Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones

If we interpret these feelings negatively, then we feel threatened and tense up. If we interpret these feelings positively, then we can respond with fluidity and grace. You can reframe “I am nervous” to “I am excited and I’m getting an adrenaline rush to help me concentrate.”

Any habit can be broken down into a feedback loop that involves four steps: cue, craving, response, and reward.

Building habits in the present allows you to do more of what you want in the future.

Identity change is the North Star of habit change.

A lack of self-awareness is poison. Reflection and review is the antidote.

Put another way, the costs of your good habits are in the present. The costs of your bad habits are in the future.

The more deeply a thought or action is tied to your identity, the more difficult it is to change it.

Diderot’s behavior is not uncommon. In fact, the tendency for one purchase to lead to another one has a name: the Diderot Effect. The Diderot Effect states that obtaining a new possession often creates a spiral of consumption that leads to additional purchases.

Generally speaking, good habits will have net positive outcomes. Bad habits have net negative outcomes. Smoking a cigarette may reduce stress right now (that’s how it’s serving you), but it’s not a healthy long-term behavior.