Go Small to Go Big
If you've been following along with this series on Atomic Habits by James Clear, you know we've just wrapped up Rule 4 of Behavior Change which is all about making good habits feel rewarding right away and bad habits sting enough to lose appeal. I remember points on my journey a few years back, looking for ways to help myself to keep “aiming up”.
The world is big and there are a lot of things I don’t know! (Imagine that!) But how could I help myself learn more? How could I help myself learn things I wasn’t naturally drawn to read about or learn? I decided that pursuing an EMBA would be a good idea. An EMBA program would compel me to focus! And it did! Every morning before my family stirred I studied. That became my habit!
My Journey to Atomic Habits: From Trial-and-Error to Systems
Having completed my EMBA, I was still in the habit of rising early and still thirsty for learning more, understanding more, and continuing to aim up! Writing and the Aiming Up blog and video posts have been a helpful mechanism for assisting with distilling those ideas.
James Clear makes it clear that it’s no coincidence that those actions have set me up with a system to move me in the right direction. At the time, it was trial-and-error and “this seems like a good idea”, but now, having gone through Atomic Habits, I see that I took the long route to understand Clear’s insights. Clear makes it obvious that the Four Rules of Behavior Change don’t have to include massive changes, it’s about tiny, manageable tweaks we make every day. They start adding up. That's where Clear takes us in the end of the book.
Over the past several posts, we've looked at each of the four rules one by one.
- We started with making cues obvious, so we what needs to be done is top-of-mind.
- Then we moved to making them attractive, building that pull to get started.
- After that, it was about keeping things easy, cutting out the hassle.
- And last time, we talked about the satisfying part, where you lock in a quick reward.
Today, let's pull back and recap those four rules as a whole, then tackle the book's wrap-up. Clear's point is that these aren't just random tips; they fit together like pieces in a puzzle, based on how our brains wire habits through cues, cravings, responses, and rewards.
First off, Rule 1: Make It Obvious. This one's about setting up your space so good habits jump out at you. Stack them onto stuff you already do, like brushing your teeth and then doing a quick stretch. Or use a plan like, "After dinner, I'll read for 10 minutes." To flip it for bad habits, hide the junk food or turn off notifications. It's the starting line for everything else.
Rule 2: Make It Attractive. Here, you amp up the want by pairing habits with fun things, like listening to a podcast while exercising. Hang with people who make the habit seem normal, or flip your thinking to see the upsides. For the bad ones, spotlight the costs, like how scrolling kills your focus. This builds on the obvious cues to create real drive.
Rule 3: Make It Easy. Cut the barriers low. Start with just two minutes, like putting on running shoes instead of committing to a full run. Automate where you can, maybe with apps or setups that nudge you. For breaking bad habits, add friction, like logging out of social media every time. This keeps the momentum going without burnout.
Rule 4: Make It Satisfying. Reward yourself right after, track your streaks, or pair with something enjoyable. Don't beat yourself up if you miss a day; just get back on track. For the flipside, set up accountability, a little pain or inconvenience for a bad habit. This seals the deal, making good habits stick and bad habits fall away.
Tiny Changes for the Win
These rules link up tight. Tweak one area, and it boosts the others. It reinforces the others. It takes the bitter edge from just muscling through it. Having technique helps! Clear shares the story of Pat Riley’s 1980’s NBA Los Angeles Lakers. His focus was to have every basketball player produce their “Career Best Effort”, CBE. They tracked key stats and it boiled down to a single value. The goal was a 1% improvement in year-over-year CBE. Once implemented, they were back-to-back league champions in 1987 and 1988. Previously, they had great potential, but they lacked the “discipline” to win. Daily and weekly changes in habits and focus made the difference.
Now, onto the book's close. Clear shifts from goals to systems. Goals are fine for a local, interim milestone, but systems give you the right direction and keep you going. He says, "You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems." How could you know what a good milestone is, if you don’t know what direction you should be heading in?!
Instead of aiming to lose an arbitrary 20 pounds, become the person who eats healthy.
“What would a healthy eater eat?"
Focus on being "active" rather than hitting some workout number when life gets busy.
Focus on progress, direction, and identity, not perfection.
Compounding, The Goldilocks Rule and The Sorites Paradox
Clear emphasizes the power of compounding progress. Get 1% better daily, and it snowballs. Math shows 1.01 to the power of 365 is about 37 times better. Is that a sustainable improvement, likely not, but it demonstrates the impact of small changes. But 1% isn’t very much! Track those small wins and see the compounding result.
Clear also covers habits versus talent, saying habits win out long-term. The Goldilocks Rule keeps things challenging but doable, avoiding boredom or frustration. The Goldilocks Rule advises us to stay on the edge of our skillset and current aptitude. Too easy and we don’t grow. Too hard and we’re tempted to give up. Hit the sweet spot, where it’s closer to 50-50 and it stays interesting, challenging, and rewarding, where it's just right. That’s the Goldilocks Rule.
While our genes, natural abilities, and surrounding support systems certainly impact our starting points, I’d summarize the Four Rules of Behavior Change with the idea that the environment we create impacts our outcomes more than our starting point or our willpower. The good news is that we have a degree of control over our environment in pursuing our goals. We start where we are and keep aiming up… toward our goals!
Clear ends on identity: when a habit is who you are, it's effortless. "The ultimate form of intrinsic motivation is when a habit becomes part of your identity." Over time, small changes add up to huge directional shifts. Clear provides inversions for each rule, to help us eliminate bad habits. The secret is to build systems, not just goals. Identity drives it all. Progress beats perfection every time.
You still might be questioning the value of tiny changes, of new small habits. Clear reminds us of Sorites Paradox. Does a single coin make you rich? Obviously, if you have no money, adding one coin won't. But keep adding one coin at a time and, eventually, you’ll cross the threshold and you’ll be rich. Habits are the mechanism for small advancements that move us from the person we are to the person we want to become. No one habit is may be entirely sufficient, but the cumulative, compounding power of many manageable advancements draw us ever-closer!
Our goals can be great milestones, with our systems pointing us in the right direction, but it is those tiny, everyday habits that keep us Aiming Up!
Thanks for ready and keep Aiming Up!
