I am currently trying to write a blog about Habits. The vision for that blog is to be everything (or almost everything) you would need to understand what habits are and how to get started with them.

Things you can look for in this blog!

1. THE GIST OF WHAT HABITS ARE
2. PRACTICAL ADVICE

There are a few books that I have already read on these matters.

1. The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg
2. Atomic Habits by James Clear
3. Smarter, Faster, Better by Charles Duhigg
4. The One Thing
5. The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People
6. Better Than Before

And I am sure there are more books that are worth reading.

Right now I want to do a book by book summary for anyone interested, covering the salient points around each one of these books and also dole out practical advice for people to begin practicing right away.

THE GIST OF WHAT HABITS ARE

Habits are a gateway to the routines we want to practice. When we see food, the routine of wanting to eat it is triggered.

When we see a sale, purchasing is the routine we trigger to get the reward of purchasing something.

Habits can also be healthy. Like wearing training clothes that make you go to the gym. And how they work is…

CUE > ROUTINE > REWARD

If all you had to take away from this blog was the gist, then I would suggest that you remember the CUE > ROUTINE > REWARD example.

The brain is designed to make things easy for us to get to the rewards we want. Those rewards can be anything.

If we were to consult Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, then we would begin right with air, water, food shelter, sleep, clothing and reproduction to Self – Actualisation.

Cue are nothing but triggers in the environment that cause us to take action (Routine) that leads us to the reward.

Since we have to take thousands of actions daily, literally, it is easier if the brain is designed to make a lot of those decisions habits.

Stopping by at a McDonald’s or a Burger King for an easy meal is a habit, and so you can stop blaming yourself if you do so. It’s just the way human brains are designed.

Understanding habits is important so we can promote the ones we actually want. Which brings me to the next topic.

PRACTICAL ADVICE

Start small. And I mean REALLY small.

James Clear in Atomic Habits suggests that we begin any habits we want to cultivate in bursts of 2 minutes.

Habits are actually the gateway to the routine.

James Clear advices on showing up daily. If you make it a habit to show up then only then will you really be able to do what you want to do!

Right now these are the habits I am showing up to…

1. Draw for 2 minutes (I make a comic for instagram)
2. Write for 2 minutes (Working on a novel)
3. Make a game for 2 minutes (Learning how to make games)

All these tasks seemed so huge to me, but now that my goal is just to show up, I feel great! I feel happy to get through those 2 minutes and I know I just need to show up.

So my advice?

1. Make a list of things you want to do.
2. Break it down into the first easy step.
3. Practice showing up for 2 minutes daily for 30 minutes.

I think that would work out wonderfully!