Atomic Habits: What Happened When I Started These Daily Mini Habits
How I applied the Four Laws of Behavior Change to both my writing career and my dental health
One of the things I love about being a freelancer is the autonomy that comes with it. No one tells me what to do, and no one tells me when to do it.
In fact, this is the main reason I chose being a freelancer over having a steady job. I've always been someone who values personal freedom. And I'll accept financial insecurity if it means I can do what I love.
But of course, being your own boss also comes with its own challenges. The most obvious one: no one tells me what to do, and no one tells me when to do it.
Other writers will probably recognize the struggle of creating your own schedule and sticking to it.
For this reason, I decided to form better habits. I don't have a boss who tells me what to do, but maybe my habits will somewhat guide me through the day (without constantly having to evaluate my schedule).
And, inspired by Atomic Habits by James Clear, I decided to start small. As James Clear writes in his famous book:
“All big things come from small beginnings. The seed of every habit is a single, tiny decision. But as that decision is repeated, a habit sprouts and grows stronger. Roots entrench themselves and branches grow. The task of breaking a bad habit is like uprooting a powerful oak within us. And the task of building a good habit is like cultivating a delicate flower one day at a time.”
As an experiment, I decided to apply his strategy for behavioral change to see if I could implement two small habits:
- Start every workday with writing one page
- Floss every evening
These habits might not be very impressive, but that was the point. They're attainable and, in the long run, they might lead to impressive results.
Writing every day will bring me closer to my goal of finishing my manuscript and if I actually start flossing on a daily basis, I might gather the courage to visit the dentist again (which, in my case, is also quite impressive).
And according to James Clear, it’s not about single accomplishments, but about the cycle of endless refinement and continuous improvement.
"Ultimately, it is your commitment to the process that will determine your progress."
The Four Laws of Behavior Change
So how did I go about this? I used The Four Laws of Behavior Change that James Clear outlines in his book.
This is a strategy that can be used to create a good habit, consisting of four laws:
The 1st law: Make it obvious
If you want to implement a new habit, the first thing you have to do, according to James Clear, is make it obvious.
This is a law that has its roots in behavioral psychology: nudging someone to do the right thing, is often more effective than it is to convince someone.
When Anne Thorndike, a doctor from Boston, wanted to improve the diets of her patients, she didn't tell them to stop drinking sodas. Instead, she simply decided to rearrange the hospital cafeteria in such a way that the sodas were further from the cash registers than water bottles.
In only 3 months, patients were drinking 25% more water and 11% less soda.
You can start a campaign informing people on why it’s important not to litter, but you can also place bright trash cans on every corner of the street.
How did I apply it?
Starting every workday with writing one page:
To encourage my writing habit, I decided to write on paper. Because I wanted to do it first thing in the morning, this would mean I could do it before starting up my laptop (and being distracted by email, news, and social media).
I kept my notebook and a pen on my desk, on top of my computer. This meant that I had to touch my notebook before I could even start my computer.
Flossing every day:
This one was easy because, like most people, I've already got the habit of brushing my teeth every day. I simply decided to keep my dental floss in plain sight, next to my toothbrush.
The 2nd law: Make it attractive
If you want a good habit to stick, you have to make it attractive. And what makes something attractive? Dopamine release.
Dopamine is the driving factor behind a lot of our actions. As humans, we're always craving dopamine.
This is why social media is so addictive: the constant spikes in dopamine make it attractive to endlessly scroll on social media (even if we don't consciously decide to do so).
So how do you implement this law? Combine your habit with an activity that elicits dopamine.
If you want to spend more time on an exercise machine, consider watching your favorite Netflix shows while doing it. If you want to keep your house clean, consider listening to your favorite music.
Eventually, your body will start to associate both activities with dopamine, and you've created a craving for something you might have previously dreaded!
How did I apply it?
Starting every workday with writing one page:
One word: coffee! My morning coffee is definitely something that I crave. I decided to have that first cup of coffee while I was writing. Each morning, I made some coffee, poured it into a mug, and opened my notebook.
Once I finished the coffee, I'd usually also finished writing my page (although sometimes I got so involved in the writing process that I completely forgot about my coffee — but in those cases, the writing had been so rewarding that having to drink cold coffee was worth it).
Flossing every day:
This one proved to be more difficult: I couldn't really think of any pleasurable activities that I could easily combine with flossing my teeth.
I considered listening to music but as I typically floss right before bed, this didn't seem like the best option (as it would probably be more difficult to fall asleep after listening to some of my favorite tunes).
Instead, I invested in better dental floss. I used to buy the cheap strings, but I never really got the hang of using those (and they also tended to hurt my gums a bit).
So I bought some proper floss brushes, which actually made the experience of flossing itself a bit more pleasurable.
The 3rd law: Make it easy
Scrolling through social media is addictive because of the dopamine, but also because it's just so easy. Your phone is almost always within reach, and scrolling takes a lot less effort than reading a complex book or learning a new skill.
Your brain is attracted to activities that are rewarding without requiring a lot of effort. This means you have to find a way to make your good habit require less effort.
This is also why starting small is so beneficial: small habits often require less effort. Once the habit is formed, you can start expanding it.
How did I apply it?
Starting every workday with writing one page:
In order to make this habit easy, I decided to have no specific goals for myself other than having to fill a page.
My writing didn't have to be good. I didn't have to edit my writing. I was allowed to be boring, I was allowed to make mistakes, I was allowed to never look at the page again after I finished it.
But I wasn't allowed to not write.
Flossing every day:
I applied the same rules to my flossing habit. I had to floss, but I didn't have to floss well. Even just flossing one tooth was fine, as long as I'd picked up my floss brush and opened my mouth.
Improving your habit is often not that hard, the difficult part is committing to the practice in the first place.
The 4th law: Make it satisfying
The last law of behavioral change is that the change has to be satisfying.
This is also the most difficult part of creating new habits. Why? Because habits usually have long-term rewards instead of short-term rewards.
It takes a while before running every day pays off. It also takes a while before writing and flossing every day pays off.
In some instances, they don't even feel rewarding in the long run. Taking care of your dental health, for instance, is mostly about preventing bad things to happen. Not about chasing satisfaction.
So how do you make these habits instantly satisfying?
The trick is to artificially attach a reward yourself: once you've finished the activity, reward yourself with something that brings immediate pleasure.
How did I apply it?
Starting every workday with writing one page:
Again, one word: chocolate. After I finished writing, I rewarded myself with a piece of chocolate.
Of course, I didn't go overboard with the chocolate (I didn't want my writing habit to turn into a sugar addiction). I simply made sure to have one small snack immediately after finishing writing my page.
Flossing every day:
For obvious reasons, I didn't want to reward flossing with a snack. So I decided to make flossing my very last activity of the day. This way, I could reward myself by immediately going to bed with a good book right after.
The results
I've started my new habits at the beginning of the month, which means that it's been two weeks since I've started. Of course, that's not a super impressive feat.
But since I started these habits, I've only skipped writing once (because of a really severe hangover, so I feel like I'm somewhat excused there) and I've flossed every day.
Again, this is might not sound very impressive. But this means I've been more consistent with these two activities than I have ever been in my life!
And it also didn't take me too much effort.
According to this study, it takes about 66 days to form a new habit. This means I have about 50 more days to go before I stop having to think about it, something that feels very doable now.
After that, hopefully, it will become part of my system. Because that's what it's all about in the end. As James Clear writes:
“You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems.”
If you want to be a good writer, you have to have a good system.
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