‘implementation intentions are effective for sticking to our goals’ – Atomic Habits, Chapter 5 Notes

Posted on: June 25, 2022

Last Updated on: June 27th, 2022

Post Category: Book Notes

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About #onepageonepoint

#onepageonepoint aims to summarise new ideas from books on personal and professional development – with (approximately) one point for each page. Read more about this project here.

Today for #onepageonepoint, we have summary notes for Atomic Habits – for chapter 5: ‘Chapter 5: The Best Way to Start a New Habit’.

If you are interested in getting yourself a copy or learn more about the book, click here.

Chapter 5: The Best Way to Start a New Habit

• In an experiment, three groups were given different treatment, and the level of exercise performed by each group was recorded:
  • The control group simply tracked how often they exercised.
  • The ‘motivation’ group learnt the benefits of exercise and tracked how often they exercised.
  • The ‘motivation and plan’ group learnt the same benefits as the ‘motivation’ group, and were asked to formulate a plan for when and where to exercise over the following weeks.

• The study showed that the third group got significantly more exercise than the other two; it was observed that detailed planning led more than a two-fold increase. Motivation had no significant impact on the frequency of exercise, but specific planning did.

• The researchers who carried out the study got the people from the third group to plan using an ‘implementation intention’, which is a plan you make beforehand about when and where to act, considering the two most important cues: time and location.

• ‘Broadly speaking, the format for creating an implementation intention is: “When situation X arises, I will perform response Y.”‘ (Clear 2018, p. 70).

• ‘people who make a specific plan for when and where they will perform a new habit are more likely to follow through… [by having the] basic details figured out… transform[ing] them into a concrete plan of action’ (Clear 2018, p. 70-71).

• ‘Once an implementation intention has been set, you don’t have to wait for inspiration to strike’ (Clear 2018, p. 71).

• ‘The simple way to apply this strategy to your habits is to fill the sentence: I will [BEHAVIOUR] at [TIME] in [LOCATION]’ (Clear 2018, p. 71) e.g. I will exercise for one hour at 5pm at my local gym.

• Another benefit of implementation intention is that it helps you say no to things that derail your progress, distract you or pull you off course (Clear 2018, p. 72).

• Another method of implementation intention is habit stacking, which is based on the idea that an action can become a trigger for the next behaviour.

• You can implement habit stacking by identifying a current habit you already do each day and then pair/stack your new (desirable) behaviour(s) on top: “After [CURRENT HABIT], I will [NEW HABIT]” e.g. After I take off my work shoes, I will immediately change into my workout clothes, after I change into my workout clothes, I will go the local gym…

• With habit stacking, you can insert new behaviours into the middle of your current routines, but since habit stacking implicitly involves the time/location/situation, it is important you slot them in a routine that will ensure you are likely to be successful e.g. it may not be the best idea to meditate in the morning when your mornings are chaotic.

• When habit stacking, frequency is also important to consider. If you want to perform a new habit daily, make sure you stack it on top of something you do daily.

• To find the right triggers in the current habits you have, consider the habits in your Habit Scorecard, and consider the events that happen and habits you perform without fail (e.g. the sun rising, eating lunch, taking a shower) and use them as a starting point. Read more about the Habit Scorecard here.

• Overall, when performing a new habit, the cue needs to be specific. The more specific it is (i.e. the more specific your implementation intentions), the more likely you are to be successful.

If you are interested in getting yourself a copy or learn more about the book, click here.

Interested in reading more? See my notes for Chapter 6.