How to Make Good Habits Inevitable and Bad Habits Impossible
4 concepts to master
Commitment Device
ConceptA choice made in the present that controls future actions by locking in good habits and restricting bad ones.
How It Works
By creating obstacles to bad habits, commitment devices leverage present intentions to influence future behavior, making it harder to deviate from desired actions.
Automation of Habits
ConceptUsing technology and onetime choices to make good habits inevitable and bad habits impossible.
How It Works
Automation increases the friction for bad habits while reducing it for good habits, often by using technology to remove the need for willpower in the moment.
Onetime Actions
ConceptSingle decisions or purchases that create increasing value over time by automating future habits.
How It Works
By investing effort upfront, onetime actions set the stage for easier, more consistent behavior in the long run, delivering compounding benefits.
Inversion of the 3rd Law: Make It Difficult
ConceptIncrease the friction or number of steps between you and your bad habits to make them impractical.
How It Works
By increasing the effort required to perform a bad habit, the likelihood of engaging in that habit decreases.