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1 min read September 10, 2021

Atomic Habits: Chapter Three

V

Velda Kiara

Creative Engineer

Habits are mental shortcuts learned from experience. The brain recalls the past to better predict what may or may not work in the future.

I remember there is a movie I watched where one of the characters told the other " I want this for you but you need to want this for yourself." This applies to habits too. If you want to change what you do or who you are, you need to genuinely want to.

When you want something bad enough you commit to it, whether the odds are for you or against you.

Four Steps To Change Your Behavior

Cue: this triggers your brain to initiate your behavior.

Craving: thoughts, feelings, emotions to transform a cue into a craving.

Response: the action taken to perform the habit.

Reward: the end goal of the particular habit.

Rewards have been used as a form of reinforcement learning for ages. We have learned that it works like a charm while doing activities like setting goals.

We mainly embrace rewards because the outcome either satisfies us or teaches us an invaluable lesson.

Laws To Facilitate The Behavior Change

First law cue: make it crystal clear

Second law craving: make it attractive

Third law response: make it simple

Fourth law reward: make it satisfying

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