10 Hacks to Help you Build New Habits

Visuals of the best ideas from top selling books like Atomic Habits

Dec 18, 2024

I have a problem.

I've read a ton of books on building a new habit.

Most were average and repeated the same three tips, but a few were fantastic and helped me make meaningful changes in my life.

As the new year is approaching and I've been considering some changes for next year, I decided to revist the best of these ideas.

So here are the 10 key lessons I've learned from more than 100 hours of reading the best books on habit formation. (Shared in simple visuals illustrated by me).

1. Focus on your identity first

When we think about habits, most of us focus on results first.

Lose weight
Stop Smoking
Lift more than your own body weight in chocolate (just me?)

But that's a mistake. Results-based habits are harder to stick to and less flexible making them harder to achieve your goal.

Here's an example from Atomic Habits by James Clear. Imagine you want to stop smoking. Is it easier to do that if you are "a smoker who is trying to quit" or "someone who used to be a smoker"?

When you focus on identify-based habits, you have a greater motive for your habit, and each time you do it, you reinforce that new identity.

Action: Before you pick a new habit, think about the kind of person you want to be.

2. Focus on Atomic actions

We are often drawn to big habits, sometimes inspired by our athletic, intellectual or business heroes.

"If this routine works for Michael Phelps/Stephen King/Bill Gates," we think "then it is what I should do!" But that is like trying to run a marathon with no training. No wonder most people soon give up.

The real trick is to focus on what James Clear calls "Atomic Habits".

These are small habits that might not seem like they have much effect, but compound and build over time.

Here's a personal example.

On the 1st of January 2024, I started sharing an image a day on social media. At first, no one noticed and they had a handful of likes. Today, it's the middle of December and my last few images have had tens of likes and a few have had hundreds.

Plus my skill has improved greatly.

It all started with one small regular action.

Action: Focus on small, regular habits that will bring compound returns.

3. Tie habits to existing routines.

We all have existing habits and routines we do automatically, so why not leverage them?

That's what BJ Fogg advocates for in his book "Tiny Habits". Instead of creating a new trigger you simply add a new habit on to your existing routine.

Once you've established that habit, you can add another habit on top!

Action: Identify an existing routine and complete the sentence "After I [existing routine], I will [New Habit].

4. Take advantage of the Habit Loop

Every habit goes through the same process.

Charles Duhigg shared this in his book "The Power of Habit".

Cue - the prompt for the habit to begin.
Routine - the action you do for the habit
Reward - the payoff once you have done the habit.

Understanding each part can help you build and break habits. By making the cue more prominent and the reward more enjoyable, you can make your habits stick.

Action: Identify the cue, routine and reward of the new habit you want to form

5. Track Your Streaks (and don't miss twice)

One way to give yourself a reward, is to track each time you complete your habit.

Soon, you'll get a streak going which will give you extra motivation to keep doing your habit. Jerry Seinfield made this technique famous as he claimed writing once joke a day (good or bad) and putting a tick on a calendar was the secret to his success.

But James Clear adds another important lesson — "Don't miss twice".

It's almost impossible to do a habit every single day (for example, you get ill and can't go for a run). Especially when you are starting. The key is to get back to your habit as soon as possible so the exception doesn't become the norm.

Use the mantra "Don't miss twice" to motivate you.

Action: Set up a system to track your habits (I like the app streaks) and don't miss twice!

6. Practice Temptation Bundling

Want to make your new habits routine more appealing and enjoyable? Temptation bundling might just be the trick you need.

The idea is simple: Pair the habit you want to do (let's say running) with an activity you enjoy doing (listening to your favourite podcast). Now you can only do that enjoyable thing when you do that new habit.

The trick is to use your craving for the thing you like, to make you crave the thing that's hard.

Soon enough you'll start craving the habit on its own.

This Idea comes from Katy Milkman's research on behavioural change.

Action: Create a temptation bundle by combining a habit you want to do with something you enjoy doing.

7. Make your habit obvious

Here's one of the best habits I started.

When I plug my phone in to charge at night, I put a book I want to read on top of it.

Now, every morning when I go to my phone, there's a book there ready to be read. So instead of jumping into doomscrolling, I have a positive feed.

This is an example of the idea of "making it obvious" from Atomic Habits.

Previously, I would have to remember to go to the bookshelf to grab a book and read it. But by putting a book where I was already going, the cue was more obvious and triggered more often.

Action: Can you place a cue in a more obvious place?

8. Get Accountability Partners

It's possible to build a habit alone, but it's easier in a group.

Going back to the first point, being around other people who are like the kind of person you want to be will help form the identity you are after. If you want to read more, having friends who read a lot will help as you'll want to share what you've read.

Plus you can have someone check in on you to discourage negative habits.

9. Reduce friction (Try the 2-minute rule)

We usually want to start big habits.

Things like going to the gym every day or reading for 1 hour a day. We might start well, but within a couple of weeks, we've given up and are wondering what went wrong. The answer is simple.

They had too much friction.

This is an idea Nir Eyal talks about in "Indistractable.". When an action has high friction, it takes a lot of energy to do, so it requires more willpower and intention to get started. If you reduce the friction, it makes it easier to compelete the action.

For example, if you want to learn to play guitar, you can reduce friction by keeping your guitar out and ready to play, rather than locked away in a cupboard.

But there's another great insight from the 2-minute rule (from Atomic Habits). It states

The action of your new habit should be under 2-minute long.

For example, instead of going for a run, it should be put on your running clothes. Instead of reading for an hour, read one page.

This is so easy to start doing, and often you'll find you want to do more once you've started. After all, once you're out for a run, why not run a bit longer?

Action: Use the 2-minute rule to work out a low-friction habit to help build your routine.

10. Reflect And Adapt

You are not the same person you were yesterday.

It's not just the cells in your body that change, but everything about you. And that means that you need to reviews and update your habits to match.

For example, I used to read every morning before my kids woke up. Then, my son started waking up at 6 am every morning. So I adapted and started waking up 5 am every morning. Then he started waking up at 5 too! While getting up at 4 am to read was an option, I chose a different approach — I moved my reading time to the evening (and an easier habit to stick to!)

But that's not the only type of change you should make. If a habit becomes too easy, too boring, or no longer matches the identity you want, you should change it — using the principles listed before.

Action: Review your habits and see if there are any you should adapt.

What habit will you build next?

There you have it —10 hacks to help build new habits (and kill bad ones!).

Now you have the really challenging part — turning this knowledge into action. If you follow the action points above, I'm sure you'll have great success.