- Behaviors followed by good things tend to be repeated
- Habits are behaviors repeated enough to become automatic
- New experiences result in high thought energy seeking potential solutions until a solution is found. Next time the problem arises the brain has a starting point
- One way to think about it is "Try->Fail->Learn->Try Differently"
- Habits are previously discovered solutions to solve current problems
- They are the mental shortcuts we've discovered and applied
- Habits do not restrict freedom, they actually enable it
- Building habits in the present allows more of what we want in the future
- Process of building habits:
- Cue - Alerts to the possibility of reward in the future
- Craving - The motivating force behind any action
- Response - The action or thought in response to the craving, the habit
- Reward - Satisfies the craving and teaches which actions are worth remembering
- As adults we often don't recognize the habits running in our lives.
- We don't notice that we put the same shoe on first each morning
- Four laws of behavior change Good/Bad:
- Cue - Make it obvious / invisible
- Craving - Make it attractive / unattractive
- Response - Make it easy / difficult
- Reward - Make it satisfying / unsatisfying