What habits would you like to change?
Wow. This book called Atomic Habits by James Clear is a must read. It’s interesting that a lot of our habits are automatic. From logging into social media when bored or reaching for that morning coffee. It was quoted that 40% of our day is from these automatic habits. That’s quite a mind blowing statistic! The thinking behind atomic habits is that each atom serves as a part of the building block. If you can build positive habits, then over time the results will be remarkable.
Marginal gains
What you should think of is marginal gains. Making that 1% improvement over time and over the course of the year that ends up to a huge amount. There was an example in the book of the British cycling team. At one point they were the worst team out there. Over time, by marginal gains, they ended up becoming the best. It was the little changes like changing the seat on the bike, getting a better mattress or asking a surgeon to teach the athletes how to wash their hands to avoid catching a cold. All these small steps add up to yield great results. Often the results are noticed suddenly after some time.
Small changes often appear to make no difference until you cross a threshold.
Spend more time designing your systems.
What is very interesting is that goals limit our thinking in a way. They are about the results you want to achieve. What we should all be thinking about is *systems*. These are more important as they are the processes that lead to the results. I was thinking about an example of Test automation. Day we have a measure of a goal to automate 100 tests in the next quarter. In fact, this is limited because it’s not looking at the range of factors. Do people have the space and time to create automated tests? Is there an opportunity for learning? So when you next look at a goal, look at the things surrounding that goal. Are there the processes to succeed?
Change what you do
I’ve really fallen behind on my triathlon training. A few colds here and there. My enthusiasm still remains and I will complete it no matter what. To put my best foot forward I’m going to try an experiment of following the advice of -
The way to change who you are is to change what you do.
This is a two step process:
- Decide what type of person you want to be.
- Prove it to yourself with small wins.
For example, I want to be a triathlete. When a decision comes whether I walk or drive the car to pick my son up from school I will ask “What would a triathlete do?”. Or another example is I want to be a person that drinks more water. When you have to decide between making a coffee or having a glass of water you ask yourself the question. What would a person that drinks more water do? Then you drink a glass of water.
Visual Cues
We need to consider visual cues in our environment and decide whether they help us become the person you want. You can make your habits visible by altering your environment.
I have set up a bit of an experiment!
I have moved the fruit bowl into a better location and also took my b12 vitamin out of the cupboard to prompt me to take it. The last few days I have had more fruit and not missed a vitamin tablet. I am personally interested to see what happens over time. Apparently it’s not the amount of days you do for a habit to stick, but instead the amount of times. So if I reach for the fruit bowl a few more times a day, then the habit will stick quicker.
One other experiment is an attempt to go to bed on time. No matter what, I have to be upstairs by 9pm and that’s the rule. I feel like my sleep routine is becoming much better and it’s changing my world.
Scheduling my day — another experiment!
At the start of each work day I am trying another experiment. On the margin of my diary I write the times by hours 8–9, 9–10,10–11.. All the way until 4pm when I log off work. Then I schedule what I’m doing each hour. If for whatever reason my plans change, then I have to reschedule and plan hour by hour again. It has happened 2 or 3 times where I have had to do that. What I’m finding from doing it is that I’m much more focused. I have been planning to review and rewrite some tests in a particular area of the product for a long time. Today I finally managed to make significant progress! There’s something in this deep focus time to get the most out of your work day and make the impact you like.
There’s a lot more in this book. Above I have explained some of my learnings and thoughts from it. I’d recommend reading it in its entirety. You’ll learn and have the tools to create those habits to be the type of person you want to be.
What habits would you like to change?
