Atomic Habits: 4 Rules for Sticking to Any Habit

Summary

This video discusses 'Atomic Habits' by James Clear, focusing on four key rules for building and maintaining habits effectively. The rules include making habits obvious through clear definitions and tracking, attractive by pairing with enjoyable activities, easy by reducing barriers and starting with small steps, and satisfying by incorporating immediate rewards. The video also highlights the importance of avoiding the 'second mistake' to prevent a single failure from becoming a habit. The summary emphasizes the practicality of these strategies for long-term habit formation.

Takeaways

• 📚 The video discusses 'Atomic Habits' by James Clear, emphasizing its value in self-development and habit formation.
• 🔑 It highlights the importance of both strategy and tactics in building habits, akin to running a successful business.
• 🎯 The first rule for habit formation is to make it obvious, avoiding ambiguity in habit execution.
• 📈 A clear system is crucial for habit success, as it prevents falling to the lowest standard set by the habit.
• 🥗 An example given is changing 'I will eat more vegetables' to a specific daily serving to ensure clarity.
• 📝 Tracking habits is suggested for clarity and motivation, with various methods like apps or calendars mentioned.
• 🌟 The second rule is to make the habit attractive by pairing it with something enjoyable or rewarding.
• 🌱 The concept of 'Jedi Councils' or mastermind groups is introduced for mutual support and accountability.
• 🛋️ The third rule is to make the habit easy by reducing friction and starting with small, achievable goals.
• 🎸 An example of making guitar playing easier by leaving it accessible rather than locked away is given.
• 🏅 The final rule is to make the habit satisfying by incorporating short-term rewards to aid long-term adherence.
• 🎉 The video concludes by emphasizing the applicability of these rules beyond personal habits to product design, using Brilliant as an example.
• 🎁 A promotional offer for Brilliant is presented, encouraging viewers to take advantage of the discount for the platform's courses.

Q & A

What is the main topic of the video?

The main topic of the video is discussing the habit-building strategies outlined in the book 'Atomic Habits' by James Clear.

What are the two components necessary for running a successful business according to the video?

The two components necessary for running a successful business are strategy and tactics.

What does the video suggest is the best habit building book the author has ever read?

The video suggests that 'Atomic Habits' by James Clear is the best habit building book the author has ever read.

What are the four rules mentioned in 'Atomic Habits' for making habits stick over the long term?

The four rules mentioned are: make it obvious, make it attractive, make it easy, and make it satisfying.

How does the video suggest making a habit obvious?

The video suggests making a habit obvious by setting specific requirements and having a clear bare minimum, as well as tracking habits to have a record of past accomplishments.

What is the quote from the book that emphasizes the importance of systems over goals?

The quote is, 'You do not rise to the level of your goals, you fall to the level of your systems.'

How can one make a habit attractive as per the video?

One can make a habit attractive by pairing it with something they already like to do, tweaking the environment to make it more enjoyable, or joining a support group like a Jedi Council for accountability.

What is the term used in the video for a mastermind group and why is it used?

The term used is 'Jedi Council.' It is used because the author prefers it over 'mastermind group,' which is often associated with 'fake gurus.'

How does the video recommend making a habit easy?

The video recommends making a habit easy by removing friction, starting with baby steps, and setting a bare minimum that can be accomplished every day.

What is the concept of delayed gratification and why does it make building habits difficult?

Delayed gratification is the concept of foregoing a present reward for a future, potentially better reward. It makes building habits difficult because the human brain is wired to prioritize immediate rewards over long-term potential gains.

How can one make a habit satisfying according to the video?

One can make a habit satisfying by bundling short-term rewards with the long-term rewards gained through the habit, ensuring that there is something satisfying in the moment to motivate continued action.

What is the 'second mistake' mentioned in the video and how can one avoid it?

The 'second mistake' is making a secondary mistake that turns a single failure into a trajectory towards failure. One can avoid it by not beating themselves up over a mistake and not starting a pattern of failure.

How does the video relate the principles of habit building to the use of Brilliant for learning?

The video relates the principles of habit building to the use of Brilliant by explaining how the platform applies these principles to make learning easy, attractive, and satisfying through interactive problems and immediate results.

What is the offer for new subscribers to Brilliant mentioned in the video?

The offer for new subscribers is 20% off the annual premium Brilliant subscription if they are among the first 200 people to sign up using the provided link.

Outlines

00:00

📚 Introduction to 'Atomic Habits' and the Importance of Strategy and Tactics

The video script begins by acknowledging the sponsorship of Brilliant and the support for the channel. It then dives into a discussion about 'Atomic Habits' by James Clear, highlighting it as one of the best self-development books for building habits. The narrator emphasizes the distinction between strategy and tactics in habit formation, drawing an analogy with running a successful business. Strategy sets the foundation, while tactics are the daily plans that execute the strategy and adapt to life's unpredictability. The script mentions that 'Atomic Habits' addresses both the strategic and tactical aspects of habit building, focusing on four rules for making habits stick, especially when life interferes. The first rule is to make the habit obvious, ensuring clarity in how, when, and where to perform the habit to avoid ambiguity and setting a clear minimum requirement for success.

05:01

🥗 Making Healthy Habits Clear and Attractive Through Environment and Accountability

The second paragraph continues the discussion on habit formation by detailing the first rule—making a habit obvious—through the example of eating vegetables. It suggests setting clear, specific requirements to avoid falling into the trap of meeting minimal goals that yield little progress. The paragraph also introduces the idea of tracking habits to counteract the fallibility of human memory, mentioning various methods such as the Martin System, habit tracking apps like Habitica, and the Seinfeld Effect. The third rule—making a habit attractive—is introduced, which involves pairing the habit with something enjoyable. The script provides examples of creating a conducive environment for writing and the concept of a 'Jedi Council' or mastermind group for mutual support and accountability.

10:02

🎸 Making Habits Easy Through Reduced Friction and Incremental Goals

In the third paragraph, the focus shifts to the second rule from Claire's list—making a habit easy—by removing friction and making the habit as effortless as possible. The narrator uses the example of playing the guitar, explaining how making it easily accessible has increased the frequency of practice and skill development. The concept of starting with baby steps is introduced, advocating for setting initial goals that are easily achievable to build momentum. The paragraph also discusses the importance of trajectory over current results, using the metaphor of Goku's training in 'Dragon Ball' to illustrate the power of consistent, incremental progress.

15:04

🏅 Creating Satisfaction in Habit Building with Short-Term Rewards

The fourth paragraph addresses the challenge of delayed gratification and the human brain's preference for immediate rewards. It discusses the need to find short-term rewards that can be bundled with long-term habit benefits to maintain motivation. The script warns against unhealthy short-term rewards that could counteract the habit's purpose and suggests positive alternatives like listening to an audiobook after a run or the satisfaction of checking off completed tasks. The importance of recognizing the power of a long streak of successes and the advice to avoid the 'second mistake' of letting a single failure become a pattern are also highlighted.

🎉 Conclusion: Applying the Four Rules of Habit Building and Promoting Resources

The concluding paragraph summarizes the four rules for building habits: making them easy, obvious, attractive, and satisfying. It suggests that implementing even one of these rules can greatly improve the chances of long-term adherence to a habit. The script then broadens the application of these rules beyond personal development, noting their use in product design, with Brilliant as an example of a tool that incorporates these principles to enhance user engagement. The paragraph includes a promotional offer for Brilliant's courses and encourages viewers to subscribe for upcoming content on personal finance and self-discipline, while also promoting the narrator's music channel.

Keywords

💡Atomic Habits

Atomic Habits is a book by James Clear that focuses on the small changes that can lead to significant outcomes over time. In the video, the author discusses the book's strategies and tactics for building and maintaining habits, emphasizing the importance of both strategy and tactics in habit formation.

💡Strategy and Tactics

Strategy and tactics are two components necessary for success in various endeavors, including business and habit formation. Strategy refers to the overarching plan or direction, while tactics are the specific actions taken to execute the strategy. The video script uses these concepts to explain the comprehensive approach needed for building habits effectively.

💡Habit Building

Habit building is the process of creating and reinforcing behaviors over time until they become automatic. The video discusses the four rules from 'Atomic Habits' that help make new habits stick, illustrating how to integrate these habits into daily life for long-term success.

💡Make it Obvious

Making a habit obvious is one of the four rules mentioned in the video. It involves setting clear and specific requirements for a habit so that there is no ambiguity about when, where, or how to perform it. The script uses the example of eating vegetables, suggesting a clear minimum serving size and time of day to make the habit unmistakable.

💡Tracking Habits

Tracking habits is a method for increasing the visibility and accountability of one's actions. The video suggests that keeping a record of habit performance can be motivating and help reinforce the behavior over time. It mentions various methods, including pen and paper, apps, and calendars, as ways to track habits.

💡Make it Attractive

Making a habit attractive involves pairing a new or challenging habit with something pleasurable. The video script explains that this can help in the early stages of habit formation when willpower is most needed. It gives the example of creating a pleasant writing environment to make the habit of writing more enticing.

💡Make it Easy

Making a habit easy is about reducing the barriers or friction that might prevent someone from performing the habit. The video discusses how to set the habit up in an environment that facilitates its performance, such as keeping a guitar out and accessible to encourage more frequent practice.

💡Baby Steps

Baby steps refer to starting a habit with a very small, manageable goal to ensure consistency. The video script suggests beginning with a minimum requirement that is easily achievable, such as meditating for two minutes a day, to gradually build up the habit without feeling overwhelmed.

💡Make it Satisfying

Making a habit satisfying is about creating a sense of reward or fulfillment associated with the habit. The video explains that this can help overcome the challenge of delayed gratification inherent in habit building. It suggests finding short-term rewards that complement the long-term benefits of the habit.

💡Delayed Gratification

Delayed gratification is the concept of sacrificing immediate rewards for greater benefits in the future. The video script discusses how this concept can make habit building difficult, as it requires forgoing short-term pleasure for long-term gain. It suggests strategies for making the process of habit building more immediately rewarding.

💡Brilliant

Brilliant is an online platform for learning math, science, and computer science, mentioned in the video as a sponsor. The video script highlights how Brilliant applies habit-building principles in its course design, such as immediate interactivity and problem-solving, to make learning more engaging and consistent.

Highlights

Sponsored video on 'Atomic Habits' by James Clear, considered one of the best self-development books for habit building.

Three big ideas from the book were summarized in a previous video, but the book also covers tactical aspects of habit formation.

The importance of both strategy and tactics in building habits, paralleling the requirements for a successful business.

James Clear outlines four rules for making habits stick over the long term, even when life gets in the way.

Rule number one: Make the habit obvious by eliminating questions about where, how, and when to do it.

The quote 'You fall to the level of your systems' emphasizes the need for clear habit systems.

Setting clear minimum requirements prevents falling to the lowest standard on difficult days.

Example given: Changing a vague goal to a specific one like eating one full serving of vegetables every day at lunch.

Tracking habits helps overcome fallible human memory and provides motivation for continued action.

Different methods for tracking habits, including pen and paper, apps, and calendars, are discussed.

Habitica app recommended for its use of video game design elements to motivate users.

The Seinfeld Effect of marking off daily habits on a calendar as a simple tracking method.

Rule number two: Making a habit attractive by pairing it with something you already enjoy.

Examples provided for making writing more enjoyable through environmental tweaks and the concept of Jedi Councils for support.

The value of accountability from a group with similar ambition levels to support habit formation.

Rule number three: Making the habit easy by reducing friction and starting with baby steps.

The anecdote of guitar accessibility increasing play frequency and skill development.

The concept of setting a minimum goal that is easily achievable daily, like 500 words for writing.

Rule number four: Making the habit satisfying to overcome the challenge of delayed gratification.

The need for short-term rewards to complement long-term habit benefits and the avoidance of counterproductive rewards.

Examples of short-term rewards like listening to an audiobook after a run or the dopamine release from checking off tasks.

The importance of not beating yourself up over a mistake and avoiding the secondary data point that leads to a failure trajectory.

Summary of the four rules for building habits and their broader applications beyond personal development.

Endorsement of Brilliant.org for its application of habit-building principles in its interactive learning courses.

Promotional offer for Brilliant's annual premium subscription and a thank you note for watching.

Transcripts

- Thanks to Brilliant for sponsoring this video,

and supporting my channel.

So last week I did a video

summarizing three of the biggest ideas

in this book right here.

"Atomic Habits" by James Clear.

And that's the only Dr. Seuss's calamity in this video

but I just couldn't help it.

But like I said, in that video,

this is one of the better self development books

that I've ever read,

and when it comes to building habits,

I think this is the best habit building book

that I've ever read.

But while those three big ideas we discussed in that video

do kind of encapsulate the strategic component

of building habits,

they aren't the entire picture

because as anybody who's ever studied business

will tell you to run a successful business,

you need two things, strategy and tactics.

Strategy being the foundational sort of birds eye view,

huge ideas that really form the foundation

of everything you're trying to do.

And tactics being the more in the trenches plans

that allow you to carry out the strategy

on a day to day basis,

in addition to dealing with whatever crap

life happens to throw your way.

And while running a business and building habits

in your everyday life, aren't completely identical goals,

they do have one key component

in which they are very, very alike,

which is that you need both strategy and tactics.

And luckily "Atomic Habits"

also deals with this more tactical question.

In fact clear lays are four different rules

for making habits stick over the longterm

and making sure that you stick with them even when life

inevitably gets in your way.

So in today's video,

we are gonna summarize those four rules,

I'm gonna give you my thoughts on each of them.

So let's get started with rule number one,

which is to make it obvious.

Any habit that you're trying to build,

shouldn't come with question marks on it.

Where am I gonna do it?

How do I do it?

When do I do it?

If you're asking these questions,

you're already getting off on the wrong foot.

One of my favorite quotes from this book

is actually one of my favorite quotes in general

which is that, "You do not rise to the level of your goals,

"You fall to the level of your systems."

And if your system hasn't defined a clear picture

of what a habit is supposed to be,

then you're not really gonna know what to do.

For instance, I will eat more vegetables is unclear.

How do you know on any given day

that you've actually completed that goal?

Is a single baby carrot enough?

Well, if you've set your system in an unclear way

or if you set the bare minimum so low,

then on many days you're gonna find yourself

falling to that bare minimum,

eating a baby carrot and saying, "Hey, I ate vegetables."

And that's the thing, on really busy days,

or days when you're feeling just really, really tired

or unmotivated,

you can bet that you are going to just fall

to the bare minimum requirement that your system has set.

And over time, this can lead to self sabotage

because while you are technically fulfilling

your requirements of the system,

the results you get through that habit,

through that practice are so infinitesimally small

that you don't see real progress over time.

You're basically just kind of stalled out.

But you can easily fix this by making the goal obvious

by setting some specific requirements

that give you a very clear bare minimum,

that's actually gonna get you results.

So going back to our vegetables goal,

instead of saying, "I will eat more vegetables,"

just again, very unclear,

maybe say something like,

"I will eat one full serving of vegetables

"every day at lunch, except for on Sundays

"and fries don't count."

I don't know who thinks fries are a vegetable

but hey, we gotta be specific here, right?

But you can see it's very clear minimum requirement

makes it a lot harder to cheat yourself in the long term.

And it also makes it a lot more obvious

what you're supposed to be doing on a day to day basis.

And if you wanna make this even more obvious,

then it's a good idea to have a written record

of your past accomplishments,

of your past compliance with the habit that you're set out.

In other words, track your habits.

We, human beings have a very fallible memory.

Sometimes it's hard to remember what we did yesterday

let alone two weeks ago.

So if you have an actual concrete record of what you've done

you'll often find it motivating and you'll find it more easy

to keep doing this in the future.

Now when it comes to tracking your habits,

there are a ton of different methods out there.

If you're a fan of pen and paper,

I did a video earlier this year

about something called the Martin System,

which my friend Martin created,

and a lot of people seem to like,

so I'll have a link in description for that video,

but there are also tons of habit tracking apps out there,

Habitica being my favorite one,

because it brings in lots of video game design elements

and video games designers

have had probably about 40 years this point

to study psychology and figure out

what motivates players to keep playing their games.

So you can take those insights,

put them into a habit tracking app,

And at least in my experience,

it makes it a lot more motivating to use.

Of course you could also just mark things off

on the calendar,

mark each day as you do the habit,

which Jerry Seinfeld is very famous

for having done with writing jokes,

and that's why this is often called the Seinfeld Effect.

But whatever you do, calendar, app, Martin System,

whatever it is,

simply tracking your habits

is going to make it more obvious every single day

what you're supposed to be doing,

because you have a record.

Now, this isn't always going to be enough.

Just making a habit obvious

isn't going to ensure that you're going to do it.

So let's talk about the second rule on Claire's list

which is to make it attractive.

The idea here is to pair the habit

that you're trying to build, which is often difficult,

requires self-discipline, requires motivation and willpower

with something that you already like to do.

And this can be especially important

in the early stages of this habits

where again, it's taking mostly willpower for you to do it

because it hasn't yet worn a well-worn neural pathway

that makes it an automatic behavior.

Or I guess in definition, a habit.

Giving an example,

my friend Martin wrote this script for this video,

and like me he doesn't necessarily like writing

especially when it's nonfiction productivity scripts.

But there are two settings in which he can make himself

get into the writing habit and get started

by tweaking his environment

to make it a little bit more enjoyable.

The first one is at home, he'll clean off his desk,

he'll make a fresh cup of tea, since he's a tea drinker,

and he'll light a candle.

So he's making his home environment a bit more attractive

as a writing space.

Alternatively, sometimes he actually goes out in his car

and we'll park somewhere in nature

where he can look at trees

and writes a script on his iPad.

Personally at a knock at the allure of riding in my car,

I think it'll would be very uncomfortable,

but hey, whatever works for him works for him,

and whatever works for you will work for you.

So try to tweak your environment

in a way that makes it more enjoyable

to get into this habit.

You could also create what I like to call Jedi Councils,

which is just my nerdy term for a mastermind group.

I don't really like the term mastermind group

'cause a lot of those fake gurus love to use it.

So I'm gonna go at Jedi Council,

but essentially,

a Jedi Council is just a group of like-minded people

who have similar levels of ambition,

who agreed to get on a call every week or every two weeks

and support each other.

I was on the same Jedi Council call

with the same four people for about four years.

And every couple of weeks we'd get on a call,

and we talk about what we had done

over the past couple of weeks.

Every week, somebody would be in the hot seat,

they would kind of do a deep dive

on the struggles they were having,

what they were trying to do in their business

or in their goals.

We'd all just sort of provide support

and encouragement and accountability.

At the end of that call, everyone would say,

"Here's what I'm going to do in the next two weeks,

"keep me accountable."

One thing I've noticed with friends,

is that often friends are too close to you,

they like it too much to really hold your feet to the fire

with a goal.

Maybe some friends will actually do it,

but a lot of friends will sort of forgive you

when you fall off the horse,

which is not always what you need.

Sometimes you need to somebody who's kind of at arms length,

who cares about you,

but they care about you in a way

in which they're going to really hold your feet to the fire

and ask you,

"Why did you not do what you said you were gonna do?"

You know, they're not gonna take it can excuses from you.

So it can be very, very helpful to form a group like this.

The accountability these people provide you

might not always be enough to help you hurdle

the difficulties involved

in sticking with your habit longterm,

which is why sometimes you need to look for a way

to reduce that difficulty.

In other words, make it easy.

The main thing we're looking to do here

is to remove as much friction as possible

from whatever positive habit that you're trying to build.

So for an example, let's talk about guitar for a second.

It took me all of two seconds to go and grab this guitar

off the stand over there.

Now, when I bought this guitar,

when I bought my first guitar in Colorado,

they always tell me the same thing.

You live in Colorado, which is a very dry environment.

So you need to buy a case

and you need to keep the guitar in the case

as much as possible,

and you also need to buy this humidification device

which you have to fill with distilled water every two days,

Otherwise guitar is gonna crack over time

and become worthless.

And I understand what they're saying and they're not wrong,

but here's the thing,

I did that at first diligently when I bought my first guitar

here in Colorado,

and as a result, I almost never played it,

because it was locked in the case,

it would take me, you know, probably 20, 25 seconds

to go get the case, unlock it, take the stupid humidifier

out of the strings,

and then get myself ready to play.

So now I've said, "You know what?

"I don't care if my guitars crack over time,

"I will buy a new guitar 40 years down the line,

"when my old one has worn itself out."

Because in exchange,

by keeping my guitars out all over the house on stands,

just ready to play, ready to pick up

whenever I have a whim to play, I play much more often.

And as a result, I've seen my skill grows so much faster.

And the funny thing is,

I don't even have to make it obvious for this goal.

I don't have to say, I will practice guitar

and do these scale patterns every single day for 20 minutes.

It's just easy.

I love to play guitar.

It is something that takes work,

but because the guitar is right there

whether I'm upstairs, whether I'm down here in the studio,

whenever I have a spare moment,

I'll often pick it up,

and about half the time I pick it up,

I'll end up making something up

that I really like and wanna record.

So, make it easy.

Remove the friction involved in getting into whatever habit

that you want to do.

Another way to make a habit easy,

is to Start with baby steps,

or in other words, to set the bare minimum

at least at first, at a level that you know

you could accomplish every single day.

Even if something weird and unexpected comes up

and interrupts your day,

even if life gets in your way.

So for example,

and Martin put this in the script,

I think to annoy me,

but if you're trying to meditate,

which I don't like to do,

and you set your goal and immediately at 10 minutes per day,

you might find that your mind is not used

to 10 minutes of meditation.

My mind isn't even used for 30 seconds of meditation.

It's just not for me.

But if you're trying to get into a meditation habit,

it might be more useful to set a two minute goal to start.

Two minutes is something you can absolutely do,

every single day.

You probably meditate for two minutes

while waiting in line at the grocery store.

And if you can get your mind

used to the feeling of stillness for two minutes,

you'll be able to slowly work yourself up to three minutes,

five minutes, 10 minutes, half an hour,

whatever people who meditate like to do.

I also find this works for writing.

When I was writing my book

"10 Steps To Earning Awesome Grades."

I set my bare minimum goal at 500 words per day,

because I knew if I had to,

I could write 500 words sitting on the toilet.

They might not be very good,

but I could do it.

And in some days I find myself pushing past

that 500 word minimum goal.

Some days I would write 3000 words,

but I knew if I set my goal at 3000 words per day,

on a lot of days, I was going to fail.

So set a baby steps goal,

and don't worry about what your results are right now

if you're only sticking to the bare minimum,

as Claire writes in the book,

"You should be far more concerned

"with your current trajectory,

"the direction of which you're going extrapolated

"based on the points of data you already have,

"than with your current results."

In other words, ask yourself, "Where am I headed?"

with the steps that you've been making,

with the incremental bumps you've been making,

where are you gonna be in the future?

Well, if you like how the future looks,

then don't worry about where you are right now,

because where you are right now

represents your training ground.

It's kind of like this episode of "Dragon Ball"

I used to watch when I was a kid,

where Goku had to run around

with this giant a hundred pound turtle shell on his back

and he could run very, very slowly

and could barely jump,

but the moment he takes it off,

he could jump like a hundred feet in the air.

I thought that was real in fifth grade,

and I thought I'd be able to jump a hundred feet in the air,

If I put a turtle shell in my back,

or like carried weights around, that's fake.

But the idea is there, isn't?

So let's move onto the fourth rule in the book,

which is to make it satisfying.

So part of what makes building a habit so difficult

to something that the human brain

kind of hasn't wired itself to fully accept yet.

And that's the concept of delayed gratification.

This is when you forego a present reward,

a short term reward,

in order to get a future and hopefully better reward.

And this comes up a lot in modern day life,

because we love to make big plans.

Plans that right now might cost a lot of effort,

money and time,

but that potentially won't pay off

for a very, very long time.

And I say this happens more often now,

because in the modern day a lot of us

can reliably count on that future existing.

So we go to school,

or we start that scrappy business in our garage,

or we save up for that PS5,

but for most of human history,

we were hunter gatherers

who had to rely on what we can get right now.

And while PS5s are very hard to catch,

so as the saying goes, one PS5 in the hand,

is worth two PS5s in the book.

In other words,

if you don't know that your next meal is coming,

then you learn to prioritize what you can get right now

over future potential, maybe rewards.

Loss aversion becomes a very, very useful

survival mechanism,

when the potential consequence is starvation.

And we've never fully escaped this mindset.

This deep seeded brain wiring takes a long time to change.

Our external environment has changed relatively rapidly.

Seems like it's been thousands of years,

but in terms of brain wiring,

well, that's pretty done quick

and the brain just hasn't had time to catch up.

As Claire points out in the book,

"Because of how we are wired,

"most people will spend all day

"chasing quick hits of satisfaction."

And you can see how this might be a little bit productive

for building strong habits.

Since a lot of habits aren't immediately satisfying

and take a bit of discipline to get you

toward their eventual goal.

So what we need is some metaphorical way

of getting all three PS5s.

We need something that motivates you

to stick with the habit longterm,

but that gives you something satisfying in the moment.

In other words,

we wanna bundle some sort of short term reward

with the longterm rewards gained through the habit.

Now there are really bad ways to set this up,

for example, if you are a runner

and you're trying to go on a run every single day,

maybe giving yourself an unhealthy snack as a reward,

isn't the best idea.

For one, eating as little as three Oreos

could actually counteract the calories burned

in an eight minute mile,

and well, not everyone's gonna care about that.

That is something worth considering,

but number two,

you could actually end up building a bad habit

through rewarding yourself for sticking to a good one.

And that's just not really a good thing to be doing.

So instead, find a way to give yourself a short term reward

that is helpful in and of itself.

For example, if you go for that run,

maybe reward yourself by coming back

and listening to an audio book,

or spending the time when you're cooling down,

reading a fiction book.

That way you also get to reading time in,

but you're also rewarding yourself for going for that run.

Another potential short term reward here

might be just the simple and sweet dopamine release

of checking off a check box.

Personally, I love writing out my daily plan

on my whiteboard,

so I can check off those check boxes as I go.

And I briefly mentioned habit tracking systems earlier,

but another great benefit of marking down your progress

is simply having a record of your success

and deriving satisfaction from being able to look back

on that record.

In any case, finding these short term rewards

or being creative and coming up with your own,

can be especially valuable in the beginning,

because like I said in the last video,

the compounding effect of their skill building journey

really hasn't started to show its power yet.

In the beginning, your daily 1% improvements

still might not add up to all that much,

and you might be feeling a little bit discouraged

about your results.

So if you can pair that with a reward,

at least until the compounding effect

has really started to show,

you're gonna be able to stick it out

through that initial difficult period.

Additionally, it just feels good to see

a long unbroken streak of successes,

but if you do end up failing,

like I said in the last video,

and I feel compelled to reiterate here,

don't beat yourself up about it.

Avoid what Claire calls, the second mistake.

The secondary data point that causes a failure

to transform from an outlier, an anomaly

to something that indicates a trajectory towards failure.

If you can avoid making that second mistake,

if you can avoid starting that trajectory,

then a mistake is just that, it's a mistake.

It remains in the past,

and it doesn't really hurt you all that much.

So typically summarize this summary,

for whatever habit you're trying to build,

consider these four rules,

make it easy

make it obvious,

make it attractive

and make it satisfying.

Implement just one of these rules

into any habit you're building,

and I think you're gonna have a much easier time

sticking to it over the long term.

And if you think about these four rules

a little bit more broadly,

you can probably see that they actually apply

to more than just personal habit building.

And that they're used in a lot of the products and tools

that you use every single day.

For instance, if you're somebody who wants to get better

at math or science or computer science,

a tool like Brilliant, might be a lot more easy to use

on a day to day basis and to stick to,

because the people who build Brilliant

understand these habit building rules.

Which is why when you get into one of their courses,

instead of having a very long piece of text to read,

you're almost immediately thrown

into some sort of bite sized interactive problem

that gets you results right away.

And because you're getting active immediately,

and you're getting the satisfaction

of using the material to solve a problem,

like in the algorithms course,

where you learn to drag different blocks around

to make a correctly formatted algorithm,

you gain the satisfaction required to push through.

They're using that satisfaction principle right away.

They're using that attractive principle right away.

Of course, there are a lot of other reasons

to use Brilliant, besides these rules here.

For instance, they have more than 60 in depth courses

in their library, including a full math suite.

That starts from the basics of number theory,

and it goes all the way up to calculus and probability,

math for quantitative trading and finance,

along with science courses like gravitational physics,

and computer science courses

like their Python programming course

and the Algorithms course that I mentioned earlier.

And if you're one of the first 200 people

to go over to brilliant.org/ThomasFrank and sign up,

you're gonna get 20% off your annual

premium Brilliant subscription.

So check them out and as always,

thank you so much for watching.

Hopefully you found something helpful

and actionable in this video.

Again, I highly recommend reading this book in its entirety.

It is one of the better self development books

that I've read.

So, highly recommend this on link in description

down below.

And as always, if you did like this video

hitting that light bulb is a great way

to tell the YouTube algorithm to push this channel

out to more people.

So, thank you if you do that,

and if you haven't already hit

that subscribe button right there,

because next month I've got a couple of great videos

coming out specifically on some personal finance topics.

A lot of you've been asking me

about investing in credit cards.

So I'm working on videos for both of those topics.

So hit that subscribe button

and make sure you don't miss out on those.

Additionally, I'm gonna have a couple of more videos

in a playlist right here,

all about habits and self discipline, so check that out.

Or you can check out my music channel

if you are interested in the whole guitar segment,

I'll put a link right there.

And beyond that,

if you don't wanna do any of this,

then I don't know,

go skateboard in an empty pool or something,

because as always, I'm not your dad.