The effects of small habits compound over time.They seem to make little difference on any given day and yet the impact they deliver over the months and years can be enormous. A slight change in your daily habits can guide your life to a very different destination.Making a choice that is 1% better or 1% worse seems insignificant in the moment, but over a lifetime these choices determine the difference between who you are and who you could be.

1% better every day

Designing your environment for success 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.The power of context also reveals an important strategy: habits can be easier to change in a new environment.

Motivation is overrated — environment often matters more

When it comes to habits, James suggests that the environment is the invisible hand that shapes human behavior. That’s why a prompt is always the <a href="https://fourminutebooks.com/tiny-habits-summary/">first step in performing any habit</a>.<ul><li>Cue. A piece of information that suggests there’s a reward to be found, like the smell of a cookie or a dark room waiting to light up.</li><li>Craving. The motivation to change something to get the reward, like tasting the delicious cookie or being able to see.</li></ul>

All habits are based on a four-step pattern, which consists of cue, craving, response, and reward.

<ul><li>Response. Whatever thought or action you need to take to get to the reward.</li><li>Reward. The satisfying feeling you get from the change, along with the lesson whether to do it again or not.</li></ul>

To form habits, you must make them obvious, attractive, easy, and satisfying. 2

<ol><li>Make it obvious. Don’t hide your fruits in your fridge, put them on display front and center.</li><li>Make it attractive. Start with the fruit you like the most, so you’ll actually want to eat one when you see it.</li><li>Make it easy. Don’t create needless friction by focusing on fruits that are hard to peel. Bananas and apples are super easy to eat, for example.</li><li>Make it satisfying. If you like the fruit you picked, you’ll love eating it and feel healthier as a result!</li></ol>

To form habits, you must make them obvious, attractive, easy, and satisfying.

The idea is simple: You keep a record of all the behaviors you want to establish or abandon and, at the end of each day, you mark which ones you succeeded with. This record can be a single piece of paper, a journal, a calendar, or a digital tool, like an app.

A habit tracker is a fun and easy way to ensure you stick to your new behaviors

<ul><li>Meditation: After I pour my cup of coffee each morning, I will meditate for one minute.</li><li>Exercise: After I take off my work shoes, I will immediately change into my workout clothes.</li></ul>

Habit stacking

James Clear presents strategies to form good habits, break bad ones, and master the tiny behaviors that help lead to an improved life.

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Books

The #1 New York Times bestseller. Over 10 million copies sold! Tiny Changes, Remarkable Results No matter your goals, Atomic Habits offers a proven framework for improving--every day. James Clear, one of the world's leading experts on habit formation, reveals practical strategies that will teach you exactly how to form good habits, break bad ones, and master the tiny behaviors that lead to remarkable results. If you're having trouble changing your habits, the problem isn't you. The problem is your system. Bad habits repeat themselves again and again not because you don't want to change, but because you have the wrong system for change. You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems. Here, you'll get a proven system that can take you to new heights. Clear is known for his ability to distill complex topics into simple behaviors that can be easily applied to daily life and work. Here, he draws on the most proven ideas from biology, psychology, and neuroscience to create an easy-to-understand guide for making good habits inevitable and bad habits impossible. Along the way, readers will be inspired and entertained with true stories from Olympic gold medalists, award-winning artists, business leaders, life-saving physicians, and star comedians who have used the science of small habits to master their craft and vault to the top of their field. Learn how to: <ul><li>make time for new habits (even when life gets crazy);</li></ul><ul><li>overcome a lack of motivation and willpower;</li></ul><ul><li>design your environment to make success easier;</li></ul><ul><li>get back on track when you fall off course;</li></ul>...and much more. Atomic Habits will reshape the way you think about progress and success, and give you the tools and strategies you need to transform your habits--whether you are a team looking to win a championship, an organization hoping to redefine an industry, or simply an individual who wishes to quit smoking, lose weight, reduce stress, or achieve any other goal.

James Clear is the author of "Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones" He writes about habits, decision-making, and continuous improvement at jamesclear.com. His website receives millions of visitors each month and hundreds of thousands subscribe to his popular email newsletter.His work has appeared in the New York Times, Entrepreneur, Time, and on CBS This Morning. He is a regular speaker at Fortune 500 companies and his work is used by teams in the NFL, NBA, and MLB. Learn more at jamesclear.com

Motivation is overrated — environment often matters more

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