v0.7 Habits

Welcome back to patchNotes. In the last two editions, we explored wayfinding and bridge-goals two key steps in navigating career and personal growth. Today we're covering the final piece in this series: habits!

Many people struggle to convert goals into habits that stick. I did. While learning to code, I tried, failed, and quit multiple times. What finally worked wasn't willpower or hustle; it was changing my approach. Instead of focusing on the end goal to "become a software engineer," I focused on the process. Building the systems and habits to support my daily coding practice.

This edition is all about that: how to build habits that make achieving your goals automatic.

🥲 Motivation Ebbs

We've all been there; you start a new workout routine, buy an exciting new Udemy course, or fill your refrigerator with fresh produce. This time will be different. You're riding a wave of positivity and motivation. Nothing can stop you.

Fast forward a few weeks, and the wave has come and gone. You're cleaning the wilted kale out of the drawers in your fridge, and the running shoes are collecting dust. Udemy course? What Udemy course? It's back to binging Netflix on the couch and eating Ben & Jerry's by the pint, or so I've heard.

We tell ourselves we'll get back at it tomorrow. But tomorrow always seems just a day away.

If you belong to a gym or a health club, you can observe this every January. The second Friday in January is called Quitters Day. It's the point where most people abandon their New Year's resolutions, the end of the motivational high brought on by starting something new. During the first week of January, the gym is full of resolutionists, but most have given up by the end of the second week. By mid-February, it's just back to just the regulars (...and hopefully me).

The thing is, people tend to stick to their New Year's resolution for only a few weeks before resuming their baseline. A few weeks may be long enough to finally get it together and clean out your garage, but what about accomplishing your big goals in life? A few measly weeks are insufficient to write a novel, learn programming, or get fit.

How do we keep going when motivation is so fleeting?

I believe the answer lies in the systems we build, and there are no better systems for success than habits. Today, I want to highlight a few of my favorite strategies and frameworks for establishing and altering habits. I hope these tools will help you turn intention into automatic behaviors.

🔄 The Habit Loop

In The Power of Habit, Charles Duhigg introduces us to the habit loop, a simple framework for understanding how habits form and how we can reshape them. The habit loop consists of three components:

1. Cue - The trigger that initiates the behavior.
2. Routine - The actual behavior or habit.
3. Reward - Immediate positive reinforcement that helps the behavior stick.

Notice the cues that already trigger routines for you. Building habits around existing cues is generally easier than creating new ones. Rewards can be simple; researchers found that a single square of chocolate after a workout was enough to keep people returning to the gym.

4️⃣ The Four Laws of Behavior Change

James Clear's bestseller Atomic Habits expands on the habit loop and establishes four laws of behavior change. Here are the four laws and a few suggestions based on them:

1. Make it obvious - Identify the cues that trigger your habit.

• Keep your running shoes by your bed.
• Lay out your coding workspace in advance.
• Use a well-placed wall calendar.

2. Make it attractive - Pair habits with rewards or other enjoyable activities.

• Listen to your favorite podcast on the treadmill.
• Solve fun coding challenges.
• Work on your side project at your favorite coffee shop.

3. Make it easy - Reduce friction to start.

• Start with an easy goal (e.g., one coding challenge per day).
• Use a platform like FreeCodeCamp or roadmaps.sh to reduce decision fatigue (stick to the plan!)
• Lay out your gym clothes the night before or go all in and sleep in your workout attire.

4. Make it satisfying - Reinforce habits with immediate rewards

• Add it to your "done" list.
• Mark the habit off on your calendar.
• Share your progress with a friend or community.

Both Duhigg's and Clear's frameworks show that a small amount of planning can help make execution effortless.

🥞 Habit Stacking

The theory behind habit stacking is simple. Build a new habit on top of a well-established one. This lowers the mental effort by piggybacking on something you already do automatically. It works great if you already have strong habits to build on. Everybody has a few.

🤯 Keystone habits

Some habits have positive ripple effects they help us improve in multiple areas of life. These are keystone habits. I've noted a few of my own keystone habits:

1. Reading daily – Supports my learning and writing habits.
2. Morning walks – Set the tone for a productive day. They also help me eat and sleep better. Some of my best ideas occur on walks.
3. Morning smoothie – A healthy start influences my food choices for the rest of the day. It also gets my creative juices flowing (pun very much intended) and serves as a start to a productive work day.

Keystone habits are potent because they create a sense of momentum. Find them, harness them, and reap the rewards. They can be as simple as making your bed.

🏃🏽‍♂️Identity-based habits

We tend to act in alignment with our identity. Runners run, writers write, and software engineers wage holy wars on Reddit and Stack Overflow. Instead of setting goals like "I want to learn to code," shift your mindset towards "I'm a software engineer, and software engineers code most days." By anchoring the habit to your identity, they become part of who you are - not just something you have to do.

🔍 Make small habits

Most people, myself included, start way too big: "I want to run a marathon, so I'll run every day." It's too ambitious for a beginner. Instead, BJ Fogg suggests in Tiny Habits that we start ridiculously small, so small it's hard to fail.

📄 Relevant Docs

📚 Books

• Tiny Habits - BJ Fogg
• The Power of Habit - Charles Duhigg
• Atomic Habits - James Clear

🎧 Podcasts

• James Clear - Atomic Habits (Rich Roll Podcast)
• Charles Duhigg - The Power of Habit (Good Life Project)

📝 Final Notes

Habits are some of the most powerful systems we can harness to keep ourselves moving toward our goals. When we build the right habits, ones that are aligned with our aspirations, progress on our goals becomes automatic. That's the goal: small consistent improvement that compounds over time. When habits work for us instead of against us, there's no limit to what we can achieve. I can't wait to see what we'll accomplish.

Cheers,

Ian