4 laws for building new habits

These are the four laws for building new habits, summarized from the book Atomic Habits.

Make it obvious.

Shape our environment - home, computer, phone - so that it is clear which habit we want to build and how we will do it. For example, in the case of learning, this may mean having a designated space where we study. In this space, there are no distractions. For example, an empty table with our materials and tools is a good environment for a new habit. We don't have magazines, food, television, or similar things nearby.

Make it attractive.

We can combine a new habit with an existing habit that we enjoy. A good example is: I will only drink coffee at the table where I study in the morning.

Make it easy.

The key rule here is the "2-minute rule". We reduce the new habit to the simplest step. We make it so easy that we can do it 98% of the time. It must be so easy that we can do it even if everything goes wrong. Regularly repeating the habit is key to anchoring it in our brains. For example, we reduce the habit "I will study for 2 hours every day" to its most basic, initial step "I will sit at the table where I study every day." Then we can start increasing the time.

Make it satisfying.

We reward ourselves for successfully completing a habit and create even more joy in our brains to come back to it next time. Rewards can be small, like a check-mark on a calendar, or we can choose something bigger. The Forest app is a good example of a reward where a beautiful tree grows if we’re successful. For a long time, we collected small macaroni in a glass jar. When we collected a certain number, we went on a day trip as a reward.

This is a brief overview of only part of the four laws of habit building presented in the book. We highly recommend reading it if you are interested in creating new habits. It changed our lives, and we hope it will help you too.