The Secret To Starting Good Habits and Stopping Bad Ones

Read time: 3 minutes

Would you rather learn why you can’t break that bad habit, or let it stop you from success?

You can control them with the twitter business guru’s hidden method.

All they do is tell you to “grind harder” and “wake up at 4am”.

Do you think they just…did it? 

You see their posts and feel everyone is more disciplined. WRONG.

It’s not your fault, they just don’t share the real tools…

Here’s what your missing:

There is something called “The Habit Loop”.

Here’s how it works-

Cue: The trigger that starts the habit. Whether it's the smell of a lit cigarette or a peanut butter cookie, they all start with a trigger.

Craving: When you feel the urge to do the thing. The thought of the taste of chocolate, or the buzz you would get from a couple of hits.

Response: The actual doing of the thing.

Reward: The thing you get from the habit, your buzz or sugar dopamine rush.

Now that you know how it works, take a second to identify which parts of the loop your habits fall into.

If you want to start a new habit, there are 4 laws that make it easy. I recently used this to start journaling in the morning (cliché, I know):

1. Make it obvious: Setting up visual reminders make it hard to “forget” about. I set my notebook in the middle of my bedroom doorway, the more obvious the better.

2. Make it attractive: You can bundle the habit you want to start doing with something fun you already do. Positive reinforcement will help you do it again tomorrow.

3. Make it easy: Simplifying something by breaking it up into chunks. Helps isolate the steps and feels good to cross them off.

4. Make it satisfying: Give a dog a treat after he rolls over and soon enough, he will do it without one by habit. Reward yourself.

To break a bad habit, you would do the opposite.

If I wanted to quit smoking, I would:

1. Make it invisible: Throw away any cigarettes I have.

2. Make it unattractive: Think about the cancer and tar in my lungs.

3. Make it difficult: Having to drive to get more or dig them out of the nasty trash can.

4. Make it unsatisfying: Every time I give in, I'll have to take a cold shower that night.

Now when we are trying to start a new habit, it’s usually because we have a goal we want to achieve. Instead, try to become the type of person who meets the goal.

If you want to read more, think of yourself as someone who is a learner.

When your new habit is about becoming someone, not hitting a goal, you'll stick with it.

Now that you have a clear purpose, let's talk about ways to make sure you do the habit:

Habit Stacking: This means adding a new habit to something you already do. For example, if you want to start meditating, say, "After I brush my teeth, I will meditate for 5 minutes." Be specific so it's easy to remember.

The 2-Minute Rule: Make your new habits super easy to start. If you want to read more, just pick up the book for two minutes each night. Then, slowly read a bit more. The idea is to make it so simple that you can’t say no.

Environment Design: Change your surroundings to help your new habits. If you always watch Netflix because the remote is right there, put a book where the remote usually is. This little change can make a big difference in what you choose to do.

Consistency Tracking: Keep track of how often you do your new habits. Focus on getting tasks done, not perfect. This helps you see your patterns. Like if you miss your reading time because of meetings early on Tuesdays, or if you're too tired from staying up late to run before work.

Tracking helps you see what's getting in the way of your habits, making it easy to adjust.

If you want some more info on habits, use these resources:

• “Atomic Habits” by James Clear

• The Science of Making and Breaking Habits- Andrew Huberman

• My twitter thread with video explanation

Thanks for reading!

Bam, you just learned everything the twitter business gurus keep to themselves.

If you have questions about a specific habit your going to break or start, reply to this email. I’d be happy to help!

Now write down your habits and take control of your life.

Talk soon,

-Dalton

P.S.- Next week I’ll go over how mind mapping transforms your brain and business. See you then! 💡 

P.P.S.- If you found this helpful, make sure to tell me below!