The Four Laws of Behavior Change

• Any habit can be broken down into a feedback loop that involves four steps: cue, craving, response, and reward.
• The ultimate purpose of Habits is to solve the problems of life with as little energy and effort as possible. Once our Habits become automatic, we stop paying attention to what we are doing.

Building Habits

1. Make it obvious.
   • Identify a current habit you already do each day and then stack your new behavior on top.
   • Every habit is initiated by a cue. We are more likely to notice cues that stand out.
   • Make the cues of good habits obvious in your environment.
   • Eliminate a bad habit reducing exposure to the cues that causes it.
2. Make it attractive.
   • Temptation bundling: Take a behavior that you think of as important but unappealing and link it to a behavior that you're drawn to.
   • Habits are a dopamine-driven feedback loop. When dopamine rises, so does our motivation to act.
   • The Culture we live in determines which behaviors are attractive to us. We tend to imitate the habits of three social groups: the close (family and friends), the many (the tribe), and the powerful (those with status and prestige).
3. Make it easy.
   • Human behavior follows the Law of Least Effort. We will naturally gravitate toward the option that requires the least amount of work.
   • Create an environment where doing the right thing is as easy as possible.
   • Prime your environment to make future good habits easier and to increase friction for bad habits.
4. Make it satisfying.
   • Attach some immediate gratification to your habits that reinforce your desired Identity.
   • The human brain evolved to prioritize immediate rewards over delayed rewards.