In episode 104, “Give Good Habits Cues”, we discuss Clear’s first law: Make it Obvious. Learn how to give your habits the necessary triggers to get you moving toward creating good habits. We continue our book study mini series over James Clear’s Atomic Habits. Learn how to start good habits and get rid of bad ones in these episodes. We discuss how small changes will make big impacts on how we live our lives. This mini series begins on episode 103.
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Make Good Habits Obvious
A cue is a way to alert someone to something. If you’re wanting to create a good habit, you’ve got to give yourself a good cue. When your brain is cued, it will trigger a series of thoughts, feelings, emotions so fast, you won’t even notice most of the time. This is exactly why it’s important to vocalize good cues, and make it obvious.
In episode 104, we discuss the “Point & Call” technique, and the results behind the process are quite amazing. The premise is to directly point at whatever it is and call it out. This could look like you pointing to healthy food in the fridge and saying “This is food that is good for my body. If I eat it, I’ll be casting a vote for becoming a healthy eater.” It may seem silly at first, but the point and call technique in one company reduced accidents in the workplace by 85%. You read that right, eighty five percent!
We go over multiple examples in the episode on how this can look, so be sure to tune in. The point and call technique can be applied in multiple ways in your life. It helps with boundaries, unvoiced expectations, and, of course, creating good habits.
Giving good habits the proper cues gets your habits automated. Our best advice? Put in the hard work on the front end, don’t short yourself. James gives tons of resources all throughout the book, so make sure you snag a copy (link at the bottom).
Implementation Intention Formula
Based off of research, the best way to start a new habit is to give the cue a specific time and location. This is called the “implementation intention formula.” We know that the more specific we are about our goals and habits, the more likely we’ll achieve it. If you couple that with the point and call technique, you are well on your way to being successful at automating your good habits.
Did you know that you are 42% more likely to accomplish tasks if you write them down? You read that right too. You can set yourself up for success even more by writing your implementation intention down. Here is what the formula can look like for you: “I will (new behavior) at (specific time) at (specific location). We go into more detail with examples in the podcast episode, and James gives amazing examples in his book too. Don’t forget to grab your copy of the book (the link is at the bottom).
Writing your implementation intention down constantly is great! Now we need to make sure our environment is conducive to helping us form our new habits. If you’re wanting to fall asleep faster, make sure that sleeping is what you’re doing in your bed (instead of scrolling through social media). THe brain likes it when we have “one space for one purpose”, and it makes it easier for us to form those great habits quicker.
Make Bag Habits Invisible
At the end of each law, we discuss the opposite; how to stop the bad habit. For the first law of making it obvious, the inversion of the law is make it invisible. Want to stop wanting all the chips? Put all of your chips in a really inconvenient space that is away from all of your other food choices. Better yet, stop buying the chips. We give more examples in the episode so make sure you check it out.
Self control play s a big role in the inversion situation. You have to first make the choice to make your bad habits invisible. It has been proven that this law of make it obvious/make it invisible helps your set healthy boundaries. If you need help, you can even get your inner circle involved to help you stay accountable. That support will be a game changer.
We hope you enjoyed “Give Good Habits Cues”, and that you have practical, actionable steps you can take. Be sure to check out this entire Atomic Habits mini series about an easy & proven way to build good habits & break bad ones. You can do this! We’re here to help. Click the affiliate image below to get your copy of Atomic Habits.
