Atomic Habits – James Clear #boekencast afl 101

Vandaag bespreken we het boek Atomic Habits of Elementaire gewoontes van James Clear. De ondertitel is Tiny changes, Remarkable results. Er zijn meer dan 15 miljoen exemplaren van dit boek verkocht. De ondertitel op de Nederlandse versie is, kleine veranderingen, groot resultaat : een makkelijke en bewezen manier om goede gewoontes te creëren en te breken met slechte gewoontes. James Clear is ondernemer, auteur (artikelen, wekelijkse email en dit boek) en spreker, hij doet veel onderzoek voor zijn schrijfwerk. Hij kreeg een ernstig ongeluk als sporter en begon met kleine gewoontes er weer bovenop te komen. De start van zijn zoektocht naar gedrag en veranderingen. In 2012 begint hij een blog en een email lijst. In 2015 was deze lijst gegroeid tot 200.000 en tekende hij een boek deal, en daar kwam dit boek uit. Deze maand, februari 2024 lanceerde hij de Atoms app voor iOS en Android volgt. https://jamesclear.com Tom las de Nederlandse versie en ik de Engelse want die stond al op mijn Kindle. Vandaar dat je hieronder Engelse fragmenten uit zijn boek vindt die mij aanspreken. Inhoud: The Fundamentals - Why tiny changes make a big difference The 1st Law - Make it obvious The 2nd law - Make it attractive The 3rd law - Make it easy The 4th law - Make it satisfying Advanced tactics The Fundamentals - Why tiny changes make a big difference Hfdstk 1 If you can get 1 percent better each day for one year, you’ll end up thirty-seven times better by the time you’re done. Results had very little to do with the goals I set and nearly everything to do with the systems I followed. Goals are about the results you want to achieve. Systems are about the processes that lead to those results. Goals are good for setting a direction, but systems are best for making progress. Hfdstk 2 Many people begin the process of changing their habits by focusing on what they want to achieve. This leads us to outcome-based habits. The alternative is to build identity-based habits. With this approach, we start by focusing on who we wish to become. The goal is not to run a marathon, the goal is to become a runner. This is a gradual evolution. We do not change by snapping our fingers and deciding to be someone entirely new. We change bit by bit, day by day, habit by habit.6 We are continually undergoing microevolutions of the self. It is a simple two-step process: Decide the type of person you want to be. Prove it to yourself with small wins. Hfdstk 3 - het proces wordt uitgelegd Habits do not restrict freedom. They create it. In fact, the people who don’t have their habits handled are often the ones with the least amount of freedom. The process of building a habit can be divided into four simple steps: cue, craving, response, and reward. (The Power of habit - Duhigg) Whenever you want to change your behavior, you can simply ask yourself: How can I make it obvious? How can I make it attractive? How can I make it easy? How can I make it satisfying? The 1st Law - Make it obvious Hfdstk 4 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 nonconscious and automatic. If a habit remains mindless, you can’t expect to improve it. As the psychologist Carl Jung said, “Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life and you will call it fate.” This process, known as Pointing-and-Calling, is a safety system designed to reduce mistakes. It seems silly, but it works incredibly well. Pointing-and-Calling reduces errors by up to 85 percent and cuts accidents by 30 percent. We need a “point-and-call” system for our personal lives. That’s the origin of the Habits Scorecard, which is a simple exercise you can use to become more aware of your behavior. To create your own, make a list of your daily habits. You need to be aware of your habits before you can change them. Hfdstk 5 group completed the following sentence: “During the next week, I will partake in at least 20 minutes of vigorous exercise on [DAY] at [TIME] in [PLACE].” Broadly speaking, the format for creating an implementation intention is: “When situation X arises, I will perform response Y.” Many people think they lack motivation when what they really lack is clarity. It is not always obvious when and where to take action. The simple way to apply this strategy to your habits is to fill out this sentence: I will [BEHAVIOR] at [TIME] in [LOCATION]. If you aren’t sure when to start your habit, try the first day of the week, month, or year. People are more likely to take action at those times because hope is usually higher. The habit stacking formula is: “After [CURRENT HABIT], I will [NEW HABIT].” Hfdstk 6  The truth, however, is that many of the actions we take each day are shaped not by purposeful drive and choice but by the most obvious option. If you want to make a habit a big part of your life, make the cue a big part of your environment. Hfdstk 7 self-control “disciplined” people are better at structuring their lives in a way that does not require heroic willpower and self-control. In other words, they spend less time in tempting situations. yes, perseverance, grit, and willpower are essential to success, but the way to improve these qualities is not by wishing you were a more disciplined person, but by creating a more disciplined environment. This practice is an inversion of the 1st Law of Behavior Change. Rather than make it obvious, you can make it invisible. I’m often surprised by how effective simple changes like these can be. Remove a single cue and the entire habit often fades away. The 2nd law - Make it attractive Hfdstuk 8 irresistible most basic habitual behaviors like eating food, drinking water, having sex, and interacting socially. When it comes to habits, the key takeaway is this: dopamine is released not only when you experience pleasure, but also when you anticipate it. It is the anticipation of a reward—not the fulfillment of it—that gets us to take action. Using temptation bundling, you could only read the tabloids and watch reality shows at the gym. The habit stacking + temptation bundling formula is: After [CURRENT HABIT], I will [HABIT I NEED]. After [HABIT I NEED], I will [HABIT I WANT]. Hfdstk 9 family and friends “In the long history of humankind, those who learned to collaborate and improvise most effectively have prevailed.” As a result, one of the deepest human desires is to belong. And this ancient preference exerts a powerful influence on our modern behavior. We don’t choose our earliest habits, we imitate them. We imitate the habits of three groups in particular: The close. The many. The powerful. We soak up the qualities and practices of those around us. One of the most effective things you can do to build better habits is to join a culture where your desired behavior is the normal behavior. Hfdstk 10  Some of our underlying motives include:fn1 ■ Conserve energy ■ Obtain food and water ■ Find love and reproduce ■ Connect and bond with others ■ Win social acceptance and approval ■ Reduce uncertainty ■ Achieve status and prestige If you want to take it a step further, you can create a motivation ritual. You simply practice associating your habits with something you enjoy, and then you can use that cue whenever you need a bit of motivation. The inversion of the 2nd Law of Behavior Change is to make it unattractive. ■ Every behavior has a surface level craving and a deeper underlying motive. ■ Your habits are modern-day solutions to ancient desires. ■ The cause of your habits is actually the prediction that precedes them. The prediction leads to a feeling. ■ Highlight the benefits of avoiding a bad habit to make it seem unattractive. ■ Habits are attractive when we associate them with positive feelings and unattractive when we associate them with negative feelings. Create a motivation ritual by doing something you enjoy immediately before a difficult habit. The 3rd law - Make it easy Hfdstuk 11 Walk slowly, never backward I refer to this as the difference between being in motion and taking action. The two ideas sound similar, but they’re not the same. When you’re in motion, you’re planning and strategizing and learning. Those are all good things, but they don’t produce a result. Action, on the other hand, is the type of behavior that will deliver an outcome. Motion makes you feel like you’re getting things done. But really, you’re just preparing to get something done. When preparation becomes a form of procrastination, you need to change something. You don’t want to merely be planning. You want to be practicing. Hfdstk 12 Law of least effort Business is a never-ending quest to deliver the same result in an easier fashion.  successful companies design their products to automate, eliminate, or simplify as many steps as possible. Hfdstk 13 Stop procrastinating the Two-Minute Rule, which states, “When you start a new habit, it should take less than two minutes to do.” Hfdstk 14 How to make good habits If you’re feeling motivated to get in shape, schedule a yoga session and pay ahead of time. If you’re excited about the business you want to start, email an entrepreneur you respect and set up a consulting call. When the time comes to act, the only way to bail is to cancel the meeting, which requires effort and may cost money. The 4th law - Make it satisfying Hfdstk 15 Cardinal rule of behavior the costs of your good habits are in the present. The costs of your bad habits are in the future. The brain’s tendency to prioritize the present moment means you can’t rely on good intentions.  Hfdstk 16 Stick with good habits Benefit #1: Habit tracking is obvious.