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  • - Thanks to Brilliant for sponsoring this video

  • and supporting my channel.

  • Every year, millions of people try to build new habits.

  • Some adopt new exercise programs,

  • others pick up that instrument

  • they've been meaning to learn,

  • and still others decide to finally get serious

  • about reading every day.

  • And some of these people will succeed

  • in getting their new habit to stick,

  • while others well quickly give up and fail.

  • But all of them will learn the same lesson,

  • building a new habit is hard.

  • Whether you wanna chuck it up to laziness,

  • or our overly busy schedules, or the fact that our phones

  • tend to suck up a ton of our time,

  • tempting us in much the same way

  • that a slot machine temps a gambler,

  • the conclusion is the same.

  • If you wanna adopt a new habit,

  • you better prepare yourself for an uphill battle.

  • Luckily, one of the things that you can always count on

  • in our market-driven economy is that when there's a problem,

  • people will inevitably try to create solutions for it.

  • Necessity is the mother of all invention

  • as people like to say.

  • And our publishing industry is no exception here.

  • Having pumped out more than a handful of books

  • aimed at helping you build better habits.

  • But of all these books,

  • my absolute favorite one is James Clear's, Atomic Habits.

  • And that's not just because it mentions

  • my Twitter wake-up system on page 210 that is pretty cool,

  • but seriously, more than any other book

  • that I've read on habits,

  • I found the ideas in Atomic Habits to be incredibly helpful

  • for adopting the mindset required

  • to actually stick to habits over the longterm.

  • So I would absolutely recommend reading this book

  • in its entirety if you have the time.

  • Today, what I wanna do is share three of those key ideas,

  • starting with the principle

  • that Clear calls 1% better every day.

  • This idea has its roots in the compounding effect,

  • which you'll probably recognize most readily

  • if we're talking about compound interest.

  • Albert Einstein once called compound interest

  • the eighth wonder of the world,

  • and for a pretty good reason,

  • given a good amount of time,

  • the interest on your interest can result in huge returns.

  • Compound interest is why you can invest $100 a month,

  • and if we assume a modest 7% return of the stock market,

  • you'll end up with over $122,000 after 30 years,

  • even though during that time,

  • you only contributed $36,000 of your money into that fund.

  • And it turns out that this compounding effect

  • also applies to the world

  • of skill building and habit formation.

  • If you pick a skill

  • and you focus on just getting 1% better at it each day,

  • your cumulative skill growth

  • and the rewards you read from it

  • accelerate faster and faster over time.

  • Atomic Habits illustrates this idea

  • using a metaphorical graph,

  • which shows the difference between small daily actions

  • in both positive and negative directions.

  • At first, the results are minuscule,

  • but over time, they ramp up

  • just like that investment balance.

  • Now, this all sounds great in theory, but unfortunately,

  • as you probably well know, the level of consistency required

  • to maintain this growth over time

  • is really difficult to maintain, especially in the beginning

  • when you're just starting to build a habit.

  • Big dramatic changes, as overwhelming and as unsustainable

  • as you and I know they could be, are exciting

  • because they seem to propel us forward really quickly.

  • And our mammalian brains

  • really love short-term exciting rewards.

  • And meanwhile, the much more reasonable 1% role

  • simply doesn't do a whole lot for us in the short term,

  • which is what we're often concerned with,

  • even if we don't like to be.

  • For example, let's say you wanna learn how to produce music.

  • And you decide to do that by spending at least some time

  • every single day learning and practicing and making songs.

  • If you start this new goal on January 1st,

  • then by the end of the first month using Clear's model,

  • your daily 1% gains only result in a 37% gain overall.

  • And that's progress to be sure, but it's nothing dramatic,

  • and you're still producing music

  • that was only barely outside of your grasp before,

  • and that to the average listener,

  • it sounds like it was made on like a preschool piano thing

  • from Walmart.

  • After six months of effort,

  • you're now doing a bit more than six times better

  • than when you started

  • when you have those numbers seem to line up.

  • Now, this is actually pretty good progress,

  • but we are not done yet

  • because of the company pounding effect

  • has only just begun to show how powerful it can be.

  • Keep pushing on and suddenly,

  • a 1% improvement every day since you started,

  • gets interesting because at the end of the year,

  • you've somehow reached a mind bending 37 times better

  • than when you started.

  • The first six months gets you to six times better,

  • but the second six months adds an extra 31 times.

  • Now, obviously we cannot literally measure out

  • 1% skill changes in most cases,

  • but the concept still works here and the results still come.

  • As Clear writes in the book,

  • "These small improvements or declines compound

  • and suddenly you find a very big gap

  • between the people who make slightly better decisions

  • on a daily basis and those who don't."

  • Of course, this is all easy to agree with in theory,

  • but as we mentioned before,

  • longterm consistency is a lot easier planned

  • than maintained.

  • As you well know,

  • most new year's resolutions don't even make it to February,

  • so they can't even go through the example

  • that we put out here.

  • Just as many people fail to remain disciplined enough

  • to keep investing for 30 years,

  • and hence will never see those amazing returns.

  • Now, part of this might be straight up difficulty,

  • or life circumstances, or simply boredom,

  • but even an incredibly simple, easy habit

  • can be difficult to stick to longterm

  • if it goes too far against how we view ourselves.

  • So if we wanna make longterm change,

  • that change has to become part of who we are.

  • We'll have to build up sense

  • of what I'm going to call identity habit harmony.

  • Picture yourself out for a run,

  • and imagine that it's really hot outside,

  • or maybe it's really cold,

  • or maybe it's a torrential downpour,

  • whichever of those is the one that you like the least.

  • And now picture you're only halfway

  • through a particularly difficult last mile,

  • and you're now feeling the desperate urge to quit.

  • In that moment ask yourself, who are you?

  • Well, if you consider yourself to be a runner,

  • then this scenario is not a big deal.

  • The occasional hard mile is part of the territory.

  • In fact, it only reinforces your strength

  • and your pride as a runner, as an athlete,

  • so as a result, you push through.

  • But on the other hand,

  • if you see yourself not as an athlete or a runner,

  • but as more of a homebody

  • just trying to get in shape because you're supposed to

  • or because you have this light desire to do it,

  • then you're gonna start questioning

  • why you're doing what you're doing

  • when things get difficult.

  • You're gonna ask, "Why am I doing this to myself?

  • This isn't who I am."

  • And one day, you're gonna decide to quit.

  • I think this is one of the biggest reasons

  • why people fail in building habits,

  • they don't build a harmony between their identity

  • and the habit they're trying to make stick longterm.

  • That's one of the biggest ideas in this book.

  • See, people will go to great lengths

  • to protect their self image.

  • It's part of this consistency principle,

  • which is also talked about

  • in Robert Cialdini's book, "Influence."

  • Just try arguing with somebody

  • about a dearly held belief they have,

  • and you're gonna find just how hard we all work

  • to keep our self image intact,

  • even if it's to our own detriment,

  • even if we argue against what would be good for us.

  • And it's because of this,

  • that Clear suggests we pay closer attention

  • to what that image is

  • when we're trying to change something about our lives.

  • As he says in the book,

  • "Your behaviors are usually a reflection of your identity.

  • Whatever you do is an indication

  • of the type of person you believe that you are,

  • either consciously or non-consciously."

  • But there's also a bit of a feedback loop here.

  • As he says just a bit later on,

  • "Whatever your identity is right now,

  • you only believe it because you have proof of it."

  • In short, longterm habit changes

  • come more easily with longterm identity changes.

  • And to get those,

  • you'll have to give yourself as much evidence as you can

  • that your new identity is really who you're becoming.

  • So if you wanna run that 5k someday,

  • take a second to think about the kind of person

  • who might do that sort of thing automatically, or naturally,

  • that person would be a runner or an athlete.

  • Then whenever an opportunity to reinforce that identity

  • in yourself comes up, ask yourself,

  • "What would a runner do in this situation?"

  • Eventually by acting like a runner, you become one.

  • And if that identity makes you feel good,

  • then you won't wanna lose it,

  • and you'll work that much harder to keep it.

  • The longer you fight for it, true that identity becomes,

  • and the harder it is to go back to who you were before.

  • And I've personally found this whole philosophy

  • and mindset change to be extremely helpful

  • for taking side projects more seriously as well.

  • Let's take guitar, for example.

  • If I don't think of myself as a musician,

  • then whenever I get busy with work,

  • or if I have something stressful pop up

  • surprisingly in my life,

  • then I'm gonna tend to let guitar practice

  • go by the wayside because it's just a hobby, right?

  • So it's important it gets overshadowed

  • by whatever urgent thing has come up in my life.

  • But if being a musician is part of my identity,

  • then I'm gonna see guitar practice

  • as something much more important.

  • I'll be a lot less likely to throw it by the wayside

  • when something does come up.

  • In other words, I won't make time for it

  • because that is what a musician would do.

  • Of course, this process of assuming a new identity

  • and taking it seriously isn't always easy.

  • When you start a new habit,

  • you often have that novelty factor,

  • that initial surge of motivation and energy working for you,

  • but those two things inevitably run out pretty quickly.

  • And when that happens,

  • you're probably gonna have to deal with your first failure

  • some point soon after.

  • And it can be hard to get over that when it happens,

  • especially if you tend to have perfectionist tendencies

  • like I do.

  • And dealing with just this situation

  • is where the third big idea from Atomic Habits comes in.

  • So let's call it the democracy of the self.

  • See, in an election,

  • there are almost always going to be votes for both sides.

  • Given enough people in the voting pool,

  • it's not plausible for anything, no matter how right,

  • no matter how obviously superior, to get 100% of the vote,

  • there is always going to be that troll

  • that just wants to see the world burn

  • so they hit the down-vote button.

  • But luckily, that doesn't matter.

  • To win an election, you don't need every single vote

  • to be cast in the exact same way, you just need a majority.

  • And as Clear helpfully points out,

  • "Every action you take is a vote

  • for the type of person you wish to become.

  • No single instance will transform your beliefs,

  • but as the votes build up,

  • so too does the evidence of your new identity."

  • So maybe today you voted for lazy you,

  • you didn't go for that run, you didn't practice guitar.

  • Well, that's okay because tomorrow, you get another vote,

  • and you can make sure that vote is cast correctly.

  • If you keep at that,

  • making sure your successes outnumber your setbacks,

  • that is how longterm habits are built.

  • In other words, focus not on never failing,

  • but on never letting failure become a habit of its own.

  • Clear actually has a term for this,

  • he calls it the second mistake.

  • You wanna avoid making the second mistake.

  • And if you can do that,

  • then your first mistake just remains a failing vote,

  • it remains an outlier.

  • Now, there's a bit of a hidden insight that I found

  • in the interplay between identity habit harmony,

  • and this whole democracy of the self-concept,

  • which is that if you haven't cast enough votes

  • for a particular identity,

  • then you may not know if it's possible

  • to assume that identity in the first place.

  • And a lot of people assume that many identities

  • are simply not for them.

  • How many people do you know

  • who think that learning a foreign language is not them,

  • becoming a musician is not for them,

  • learning complex math or engineering

  • is simply not for them.

  • I remember this was a big problem for me in high school,

  • especially on that issue

  • of learning engineering and complex math.

  • I had a tough time in calculus,

  • so I naturally assumed I was not cut out for calculus

  • and not cut out for engineering school.

  • This is actually one of the big reasons

  • that I chose to go to business school.

  • And while I don't really regret

  • going to business school in general,

  • I do regret having that belief at first.

  • And I now know that if I had simply cast enough votes,

  • if I had simply put in daily effort to learn complex math,

  • to get a better grade in calculus,

  • I would have absolutely been able to become an engineer

  • if I wanted to do that.

  • So if you ever have these doubts in your head,

  • if you ever feel like an identity is not for you,

  • ask yourself, "How many votes have I cast?

  • Have I started building this habit

  • or if I simply assumed that this identity is not for me?"

  • And if the latter is true, then start casting some votes.

  • Of course, if something like engineering and complex math

  • is something that you want to learn,

  • then using better learning resources

  • is also really gonna help you make progress.

  • And one of those great learning resources is Brilliant.

  • Brilliant has over 60 in-depth courses

  • that can help you master your abilities

  • in math, science, and computer science.

  • And they help you learn efficiently

  • with a focus on active learning.

  • Instead of just passively going through text

  • or watching videos

  • like a lot of traditional educational sources,

  • you're instead thrown into logically sequenced,

  • bite-sized, yet challenging, interactive problems

  • that compliment any of those more traditional sources

  • you're using.

  • And because you're wrangling with the material right away,

  • you learn more efficiently,

  • you progress faster, and you also keep your interest up

  • as you're going through it.

  • Additionally, because you're solving problems

  • the entire time,

  • your universal problem-solving skills improve along the way.

  • Whenever we apply our skills to a specific challenge,

  • we often reap more universal benefits.

  • Now, if you've heard me talk about Brilliant in the past,

  • you'll know they have a comprehensive math suite,

  • ranging from the basics of number theory,

  • going all the way up to very complex topics

  • like differential equations

  • and high-level probability and statistics,

  • along with science courses,

  • including classical mechanics and gravitational physics

  • and computer science courses

  • like their Python programming course.

  • But recently, they came up with a brand new course,

  • all about knowledge and uncertainty,

  • which is all about the math that we use to quantify

  • and get precise about how uncertain we are

  • about questions we have,

  • which is very important in making better decisions.

  • And I think if you have any interest in math

  • or probability or statistics,

  • or maybe investing or simply making better decisions,

  • this is gonna be a really interesting course to take.

  • So if you want to take that course

  • or any of the other courses in their library,

  • you can go over to brilliant.org/thomasfrank and sign up.

  • And if you're one of the first 200 people

  • to use that URL and sign up,

  • you're gonna get 20% off their annual premium subscription,

  • which is a pretty great deal.

  • Thanks as always for watching.

  • Hopefully you enjoyed this video.

  • If you did, hitting that like button is a great way

  • to tell the YouTube algorithm

  • that this content is worth watching,

  • which can cause it to push it out to more people,

  • so it's a great way to support the channel,

  • and huge thank you to you if you do that.

  • And if you haven't subscribed already,

  • make sure you hit that subscribe button right there

  • because later this month,

  • we are making another video

  • all about the actual habit-building process

  • outlined in Atomic Habits.

  • Again, pick this book up and read it if you have the chance.

  • It's a great read,

  • but I hope you also come back to check out that video,

  • which will be a little bit more in the trenches

  • and practical, hopefully.

  • Beyond that,

  • if you haven't followed me on Instagram @Tomfrankly,

  • you might wanna do so

  • as I'm making little Q&A videos every week.

  • So if you have a question

  • that might not constitute a huge video here on this channel,

  • which takes many, many, many hours to make,

  • ask it to me in the comments below or over on Instagram,

  • and I might make a little IGTV video for it.

  • Beyond that, I'm gonna have a playlist right here

  • of additional videos on this

  • that can help you build your self discipline.

  • So if you enjoyed this video,

  • you might enjoy some of those videos as well.

  • Otherwise, I'll put my music channel right there.

  • And if you don't wanna to click any of these things,

  • don't do that, go drink a gallon of coffee for all I care

  • because as always, I'm not your dad.

- Thanks to Brilliant for sponsoring this video

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