Project-Driven Habits

The basic process for building all habits is basically the same: you repeatedly condition the behavior you want, over time, until it becomes automatic.

But no habit starts out automatic; there’s a deliberate period, where you must consciously apply yourself to make a certain ...

2 main ways you can condition a habit:

• Classical conditioning: a paired association with a trigger and a behavior. Going to the gym after you wake up each morning is this kind of habit.
• Operant conditioning: you not only associate a trigger with a behavior, but you reward th...

It means practicing the habit a bunch of times in an artificial situation so that it occurs more automatically in real life.

Pros:

• For when you think you won’t be able to consciously control your reaction in the real situation without practice.
• When

This strategy works by deputizing others to enforce your habit for you.

Pros:

• No formal rules or mechanisms are required, just the social pressure from the outside.
• If you find yourself constantly breaking your own commitments, this may be the only

Avoid thinking about changing a habit, but instead think about changing your self-conception.

Pros:

•  “I’m a healthy person now,” for example can trigger eating better, exercising more and quitting smoking and drinking all at once.
• If successful, these...

The goal is to do it every day (if possible) but if you miss a day, you must do the habit the following day.

Pros:

• Easier to keep up for longer stretches with harder habits.
• Easier to handle on an irregular schedule.

Cons:

Keep track of how many days in a row you’ve successfully followed your habit. As your chain gets longer and longer, you become increasingly committed to the habit.

Pros:

• Maintains habits over a longer timeframe than a 30-day trial.
• Better for thing...