Welcome to the Bi-weekly Monday Digest!

For the past two months we’ve talked ALL ABOUT HABITS. Here’s a quick recap to get you up to speed:

Part 1: The science of habits (the habit formation loop)

Part 2: A 4 step framework you can use to break those bad habits and create new ones (with a ready-to-use template)

Part 3: The 3 layers of behaviour change and the role our identity plays in behaviour change and vice versa.

In today’s article we’ll bring the #HabitSeries to a close by talking about the 4 Laws of Behaviour Change and wrap up this whole series in the next edition with a booklet sharing habit management tips only accessible to members of the Monday Digest Community. If you haven’t subscribed yet, click on the button below to join.

Disclaimer: This article is based on insights from The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg & Atomic Habits by James Clear.

The 4 Laws That Govern Human Behaviour

To increase the odds of performing a behaviour: Make it obvious, Make it attractive & Make it easy. To increase the odds that the behaviour will be repeated, Make it satisfying. These are the 4 laws that govern behaviour change and inform how we create good habits and break bad habits.

Let’s look at each law alongside real-life examples:

LAW 1: Make It Obvious/Invisible

If I want to eat healthier and/or stop eating junk food, I can make eating healthy food an obvious choice while making the option of eating junk food invisible.

How can I make eating healthy food obvious? Here are some examples:

• Place fruits in a bowl in the centre of the dining table where they are visible.

• Stock healthy food in the house to avoid the chances of ordering in.

• Eat before leaving the house to reduce chances of eating out.

• Meal prep to ensure there are healthy, ready-to-eat, options in the house.

How can I make eating junk food invisible?

• Delete food delivery apps from the phone.

• Avoid storing any junk food in the house.

• Limit the amount of money one has access to when leaving the house. (This reduces the chances of eating out.)

LAW 2: Make It (Un)Attractive

Let’s assume I want to start budgeting and tracking my expenses, how do I make financial management attractive and the opposite unattractive?

I could make budgeting attractive by:

• Joining a community where good financial management is the norm.

  As humans we have a desire to fit in, so joining a community where the ideal behaviour is good financial management will push me to become more conscious of my finances and eventually start budgeting and tracking my expenses.

• Pairing it with a habit I enjoy or find easy to do.

  For example, I could input my expenses for the day in my tracker while eating dinner. This strategy is all about finding a habit you already do consistently and attaching the new habit to it.

  I recently applied this strategy when I was too lazy to work-out. I attached ‘walking on the treadmill’ with ‘watching a show’ I’m currently obsessed with. In the end I got to finish my episode while getting my steps in. If paired correctly, it’s a win-win situation.

On the other hand, I can make poor financial management unattractive by reframing my mindset and reinforcing how poor financial management is an unattractive behaviour. Here’s an example of what I would tell myself to reframe my mindset:

By choosing not to manage my finances, I’m intentionally not planning for my future. Why would I want to put Future Me at jeopardy? Do I want to have a financially secure future? Yes I do. So why would I not want to save and manage my finances? Plus I know once I do it, I will feel less anxious about the future and be more present in my day-to-day making me happier. I want to be happier so I guess I’ll have to manage my finances for a happier me. :)

At the end of the day, we all want to do what benefits us or brings us joy, but what brings us joy is all dependent on how we frame it in our minds. To one person, drinking alcohol is associated with happiness, to someone else they see no benefit whatsoever thus don’t drink at all. It’s all about reframing what you want to do by highlighting its benefits or reframing what you want to stop by highlighting its drawbacks.

LAW 3: Make It Easy/Difficult

If I want to read more by limiting the amount of time I spend on social media, I can make reading easy and spending my time on social media difficult.

I could make reading easy by:

• Focusing on just showing up. This is known as the Two Minute Rule.

  We’re often too excited when starting a new behaviour that we do too much too soon and eventually wear ourselves out. Before trying to read a chapter a day, I could make it easy by focusing on reading a page a day. With time, the number of pages I read will increase, but on the hard and busy days, reading a page a day won’t seem overwhelming. It’s all about showing up and building the consistency muscle.

• Automatically blocking your reading time.

  Automation is one of the best strategies because it removes any decision making from the equation and forces us to commit to what we said we would do. You can automate your reading time by installing an internet blocker that blocks the internet for a fixed time during your set reading time. Other instances where automation is known to work best is in financial management e.g. setting a standing order to your savings account, or having your card connected to an app that tracks your expenses etc. You can find different ways to automate your desired habits where possible.

If I want to make spending time on social media difficult, I could increase the friction of accessing social media by:

• Accessing social media via the web browser and setting it in such a way that I have to input my password every single time. (The extra steps will force me to snap out of my unconscious reflex)

• Setting a reset timer that resets my password after a set time and I can only get access to it on a specific day and time.

• Having a trusted friend/assistant change my passwords weekly and only give me access on the weekends. (seems like a lot of work but if you can, why not? Find what works for you)

LAW 4: Make It (Un)Satisfying

If I want to read more, I can make it satisfying by:

• Having a visual tracker that I mark an X on every time I read. The art of seeing your progress can be quite satisfying.

• Having an accountability partner and maybe joining a book club that promotes a reading culture. There’s a great feeling of satisfaction one gets when they actually read the book club’s chosen book and can talk about it.

I can make the option of not reading unsatisfying by:

• Introducing a habit contract that has consequences if I don’t meet my reading goal. This could look like putting money on the line, if you don’t do what you said you would do. The consequence needs to be worth it to ensure that the cost of not reading is higher than the cost of reading.

• Having an accountability partner and maybe joining a book club. We are always trying to present our best selves to the world, so chances are I will not want to look unreliable by not reading the book club’s chosen book, thus forcing me to read.

In conclusion, whenever you want to change your behaviour simply ask yourself these 4 questions:

Remember, The key to creating good habits and breaking bad ones is to understand these fundamental laws and how to alter them to your specifications. Every goal is doomed to fail if it goes against the grain of human nature.

And this brings us to the end of the #HabitSeries. As promised, the next edition will include a free Habit Management eBook with tips and tricks to get you started! But before then, I would love to know your biggest take-away from the #HabitSeries. You can shoot me your response by directly replying to this email newsletter. 

Until next time, I wish you all the best on your habit change journey!

#ChooseToThrive.