habit]”.Design your environment.Make the cues of good habits obvious and visible and reduce bad habit cues. If you want to read more, put books in front of you.If you want to spend less time on your phone, put it somewhere where it is harder to see.We need to do these things because we need to build awareness.If we are not aware of cues, we will not act on them. Cues are key to development because they are what gets the process started for us doing a habit.Without a cue, there is no consideration for us to take action.The 2nd Law: Make It Attractive.Our goal with this law is to create an actual craving to do something. If you despise doing something, it’s pretty hard to stay consistent with it.Here are some ways to fix that and actually enjoy the idea of doing these new habits:Use temptation bundling, which is when you pair an action you want to do with an action you need to do.
Don’t cope obviously.You don’t play Fortnite on your phone while you run, or eat a cookie while you read about diet.But just throw in small things.Listen to good music while you are in the gym, for example.Have some tea while you journal. Doing these little things helps you a lot in building consistency.Join a culture where your desired behavior is normal.If doing something is socially accepted, you will want to do it more naturally.You guys already are applying this by being in here.The same thing applies to different niches though.If you want to, for example, become a Navy Seal, you would want to find another community of guys doing that and learn from them.Create a motivation ritual.Do something you enjoy immediately before a difficult habit. Habits are attractive when we associate them with positive feelings.Again, don’t cope.Make this something simple.
Don’t do anything that will go against the identity you are aiming for with these goals.But let yourself have fun with it.The 3rd Law: Make It Easy.Our goal with this law is to make it as easy to do these habits as possible.These are a few highly actionable steps for this: Reduce friction.Decrease the number of steps between you and your good habits.
Prepare your environment to make future actions easier.For example, if you want to eat healthier, meal prep over the weekend so that during the week it takes only a few minutes to get your food and microwave it.Or if you want to exercise more, prep your gym bag in advance so that all you have to do is grab it and go. Create an environment where doing the right thing is as easy as possible.Master the decisive moment.The difference between a good day and a bad day is often a few productive and healthy choices made at decisive moments.Each one is like a fork in the road, and these choices stack up throughout the day and can ultimately lead to very different outcomes.The moment you decide between ordering takeout or cooking dinner.The moment you choose between driving your car or riding your bike.The moment you decide between starting your homework or grabbing the video game controller.Identify these moments as they happen, so you can make the right decision.Use the Two-Minute Rule.Downscale your habits until they can easily be done in two minutes or less.If you want to start running for example, put your shoes on and tie them.If you want to read before bed each night, read one page.This sounds silly, but it is actually very useful. If you make the first 2 minutes easy to do for whatever habit you are trying to build, it makes it easy to start.Yes, the actual habit still may be hard.But by starting out easy, you build yourself up for it.Make the habit easy to start, because you will then become much more likely to actually do it.Automate your habits.Invest in technology and one-time purchases that lock in future behavior. Leave your wallet at home so you don’t buy junk food.Stop binge eating by buying food in single packages. The best way to break a bad habit is to make it impractical to do.Increase the friction until you don’t even have the option to act.People talk a lot about using willpower to reduce bad habits, but to me that has never been as effective as this is. If you struggle with sugar and live alone, throw away the sugar.If you struggle with wasting time on YouTube, put a website blocker on YouTube.Willpower is a useful tool but it is a fleeting one.Willpower is not reliable.It might save you every now and then - but it should not be your only tool.Keep that deeply in mind and automate whenever you can, so that you can use your willpower less often and have it be stronger.The 4th Law: Make It Satisfying.This is how you can get that “ah” feeling after you finish the habits you want to implement.Use reinforcement.Give yourself an immediate reward when you complete your habit.Make sure these rewards are in line with the identity you want.Make “doing nothing” enjoyable.
When avoiding a bad habit, design a way to see the benefits.We do bad habits because they are immediately rewarding.We must find a way to make not doing them also immediately rewarding.I have been doing this by building a “pros and cons” list when I feel tempted to do a habit that is not constructive.IN SUMMARY:Processes are more important than Goals.Change Identity to Change Habits.The 4 Laws Of Behavior Change:Make it ObviousMake it EasyMake it AttractiveMake it satisfyingI distilled the works from:- BJ Fogg
- James Clear
- Charles Duhiggand the masterpieces of different YouTubers into this masterclass on personal transformation.In whatever you're pursuing, I'm rooting for you.Tobi

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