I read 7 books about habits. This makes studying ADDICTING

Summary

The video discusses the powerful role of habits in shaping our daily lives and overall success. It explains how habits control many of our actions, often without us realizing it, and how small habit changes can have significant impacts. Using concepts from books like 'Atomic Habits' and 'The Power of Habit,' the video breaks down the cycle of habits into cues, routines, and rewards. It emphasizes the importance of creating positive habits and offers tips to break bad ones by adjusting environmental cues and making tasks easier or harder to do.

Takeaways

• 😀 Habits are powerful and dictate a large portion of your daily life and decisions.
• 💡 Developing positive habits, like studying or working out, can drastically improve productivity and success.
• 🔄 Habits form through repetition and follow the cycle of cue, routine, and reward.
• 📱 External cues, like seeing your phone, or internal cues, like boredom, trigger habitual behaviors.
• 🎯 Creating instant rewards is key for forming new positive habits, as long-term benefits are often too delayed to be motivating.
• 📉 Bad habits, like procrastination or scrolling social media, are easy to form due to instant gratification.
• 📑 Breaking bad habits requires removing cues and adding friction to make them harder to perform, like turning off notifications or keeping junk food out of sight.
• 🎹 Make good habits easier to form by reducing friction, such as keeping study materials or workout gear readily accessible.
• 📅 Repetition and investment in habits strengthen them over time, making them more automatic.
• 🧠 Reframe new habits as opportunities, not obligations, to create a positive mindset and enhance motivation.

Q & A

What lesson did the speaker's mom teach them about habits?

The speaker's mom taught them that the scariest thing in life is habits. She emphasized the importance of speaking nicely and properly, especially in formal contexts like talking to elders.

Why does the speaker believe habits are so powerful?

The speaker believes habits are powerful because they control at least 50% of daily actions and decisions. Habits dictate what becomes normal, shaping people's lives automatically, much like an embedded code in a robot.

What is the key difference between good and bad habits according to the speaker?

Good habits, like studying, tend to have delayed gratification, making them harder to form. Bad habits, like scrolling through social media, offer instant gratification, which makes them easier to form.

How does the speaker describe the habit loop?

The habit loop consists of five key elements: cue, routine, reward, craving, and repetition. The cue triggers the routine, the routine leads to a reward, and the craving motivates the continuation of the routine. Repetition is necessary to solidify the habit.

What role does the 'cue' play in forming habits?

The 'cue' is the trigger that starts the automatic behavior. It can be external, like seeing your phone in the morning, or internal, like feeling bored or curious.

Why is instant gratification problematic for forming good habits?

Instant gratification makes bad habits easy to form because the reward is immediate. In contrast, good habits like studying have rewards that are delayed, making them harder to reinforce as there's no immediate pleasure.

How does the speaker suggest dealing with bad habits?

The speaker suggests removing cues that trigger bad habits, adding friction to make the habit harder to perform, and using techniques like turning off notifications or clearing away distractions.

What is 'habit stacking' and how can it be useful?

Habit stacking involves linking a new habit with an existing habit. For example, reviewing flashcards right after brushing your teeth. This technique makes it easier to integrate new habits into daily routines.

Why is it important to create artificial rewards when trying to form good habits?

Creating artificial rewards helps reinforce good habits, which usually have delayed gratification. By setting milestones or tracking progress, like taking progress photos when working out, you make the habit more rewarding in the short term.

What is the 'fog behavior model' and how does it relate to habits?

The 'fog behavior model' states that an action is performed when both the ability and motivation exceed a certain threshold. If something is difficult, even a high motivation won't result in action. Conversely, making a task easier increases the chances of performing the habit.

Outlines

00:00

🤖 The Power of Habits in Daily Life

The author reflects on how their mother's advice about habits being 'the scariest thing in the world' shaped their understanding of behavior. They explain how habits control most daily decisions, like scrolling TikTok or eating junk food, without people realizing it. Habits can be dangerous because they become automatic scripts in our minds. However, if we control our habits, we can gain control over our lives. This is what distinguishes successful people from others, as even small improvements in habits can significantly impact productivity and overall quality of life.

05:01

📱 Breaking the Cycle: Understanding Habit Formation

The author dives into the science of habit formation, emphasizing the cycle of cue, routine, and reward. For example, waking up and seeing your phone triggers a routine of scrolling, which is reinforced by the immediate reward of relieving boredom. The author explains that habits form when the brain links a cue to a routine and reward, but this process is more challenging when the reward is delayed, like studying for an exam. Bad habits are easy to form because of instant gratification, while forming good habits is difficult due to delayed rewards.

10:02

😋 The Role of Craving in Habit Formation

Craving plays a crucial role in habits, as it triggers the urge to perform the routine in anticipation of a reward. Even when a person uses willpower to resist, the craving remains, making it easier to fall back into the habit. For example, notifications on your phone can cause an indirect craving to check it. The author recommends reducing exposure to triggers like notifications to break bad habits. Repetition is necessary for habits to form, and investments of time, energy, or money into something strengthen the habitual attachment.

🔄 Motivation and Ability: The Fogg Behavior Model

The author introduces the Fogg Behavior Model, which suggests that habits are formed when motivation and ability combine to exceed a certain threshold. The easier it is to do something, the more likely the habit will form, regardless of motivation. The author provides examples of how reducing friction in performing tasks can help form good habits and suggests increasing friction to break bad habits, such as turning off your phone or clearing junk food from your environment.

🎯 Creating Rewards and Overcoming Delayed Gratification

To form good habits, the author suggests creating artificial rewards to overcome the challenge of delayed gratification. For example, taking progress pictures at the gym or testing yourself regularly while studying helps create visible milestones, making it easier to stick to the habit. They also advise removing cues that trigger bad habits and stacking new habits with existing ones to make them easier to perform. By changing how habits are perceived and focusing on long-term goals, people can increase their chances of forming successful habits.

🌟 Positive Mindset: Viewing Habits as Opportunities

The final paragraph emphasizes viewing habits as opportunities rather than obligations. Framing habits positively, such as seeing exercise as an opportunity to get fit rather than a way to avoid gaining weight, can help make the habit more enjoyable. The author concludes by promoting their program, 'Student Accelerator,' which aims to help students become more productive and achieve their goals.

Keywords

💡Habits

Habits are recurring behaviors or actions that people perform almost automatically due to repeated practice. In the video, habits are described as controlling much of our daily actions and decisions, from scrolling on social media to waking up at certain times. The speaker emphasizes that habits can either empower or limit us, depending on whether they are positive or negative. The formation and breaking of habits are central to the video's message.

💡Cue

A cue is a trigger that initiates a habit. It can be either external, like seeing a phone on the bedside, or internal, like feeling bored. The video highlights the importance of identifying cues that lead to negative habits, like picking up your phone to scroll, and removing or modifying those cues to break unwanted routines.

💡Routine

A routine refers to the specific actions performed in response to a cue. In the context of the video, routines are the automatic processes that follow a trigger, such as waking up and immediately checking a phone. The video explains that routines become embedded in our behavior through repetition and can either lead to productive outcomes (e.g., studying) or harmful ones (e.g., procrastinating).

💡Reward

A reward is the positive sensation or relief that reinforces a habit. It provides the motivation for completing a routine. The video explains that the brain craves immediate rewards, which is why habits like scrolling on social media are so enticing, even though the long-term consequences may be negative. Delayed rewards, such as those from studying or exercising, make building positive habits harder.

💡Craving

Craving is the strong desire or urge to perform a routine in anticipation of a reward. In the video, cravings are described as the internal force that drives people to repeat habits, even when they try to resist them. For example, seeing or smelling coffee triggers a craving for it. Cravings can persist even when we consciously avoid indulging in a habit, making them difficult to control.

💡Instant Gratification

Instant gratification refers to the immediate pleasure or relief experienced from an action, often at the expense of long-term benefits. The video discusses how habits that provide instant gratification, such as eating junk food or scrolling on social media, are easier to form because the brain values short-term rewards over long-term gains. This concept is contrasted with delayed gratification, which is necessary for forming positive habits like studying or exercising.

💡Delayed Gratification

Delayed gratification involves waiting for a reward that comes much later after an action. The video points out that habits like studying or exercising are harder to form because the benefits are not immediate. The speaker explains that creating milestones or artificial rewards can help make delayed gratification habits easier to maintain. Delayed gratification is essential for achieving long-term goals.

💡Repetition

Repetition is the repeated performance of an action, which is crucial for forming habits. The video emphasizes that habits become automatic through constant repetition over time. Whether positive or negative, repeating a behavior strengthens its hold in the brain, making it harder to break or easier to maintain, depending on the nature of the habit.

💡Frictions

Friction refers to the obstacles or additional effort required to perform a habit. The video suggests adding friction to bad habits, like turning off your phone completely to make it harder to scroll, and reducing friction for good habits, like keeping study materials easily accessible. By manipulating friction, it becomes easier to break bad habits and adopt positive ones.

💡Investment

Investment, in the context of habits, refers to the time, energy, or money already spent on a habit, which increases the likelihood of continuing it. The video gives the example of watching eight episodes of a drama series, which makes it more likely that a person will finish the remaining two because they are invested in the storyline. The more effort put into a habit, the stronger the attachment to it becomes, making it harder to break.

Highlights

Habits are the scariest thing because they control much of what we do daily.

50% of daily decisions and actions are driven by habits, from waking up late to spending hours on social media.

Habits act like an embedded script in a robot's code, dictating behavior without conscious thought.

Successful people have productive habits, such as studying, which sets them apart from those who spend time on distractions.

Improving small habits can have a significant impact on productivity and quality of life.

The science behind habits: cues trigger routines that provide rewards, which reinforces the habit cycle.

External cues (like seeing your phone) and internal cues (like feeling bored) start the habit cycle.

Immediate rewards are necessary for habits to register in the brain, which is why instant gratification makes bad habits easy to form.

Delayed rewards, like studying for long-term success, are harder to form into habits due to the time gap between the action and the benefit.

Artificial rewards and small milestones can help reinforce good habits by creating more immediate satisfaction.

Repetition is essential for habits to form, as repeating actions builds automatic behavior over time.

Investment in time, energy, or money strengthens habits, as people are more likely to continue what they’ve invested in.

Social media is particularly addictive because people feel invested in their posts and connections, making it hard to break the habit.

The Fogg Behavior Model explains how the difficulty of an action and motivation level affect whether a habit is performed.

Making bad habits harder to perform (like putting your phone out of reach) and making good habits easier (like having study materials readily available) can improve habit formation.

Transcripts

when I was younger my mom would always

tell me this

Steven and what that means is the

scariest thing in this world are habits

and basically she was saying in the

context of speaking nicely my prayers

have always been pretty serious about

like speaking nicely and like honorifics

and speaking to ads in like the proper

way and it makes sense for it's a good

life skill and I'm grateful for that and

basically she was saying like I needed

to get rid of the habit of speaking

informally cuz it might slip out when

I'm talking to my relatives or someone

older than me in Korea yo what's good

you what

good and like it's pretty serious there

right and then I didn't pay much

attention to it cuz I always thought

that habits weren't that big of a deal

you know at least 50% of the things you

do each day and the decisions you make

are all driven by habit so that means

when you spent like 4 hours yesterday

scrolling on Tik Tok or you have that

junk food or when you woke up at 8:00

instead of 6:00 you slept past your

alarm or yesterday where you just like

watch that random YouTube video those

were all actually just your habits

habits are controlling your life habits

are so so dangerous because it dictates

what becomes normal for you and it's

it's kind of like the embedded script

inside like a robot's code you know you

just tend to go down that path of

playing that same code again again and

again and so since habits toate your

life if you can dictate your habits you

can start to control your own life it's

what separates the winners from the

losers it's the people that have the

Habit to sit down and study compared to

the person who has the Habit to sit down

and scroll that will smoke you in the

exam will'll get the job you want the

wife you want and take everything that

you want successful people just have

made a habit to do what they do because

habits make up so much of your life even

small improvements in your habit can

have a big impact in your productivity

and quality of life I read the power of

habits Atomic habits tiny habits Hooks

and a mind for numbers and I teach you

how you break your own habits to make

stuff like studying addicting chapter

one the science behind

habits all habits follow this Q routine

reward craving repetition and belief and

so to get the best out of this and for

you to actually like see results as we

go through this like each of the steps

think of like a bad habit or a good

habit that you want to do and write down

like next to each of the steps how it

applies to that habit and so for me I'll

choose one that we all do just picking

up your phone and scrolling the C is

what starts the automatic automation

like the program start running inside

your brain it's also called The Prompt

or the trigger and it can be external or

it can be internal for example waking up

in the morning and seeing your phone

next to you on the bedside is an

external queue because you can

physically see it whereas an internal

queue might be you're bored or you're

curious what your friends like post on

Instagram if you're just like bored and

you want to like scroll right that's an

internal queue a better example on one

that they use in the book is an external

queue might be like you seeing your dad

drinking coffee in the morning whereas

an internal que might be you feeling

tired in the morning and the routine is

what you automatically do once the

program starts to run so the routine

might be you waking up reaching for your

phone lying down and scrolling the

reward is the positive Sensation that

your brain Associates with the routine

or completing the routine this is what

gives your brain a reason to execute the

routine in the first place normally it's

a pleasurable experience or it's a

relief from something negative that's

why procrastination acts as the reward

because you're getting relieved from

like the fear having to do the big thing

and you're able to do something that's

easier or it also could be pleasurable

such as easting junk forood like it

feels nice in the moment it could be

playing video games it feels fun in the

Moment Like These all act as the reward

however a very very important point is

that the reward must be an immediate

part of the habit for it to register in

your mind you can imagine like this

whole set of things your brain has to

link that reward to the habit for it to

like make a habit right for example if

you drink coffee and it immediately

makes you feel more alert your brain

reinforces feeling alert with coffee

because it's like it doesn't take long

for you to feel the effects right well I

wouldn't really know but that's why a

lot of people like associate wake up in

the morning and having coffee because

they feeling woken up as like immediate

and so your brain links those two things

together whereas let's say you're trying

to make a habit of working through your

lunch break so you could get home

earlier and sleep an extra hour they

both have the same reward which is

feeling less tired drinking coffee makes

you feel less tired but also like

sleeping an extra hour will make you

feel less tired however the habit of you

working through your lunch break and

actually feeling less tired you'll feel

less tired in the morning and so you can

imagine there's like a 12-hour

difference between your routine and your

reward and so when it's that far apart

that's why it's hard to make a habit of

you like working through an extra hour

because the reward isn't instant and

that's why instant gratification bad

habits are so easy to form because the

definition of instant gratification is

you feel the reward or like pleasure

initially but it goes down in the long

run your brain doesn't care about the

long run when you're building habits and

so when you're scrolling on your phone

to get rid of boredom your brain like

feels the reward of like you feel less

bored in the moment but it doesn't think

about the fact you'll feel [ __ ] later

and you waste the time and your doping

receptors are right and so it's easy to

form that habit whereas it's forming the

habit of studying is difficult because

that's theay gratification where it

might feel difficult right now but it's

like serving you later you feel the

rewards later and so obviously it's

harder to form a habit think about it

starting right now doesn't give you the

benefits today tomorrow more like next

week it gives you the benefits When you

see the results of your big exams which

might be next year might be in a couple

of months and that's so so hard to make

a habit of because that's like such a

far reward right and your brain doesn't

have anything to link with so we'll talk

about how you can artificially create a

reward for you to make those habits

easier and so yeah I have it WR down

here a better way to say is so the

reward is the same but the delay between

the routine of working harder and the

reward is too far apart to make it a

habit the

craving powerful urge to execute the

routine in anticipation of the reward

some authors such as Jam clip list this

as an essential component for habits the

Q triggers the craving and the craving

causes you to execute the routine

anytime you smell coffee you start to

Crave it right but the most important

part is it continues even if you decide

not to like have any coffee you can

imagine like you smell the coffee you

see it and you use your willpower to not

drink the coffee but the thing is the

craving Still Remains you still want the

coffee that doesn't change right and so

that's why Cravings are really powerful

even if you make an active decision to

like not do that thing you still cra it

and so when you keep thinking about it

more and more you end up giving into the

habits that's why notifications for like

scrolling Etc are really bad because

they literally cause an indirect craving

right if you have notifications on your

phone's actually shouting you here is

like a notification from like XYZ and

you have to check it and that's why I

advocate for turning them off it starts

to build a habit of like checking your

phone more and more and it becomes

automatic the last step is

repetition and repetition is necessary

for habits to form your brain executes

the routine and anticipation for the

reward the dopamine after eating the

chocolate the dopamine after playing

video games or feeling like happier for

like a moment after like scrolling on

Instagram the point is to have that

anticipation you have to have done it

before and so you have to do something

many times and repeats over and over

again for the movement or actions to

become more automatic takes time and

repetition to build routines and habits

but also another key part in like habits

Etc is also the investment if you invest

time energy and money into something

you're going to be more inclined to do

over and over again forming habits the

stronger the habitual attachment becomes

for example if I've already watched

eight episodes of a K drama I'm more

inclined to watch the other two because

I'm invested in the story line when I

bought like brw stars gems like I'm more

inclined to play the game because I've

already spent money on it and I don't

want to waste my money no thank you

Investments give you something to lose

that's why social media is kind of scary

you've invested your time like making

posts your friends so you feel like

you'll miss out on that and that's why

it's hard to end those habits and the

belief something that kind of changed

the Habit game for me was this the fog

behavior model instead of vieing habits

as like um the brain executes

automatically in response to a queue

this model says that an action is

performed when the ability to do it is

multiplied by the motivation if that

exceeds a certain threshold then you'll

do the hab for example if you're on a

camping trip like in the middle of

nowhere and you really really want a

donut the craving is there but then to

get the donut you're going to have to

walk back to your car like in the dark

and it's cold you're going to have to

like take the car for several mils to

near a city and you have to like go back

get a donut and then come all the way

back you wouldn't do that because it's

too difficult conversely if you went to

like your school and on the desk like

you weren't even like thinking you

didn't even want a donut but it said

like oh here's a box of donuts and you

can take one it's free even though your

motivation was low because it's really

easy to do so your actions or like your

prompts are going to be successful and

so you can keep this in mind to learn

how to make or break habits which is

what we're going to cover now now you

know all this it's very easy to change

because you just do the opposite of

stuff that reinforces the habits to get

rid of bad habits but also increase what

we just talked about to do good habits

so get ready get your notebook out and

we're going to be quick firing all the

things you could do get rid of any

Cravings put your phone off your desk

when working turn off notifications if

that's the Habit you want to stop make

it difficult to do habits clear away any

junk food when it's not in your

environment it's very hard to do turn

off your phone completely this acts as

like an extra layer friction because as

we just saw in the fog diagram we're

making the ability harder to use phone

now we have to like hold down on the

power button and it takes longer and

longer we're far less inclined to do it

even if our motivation is high whereas

if it's just on our desk and we could

literally just like swipe up to do it

it's far easier to do and so what I've

actually done is I disabled like tap to

wake and rise to wake which basically

like I have to press the power button

for my phone to turn on and it just add

that extra layer of friction conversely

to make good habits put the Cravings

everywhere post it notes have your books

out on your Des make it as frictionless

as possible when I used to uh play the

clarinet I found myself not really wan

to do it because there was so much

effort for me to like assemble the

clarinet like in case you guys don't

know you have to assemble it and it's

like so much effort right and so I find

myself practicing it way less than piano

whereas like the piano you just just

open the lid and start playing and so

that just proves how much the ease of it

makes it easy so have your like study

books out make everything very very easy

to do for good habits create artificial

rewards remember it's hard to make

habits for delay gratification study go

to the gym because the rewards are so

far far away but the thing is if we

start to create Milestones or like ways

to see the results it's far easier test

yourself regularly and also think about

the longterm goal if I like study today

I'm going to be one step closer to like

my dream job my dream like I know car

whatever you guys want for the gym once

you start seeing progress this easy

that's why you should always like take

progress pictures and you should

acknowledge how far you've come from the

beginning always know where your end

goal is and try and like space them out

so there's more in between for example

if you do like a past paper po by

yourself or you have like topic test in

between you can start to see how much

progress or like where you are and it's

easy to see like if you're on the right

path make a list of all the cues that

you have for bad habits and remove them

for example like when I used to study i'

go on Spotify I'd see like someone like

made like a new music video I click on

that end up on YouTube and I go down

that rabbit hole well now I know during

like studying I'm not going to actually

click on Spotify because that's a cute

and I've deleted that every time you

like do a bad habit instead of being

like Oh gosh darn it man I did a bad

habit take that an opportunity to write

down what the cue was that triggered to

you to do that in the first place and

then get rid of them habit stacking do

something in between or on top of

something you already do for example if

you say you're going to review 10 flash

cards after like brushing your teeth or

like eating breakfast like something

that's really automatic for you could be

a bad habit as well that's the thing

like after scrolling on Tik Tok like

that's fine but I have to review like 10

flash cards before closing my phone that

just makes it so that those two things

bind together and it's far easier for

you to do when you do something like

with another habit it becomes ingrained

as James [ __ ] said new habits are an

opportunity not an obligation if you say

I have to J so that I don't gain weight

like it becomes negative and you

associate The Habit with gaining weight

whereas if you say like I get a job and

that gives me the opportunity to become

jacked like that gives a positive light

and it also gives you a goal and also a

tangible result and a reward which we

talked about and we learned about how

that improves your likeliness and your

ability to do the good habit if you like

what you're watching and you really want

to like become that student you might

want to check out student accelerator

it's my program that's helping students

from all around the world become the

best student that they can be and if you

want to find out more click the first

link in the description as always take

action and I'll see you in the next one