Chapter 5 The Best Way to Start a New Habit

The French philosopher Denis Diderot was well known for his role as the co-founder and writer of Encyclopédie , one of the most comprehensive encyclopedias of the time. He lived nearly his entire life in poverty, but that all changed one day in 1765.

Diderot’s daughter was about to be marri...

Strategies like implementation intentions and habit stacking are among the most practical ways to create obvious cues for your habits and design a clear plan for when and where to take action.

Once an implementation intention has been set, you don’t have to wait for inspiration to strike.

The simple way to apply this strategy to your habits is to fill out this sentence:

I will [BEHAVIOR] at [TIME] in [LOCATION].

With his new wealth,he not only paid for the wedding but also acquired a scarlet robe for himself.

He wrote that there was“no more coordination, no more unity, no more beauty” between his elegant robe and the rest of his stuff.

Diderot soon felt the urge to upgrade possessions.

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Overall, habit stacking allows you to create a set of simple rules that guide your future behavior. It’s like you always have a game plan for which action should come next.

 Once you get comfortable with this approach, you can develop general habit stacks to guide you whenever the situation...

One of the best ways to build a new habit is to identify a current habit you already do each day and then stack your new behavior on top. This is called habit stacking .

Habit stacking is a special form of an implementation intention

Many human behaviors follow this cycle. You often decide what to do next based on what you have just finished doing. Going to the bathroom leads to washing and drying your hands, which reminds you that you need to put the dirty towels in the laundry, so you add laundry detergent to the shopping l...

The punch line is clear:

"People who make a specific plan for when and where they will perform a new habit are more likely to follow through."

We tell ourselves, “I’m going to eat healthier” or “I’m going to write more,” but we neve...

You can begin to create larger stacks by chaining small habits together. This allows you to take advantage of the natural momentum that comes from one behavior leading into the next—a positive version of the Diderot Effect.

Example :

After I pour my morning cup of coffee, I will medit...