‘Make… the cues of your bad habits invisible’ – Atomic Habits, Chapter 7 Notes

Posted on: June 27, 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 7: ‘The Secret to Self-Control’.

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

Chapter 7: The Secret to Self-Control

• Approximately 9 out of 10 heroin addicts from the Vietnam war eliminated their addiction nearly overnight, which contradicted the prevailing view that heroin addiction was permanent and irreversible.

• Robins explained this phenomenon by suggesting that addiction could dissolve if there was a rapid change in the environment – soldiers during the war had heroin easily accessible, were exposed to the stresses of war and bonded with other heroin users.

• This is consistent with the statistic that 90 percent of (typical) heroin users become addicted once they return home from rehab – as home provides the context that enables heroin use.

• ‘perseverance, grit and willpower are essential to success but the way to improve these qualities is not by wishing you were a more disciplined person but by creating a more disciplined environment’ (Clear 2018, p. 93).

• ‘Once a habit has been encoded, the urge to act follows whenever the environmental cues reappear’ (Clear 2018, p. 93).

• Bad habits are autocatalytic – meaning they feed themselves, creating a downward spiral of bad habits e.g. when you feel bad, you eat junk food, and eating junk food makes you feel bad…

• For self-control, use an inverted version of ‘make it obvious’ – make it invisible.

• It is important to withdraw from a negative environment that is impeding your chances of building and sticking to a positive habit. Eliminate your exposure to the cues that cause the bad habits e.g. leave your phone in another room for a few hours if you can not get work done.

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 8.