How to create good habits and get rid of bad ones

Importance of good habits

American author Robert Collier famously said the following about achieving your potential: "Succes is the sum of small efforts - repeated day in and day out." In other words, doing things that seem insignificant on a regular basis can lead to fantastic results.

Based on the above, implementing 'good habits' in your life sounds pretty easy, right? All you need to do every day is just put in a couple of small efforts and Bob's your uncle (literally in my case).

If only life were so simple.

Habits (good or bad) can change quite rapidly meaning that one week you could be hitting the gym 6 days out of 7 and the next one you could find yourself glued to your sofa with no intention of even lifting the TV remote (let alone a heavy dumbbell).

In his bestseller 'Atomic Habits' James Clear mentions that good and bad habits can compound and refers to these concepts as positive compounding and negative compounding. An example of positive compounding could be that if you act nicer to people on a daily basis, you could build a substantial social network over time. An example of negative compounding could be riots that are caused by a series of small aggressions and daily tension. A quote by Jacob Riis illustrates this very well: “When nothing seems to help, I go and look at a stonecutter hammering away at his rock, perhaps a hundred times without as much as a crack showing in it. Yet at the hundred and first blow it will split in two, and I know it was not that last blow that did it – but all that had gone before.”

Goals vs systems

When I was in a period in which negative habits were dominating my daily life, I decided to set a few goals for myself. One of these goals was to run my first marathon.

Running a first marathon was a clear goal, but how would I approach achieving this? My preparations and routines, in other words systems, would be crucial to making this pursuit a success. However, there were certain bad habits that were making things difficult for me. Some of these habits would also function as a gateway to other unwanted ones.

An example of this was consumption of alcohol. On days where the concept of 'just one drink' didn't apply to me, I would wake up to face the well-known adversary of a hangover. On the face of it you would think that a hangover is not a big deal. However, the consequences of a hangover could often be much more impactful than just a headache. After a particularly long night I would usually eat more unhealthy, commit to less physical activity, and feel more tired. Not the effects you are looking for when training for a marathon.

By cutting out the habit of drinking alcohol and partying until late, I managed to improve my chances of maintaining good habits such as eating more healthily, going to bed at a respectable time, and training 5 times a week. After a couple of months of training I managed to complete a sloping marathon in approximately 4 hours and 15 minutes. As satisfying as it was to achieve my goal, I believe the habits or 'systems' that I trialled during my training were almost more valuable to me than the goal itself. In Atomic Habits, James Clear described this in the following way: "True long-term thinking is goal-less thinking. It’s not about any single accomplishment. It is about the cycle of endless refinement and continuous improvement."

If your goal is to run a marathon, you may achieve your aim and upon completion succumb once more to the same habits that were obstructing your progress. If your goal is to become a runner and you make it a part of your identity, you will take up running as a continuous activity.

How to improve your habits

A lot of our behaviours involve satisfying cravings or wants that may pop into our mind at any given moment. Some cravings, such as smoking or eating a bar of chocolate, tend to test our resolve more than others. I consider myself to be someone that has a decent amount of willpower, but I am not superhuman and occasionally give in to my guilty pleasures.

So... if I can't rely on my willpower alone, how do I fend off the many temptations that I come across during a day?

Good question. (The heavily quoted) James Clear elaborated on how building and breaking a habit works in practice and condensed this information into the convenient table below.

The Process of Building a Habit	How to Create a Good Habit
The 1st Law (Cue)	Make it obvious.
The 2nd Law (Craving)	Make it attractive.
The 3rd Law (Response)	Make it easy.
The 4th Law (Reward)	Make it satisfying.

The Process of Breaking a Habit	How to break a bad habit
Inversion of the 1st Law (Cue)	Make it invisible.
Inversion of the 2nd Law (Craving)	Make it unattractive.
Inversion of the 3rd Law (Response)	Make it difficult.
Inversion of the 4th Law (Reward)	Make it unsatisfying.

I have used the process above to break various bad habits with fantastic results. One of my biggest cravings, usually occurring when I was already hungry, was munching on a full packet of 'pindarotsjes'. 'Pindarotsjes', or peanut brittle for my non-Dutch audience, is possibly my favourite treat and often impossible for myself to resist.

To tackle this craving head on, I decided to take the following steps:

• Make the cue invisible by avoiding the aisle that contained these delicious little bastards.

• Make them less attractive by stilling my hunger with an apple before going to the supermarket.

Being an honest individual, I have to admit that I still do sporadically treat myself to a packet (sorry, I am only human). However, the frequency has decreased massively compared to before.

Sticking with your good habits

I have some bad news to share with you...

Bad habits usually involve things that are more fun, more enjoyable, easier, and tastier than things related to good habits. Nowadays, companies keep looking for 'better' ways to exploit detrimental behaviours and routines:

• We don't need to cook, as we can order a takeaway.

• Who walks to the supermarket? We can get our shopping delivered to our doorstep.

• Not sure I fancy going to the gym today. I would much rather watch Netflix and relax.

However, the people that resist the path of least resistance will be rewarded with a satisfying life wherein one can feel healthy and a sense of accomplishment.

"Discipline is choosing between what you want now and what you want most." - Abraham Lincoln

Further reading

The topic of habits is too broad to condense into a single blog post and therefore I would like to suggest the following books for the purposes of further reading:

• 'Atomic Habits' by James Clear (who could have guessed it?)

• 'The Power of Habit' by Charles Duhigg