Katy Milkman is an economist at Wharton and has been regularly cited in podcasts on productivity and business. Her book How To Change is in the same category as Atomic Habits or Indistractable. It stresses upon adopting a viable strategy for adopting good habits (or breaking bad ones) rather than relying on sheer will power. The book is a collection of strategies that have been discovered via studies and social experiments. Since a lot of the material in this book is common with the other books that I have posted about before, I will deep dive into points that are unique and link others to the older posts.
##### Fresh start effect
Fresh starts are powerful and provide a psychological ‘do-over’. Any date or time that has special significance like New Years eve, becoming a homeowner from a renter, Mondays, Birthdays, etc are great fresh starts. Meaningful life events like move to a new city can also be pivotal in discovering new paths in life. In general, changes or moves have disruptive effects and can help turnaround old routines. But beware fresh starts when you’re already on a roll. They can help under-performers but for those who are already doing well can lose the momentum and find themselves adversely affected by the disruption.
Sweeten the deal
We are generally interested in adopting good habits that have long term benefits but we ignore the pain they will cause in the short term (ex starting a diet) thinking we can power through relying on sheer willpower. This is a bad strategy. Temptation bundling discussed previously in Atomic Habits make goal pursuits instantly gratifying and thereby increase our chances of sticking to a routine. Think of adding sugar to the medicine (thanks, Mary Poppins).
Commitment devices
Saying we will do something publicly makes it extremely likely that we will actually get around to doing it. This is rooted in the psychological phenomenon called cognitive dissonance. It is when we face doing something while feeling or thinking the opposite. We find it extremely hard say something and do something else. This is why making a commitment to doing anything automatically makes it hard for us to not do it.
Making reminders work
The most common reason we don’t end up doing something is we forget doing it. This should hardly be an acceptable reason given we live in the world of smart devices that can always be set up to remind and alert us but real life reminders don’t work as well as they are badly designed.
Reminders are useful when they are timed correctly and when they can be acted upon immediately. Implementation intention, also discussed in Atomic Habits, are a great way for people to set up cues for themselves. A simple implementation intention can be saying to oneself “i will do such and such thing at such and such time”. This may sound elementary but this simple verbalising can help create a plan in the speaker’s mind. You can also trigger this in other people by asking them when they will do something, how they will do it and what will they be doing after or before proceeding to doing it. This helps them plan the activity in question and is called a planning cue. This simple technique was tried in the 2008 polls in select cities in the US and it increased voter turnout by 9%.
Laziness
We are all creatures of habit. Most of what we do is driven by instinct and habit. Gym goers, flossers, readers don’t weigh their pros and cons every time they decide to follow on with their good habit. They do it in autopilot. Being able to start a habit and do it consistently for a prolonged period of time, makes it highly likely that it will become second nature. Habitual settings help us react habitually to specific stimuli. I posted about the interesting popcorn in movies study in which it was seen that habitual popcorn eaters during movies, ate even stale popcorn when offered. It highlights the how deeply ingrained something can become. You can hack this to piggyback a new behaviour over something which is already there. This is called habit stacking (also discussed in Atomic Habits) and as the name suggests is where you club something you do out of habit only with something new you are trying to do. For example, you can make a rule of listening to podcasts only while being in the gym.
Self-confidence
People who have the confidence to mend their ways are generally the ones who do it and form new habits. This was one of the most interesting learnings for me. It boils down to making yourself (or someone else) feel more competent. When we are asked to give advise to someone else, its boosts our confidence and also prompts us to think deeply about something. When we advise someone, we are actually telling them what we think would work for us and in turn feel hypocritical if we don’t do it ourselves. This is called the ‘saying is believing’ effect and is linked to the cognitive dissonance that we discussed before.
Peer group
In Atomic Habits, James Clear says the best way to adopt a new habit is to make it a part of our individuality. Basically we must become the person who follows through on that habit. This is making conformity work for you. Joining a peer group that does naturally, what you are trying to do, is the surest way to ensure we follow through on our intended behaviours. While selecting a peer group it is important that join one which isn’t very far ahead (lest we get discouraged and give up altogether) We are more likely to emulate peers who have been in similar circumstances as us.
Time for some final thoughts. Lasting change is possible through practice and persistence. Start changing your habits with the intention of adopting them permanently. We must beware the ‘what the heck’ effect. When facing failure (like missing the morning run or having had a sweet treat for breakfast), people throw caution to the wind and basically say what the heck, I might as well have three more beers now that I have already skipped my run today. Giving oneself one or two get out of jail cards per week seems like a reasonable idea.
I run a startup called Harmonize. We are hiring and if you’re looking for an exciting startup journey, please write to jobs@harmonizehq.com. Apart from this blog, I tweet about startup life and practical wisdom in books.