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What's going on guys?
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Dr. Jubbal, MedSchoolInsiders.com.
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Welcome to part two of the Atomics Habits, by James Clear, book summary.
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If you haven't already, be sure to first watch all of part one.
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Link is in the description below.
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Now, here's the part that you have been waiting for, the actual four steps to create good
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habits and end bad ones.
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Now, these four laws we can use to create good habits.
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The first law applies to your cue and it's to make it obvious.
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The second law applies to the craving and that is to make it attractive.
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The third law applying to the response is to make it easy.
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And the fourth law, applying to the reward, is to make it satisfying.
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Now, to break bad habits, we simply invert these four laws.
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So, first, we make it invisible.
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Second, we make it unattractive.
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Third, we make it difficult.
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And fourth, we make it unsatisfying.
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Here's something that may surprise you, the cues that spark our habits are often so common
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that they become invisible to our consciousness - the phone next to you while you study, the
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remote control next to the couch, the cookies on the counter.
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Our responses to these cues are so hardwired that we must begin the process of behavior
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change with awareness.
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James provides an example of the Japanese railway system of Pointing-and-Calling as
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a safety system where workers literally point and call to their various cues, like a signal
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being green, thereby, bringing it to their conscious awareness.
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It seems silly, but it greatly reduces errors.
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And in the operating room, we do the exact same thing with Time Out.
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Prior to any incision, the surgeon leads the health care team in verifying the patient's
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medical record, name, date of birth, procedure, what side of the body the procedure is being
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done and the medications being administered prior to incision.
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Another important aspect to making habits obvious is what Clear calls an implementation
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intention.
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Here's the formula, I will do a certain behavior at a certain time at a certain location.
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Specifically describing the exact action you will take at a specific cue will greatly increase
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your chances of success.
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For example, at 7 A.M., I will meditate for five minutes in my living room.
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I personally use habit coupling or habit pairing, which is synonymous to what Clear calls habit
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stacking.
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This is essentially, associating one habit which I consistently perform with a new one
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that I'm trying to built.
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For example, I stretch every morning without fail but my meditation isn't as consistent.
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By coupling the two, I'm much more likely to meditate every single day.
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Here's the habit stacking formula, after this current habit I will do this new habit.
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The application of this is quite broad, but to be most effective, the cue should be highly
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specific and immediately actionable.
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For healthy eating, you can say “When I serve myself a meal, I will always put veggies
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on my plate first.”
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The second law is to make it attractive.
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We know that dopamine is the neurotransmitter most implicated in pleasure and addiction.
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But it isn't just associated with the experience of pleasure – it's also released when
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you anticipate pleasure.
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This anticipation is what gets us to take action.
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So, how do we use this to our advantage?
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Temptation Bundling.
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You're more likely to find a behavior attractive if you get to do one of your favorite things
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at the same time.
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For example, I love the TV show Top Gear (and now the Grand Tour).
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And I tell myself that I can watch it as long as I want, but I must stretch while doing
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so.
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Here's the equation for Temptation Bundling, after a current habit, I will do this habit
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that I need.
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And after I do this habit that I need, I will do the habit that I want.
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Let's say you want to cut down on your Instagram use.
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After I pull out my phone I will do 10 burpees, that's the need.
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And after I do 10 burpees, I will check Instagram, that's your want.
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It's key to also be aware of the importance of our family and friends.
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You're the average of the five people you spend the most time with.
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We don't actually choose our earliest habits – we imitate them.
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The closer we are to someone, the more likely we are to imitate some of their habits.
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A person's risk of becoming obese increases by 57% if he or she had a friend who became
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obese.
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In light of this, one of the most effective things you can do to build better habits is
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to join a culture where your desired behavior is the normal behavior.
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I've spoken about the power of language before in my book summary of Stick With It.
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The author called it neurohacks.
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James provides an excellent example.
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Swap the word “have” with “get”.
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Instead of saying “I have to exercise”, say “I get to exercise”.
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“I get to make breakfast.”
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“I get to wake up early.”
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It's a subtle nuance, but it makes all the difference.
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The mindset determines how pleasurable or painful the experience is – not the actual
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experience itself.
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A huge one for me that actually transformed my perception of public speaking was reinterpreting
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my physiologic response from fear to excitement.
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Yeah, my heart is racing, but not because I'm scared to speak, but because I'm so
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excited to speak!
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The third law is to make it easy.
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People often ask me how long it takes to cultivate a new habit.
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Is it three weeks?
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Two months?
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When will I be done with creating a habit?
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Well, habits form based on frequency not time.
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It's not a question of how many weeks for a habit to stick, but rather the frequency
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and number of repetitions that make the difference.
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Over time, it should get easier and easier, but there's no magic duration at which that
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happens.
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Rather than brute forcing, making the habit easy and effortless is much more likely to
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work.
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To do this, we want to reduce the friction of good habits and increase the friction associated
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with bad habits.
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Now, consider your environment.
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Reduce the friction of working out by joining a gym that is on the way home from school.
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Even better, set out your workout clothes, shoes, gym bag, and water bottle the night
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before.The greater the friction, the less likely the habit.
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It's amazing how little friction is required to prevent unwanted behavior.
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Simply moving my phone to another room or out of sight drastically helps me focus when
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studying or doing Pomodoro's.
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US Navy Admiral William H. McRaven has an excellent speech on the importance of making
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your bed.
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The reason is simple.
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Habits are like the decision trees.
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If you're able to start off the day with good choices that reinforce good habits, you're
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much more likely to end up having a good day.
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These decisive moments are what determine the quality of your day – not your willpower.
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If you go to McDonald's for lunch, you're much more likely to eat something unhealthy
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than if you went to Tender Greens.
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Realize that a habit must be established before it can be improved.
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Don't try perfecting your habit from the start, just try getting it to stick.
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Oftentimes, we are overzealous with our new habits and overdo them, burning ourselves
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out.
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For example, let's say you understand the benefits of daily journaling and want to implement
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that.
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If you expect yourself to write too much, it quickly feels like a chore.
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The key is to stay below the point where it feels like work.
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The fourth and final law is to make it satisfying - to keep you coming back for more.
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Generally speaking, what is rewarded is repeated, and what is punished is avoided.
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We call that operant conditioning.
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Unfortunately, we operate in a delayed-return environment and many of the habits we wish
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to ingrain aren't immediately satisfying – they pay off only in the long term.
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And as humans, we exhibit time inconsistency, meaning we value the present more than the
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future.
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A reward that is certain right now is typically worth more than one that is merely possible
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in the future.
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But this bias to instant gratification often leads to problems.
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With bad habits, the immediate outcome usually feels good, but the ultimate outcome feels
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bad.
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And with good habits, it's the opposite.
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So, how can we use our evolutionary machinery to our advantage?
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Simple.
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Add a little bit of immediate pleasure to the habits that pay off in the long-run and
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a little bit of immediate pain to the ones that don't.
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Immediate reinforcement is particularly effective when dealing with habits of avoidance, which
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are behaviors you want to stop doing.
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Eventually, you'll experience intrinsic rewards, like increased energy or better mood.
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At that point, you'll be less concerned with chasing the secondary reward.
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The identity itself becomes the reinforcer.
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Incentives start the habit.
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Identity sustains the habit.
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I was excited when I read that.
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One of Clear's top tips is to measure progress and make that progress satisfying through
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the use of habit trackers.
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I have personally used several over the years, and I've found them to be crucial objective
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forms of measurement.
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I can't lie to myself about how many times I went to the gym last week – the data is
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all there.
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And when I get a streak going, I don't want to break it.
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My personal favorite is HabitShare, which allows you to share your habits with friends
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for accountability.
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Habit tracking is powerful because it uses multiple laws of behavior change.
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It simultaneously makes a behavior obvious, attractive, and satisfying.
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One of my favorite things about habit tracking is that it keeps you focused on the process
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and not the result.
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You're not trying to bench 3 plates – you're focusing on the type of person that lifts
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5 times per week.
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That being said, there are some issues with habit tracking.
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It feels like an extra step, like more work.
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To get around that, here are a few tips.
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First, automate the measurements whenever possible.
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I bought a smart scale that automatically syncs with my phone.
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It measures my weight and body fat percentage in just a few seconds.
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It's not the most accurate, but it is very precise, which is actually more important
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in this use case.
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Second, manual tracking should only be done for your most important habits.
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And third, record the measurement after the habit occurs.
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Using stacking in this manner makes you much more likely to actually track the habits consistently.
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It is inevitable that you will miss days.
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You won't be perfect.
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I guarantee it.
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Whenever you skip, the key is to remind yourself of simple rule: never miss twice.
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Missing one workout happens, but you can't let yourself miss two in a row.
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It's never the first mistake that ruins you.
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It's the spiral of repeated mistakes that follow.
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Missing once is an accident.
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Missing twice is the start of a new habit.
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If you're serious about changing your habits and thereby changing your life, I recommend
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you watch our book summary on Stick With It.
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Another book covering a scientific process for changing your habits.
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Link in the description below.
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Thank you all so much for watching.
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Shout out to my patreon supporters that help make videos like these possible.
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If you too would like to video chat with me every month or get access to my exclusive
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commentary for each video consider supporting us on patreon.
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It allows me to keep creating these videos on YouTube.
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What habits are you working on creating or breaking?
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Let me know down in the comments.
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If you didn't like it let me know with a thumbs down.
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Thank you all so much for watching and I will see you guys in that next one.