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The cause of your habits is actually the prediction that precedes them.
These predictions lead to feelings, which is how we typically describe a craving—a feeling, a desire, an urge. Feelings and emotions transform the cues we perceive and the predictions we make into a signal that we can apply.
only when you predict that you would be better off in a different state that you take action.
A craving is the sense that something is missing. It is the desire to change your internal state.
This gap between your current state and your desired state provides a reason to act.
Desire is the difference between where you are now and where you want to be in the future. Even the tiniest action is tinged with the motivation
Neurologists have discovered that when emotions and feelings are impaired, we actually lose the ability to make decisions.2 We
the specific cravings you feel and habits you perform are really an attempt to address your fundamental underlying motives. Whenever a habit successfully addresses a motive, you develop a craving to do it again.
Habits are attractive when we associate them with positive feelings,
Reframing your habits to highlight their benefits rather than their drawbacks is a fast and lightweight way to reprogram your mind and make a habit seem more attractive.
realize that each interruption gives you a chance to practice returning to your breath.
reprogram your predictions, you can transform a hard habit into an attractive one.
you just need to get your reps in.
Automaticity is the ability to perform a behavior without thinking about each step, which occurs when the nonconscious mind takes over.10
What matters is that you take the actions you need to take to make progress. Whether an action is fully automatic is of less importance.
Energy is precious, and the brain is wired to conserve it whenever possible. It is human nature to follow the Law of Least Effort,
the less energy a habit requires, the more likely it is to occur.
‘lean production,’ relentlessly looking to remove waste of all kinds from the production process, down to redesigning workspaces, so workers didn’t have to waste time twisting and turning to reach their tools.
As you master the art of showing up, the first two minutes simply become a ritual at the beginning of a larger routine.
The more you ritualize the beginning of a process, the more likely it becomes that you can slip into the state of deep focus that is required to do great things.
Sometimes success is less about making good habits easy and more about making bad habits hard. This
make your bad habits more difficult by creating what psychologists call a commitment device.
commitment device is a choice you make in the present that controls your actions in the future.
We are more likely to repeat a behavior when the experience is satisfying.
if an experience is not satisfying, we have little reason to repeat it.
What is rewarded is repeated. What is punished is avoided.
The first three laws of behavior change—make it obvious, make it attractive, and make it easy—increase the odds that a behavior will be performed this time. The fourth law of behavior change—make it satisfying—increases the odds that a behavior will be repeated next time.
the consequences of bad habits are delayed while the rewards are immediate.
Every habit produces multiple outcomes across time.
Unfortunately, these outcomes are often misaligned. With our bad habits, the immediate outcome usually feels good, but the ultimate outcome feels bad. With good habits, it is the reverse: the immediate outcome is unenjoyable, but the ultimate outcome feels good.
the costs of your good habits are in the present. The costs of your bad habits are in the future.
What is immediately rewarded is repeated. What is immediately punished is avoided.
The ending of any experience is vital because we tend to remember it more than other phases. You want the ending of your habit to be satisfying.
Missing once is an accident.8 Missing twice is the start of a new habit.
To make bad habits unsatisfying, your best option is to make them painful in the moment. Creating a habit contract is a straightforward way to do exactly that.
When a habit is easy, you are more likely to be successful. When you are successful, you are more likely to feel satisfied.
When you can’t win by being better, you can win by being different. By combining your skills, you reduce the level of competition, which makes it easier to stand out.
The Goldilocks Rule states that humans experience peak motivation when working on tasks that are right on the edge of their current abilities. Not too hard. Not too easy. Just right.
The upside of habits is that we can do things without thinking. The downside of habits is that you get used to doing things a certain way and stop paying attention to little errors.
Habits are necessary, but not sufficient for mastery. What you need is a combination of automatic habits and deliberate practice.
Habits + Deliberate Practice = Mastery
Mastery is the process of narrowing your focus to a tiny element of success, repeating it until you have internalized the skill, and then using this new habit as the foundation to advance to the next frontier of your development.
The solution? Establish a system for reflection and review.
Periodic reflection and review is like viewing yourself in the mirror from a conversational distance. You can see the important changes you should make without losing sight of the bigger picture. You want to view the entire mountain range, not obsess over each peak and valley.
Happiness is not about the achievement of pleasure (which is joy or satisfaction), but about the lack of desire. It arrives when you have no urge to feel differently. Happiness is the state you enter when you no longer want to change your state.
“Happiness is the space between one desire being fulfilled and a new desire forming.”
suffering is the space between craving a change in state and getting it.
Peace occurs when you don’t turn your
observations into problems.
With a big enough why you can overcome any how.
