Do shiny objects grab your attention? Do you want to get rich quickly? Lose weight overnight? There are no shortcuts in life. Make tiny changes to achieve remarkable results and outcomes.
Have you read the book, “Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones” by James Clear? In this episode of the Finance for Physicians Podcast, Daniel Wrenne talks about why and how Atomic Habits are a gamechanger.
Topics Discussed:
- Big Points from the Book:
- Bad habits are underlying root cause of results and outcomes
- Good daily habits lead to compounded interest of self-improvement
- Goals vs. Systems: What’s the difference?
- Goals are results and outcomes
- Systems are processes that lead to those results/outcomes
- Changing habits is challenging; breakthrough is the plateau of latent potential
- Identity-based Habit: Focus on the intrinsic motivation of who you wish to become
- Four Laws of Behavior Change:
- Create Good Habit: Make it obvious, attractive, easy, and satisfying
- Break Bad Habit: Make it invisible, unattractive, difficult, and unsatisfying
- Habit Score Card: Brainstorm your existing habits – good and bad
- Examples of Habits:
- Track your finances regularly to know where your money is going
- Stop spending so much money just because you have it
- Pay off mortgage early by making extra payments to decrease debt
- Implementation Intention: Pair new habit with a specific time and location
- Habit Stacking: Take an existing habit and pair it with the habit you’re trying to form
- Self-Control: Create an environment where you spend less time being tempted
- Temptation Bundling: Pair action that you want to do with a habit you need to do
- 2-Minute Rule: When starting a new habit, it takes two minutes or less to form
- Increasing Friction: Make it difficult to do bad habits (it’s easy to use credit cards)
- Cardinal Rule: What’s rewarded is repeated, what’s punished is avoided
- Environment: Be aware of people and things around you that form your habits
