Chapter 15 – The Cardinal Rule of Behavior Change
Clear begins this chapter by sharing his 4th Law of Behavior Change: make it satisfying. He introduces the “Cardinal Rule of Behavior Change: What is immediately rewarded is repeated. What is immediately punished is avoided.” He says good habits are hard to make because the rewards are often delayed. The hack to this is to find a way to implement immediate rewards for good habits. Clear explains that eventually, you will identify with the good habits and reap their delayed rewards.
Quotes from the chapter:
- You learn what to do in the future based on what you were rewarded for doing (or punished for doing) in the past. Positive emotions cultivate habits. Negative emotions destroy them.
- Put another way, the costs of your good habits are in the present. The costs of your bad habits are in the future.
- Incentives can start a habit. Identity sustains a habit.
Chapter 16 – How to Stick with Good Habits Every Day
Chapter 12 opens discussing the importance of habit tracking. Habit tracking as simple as putting a checkmark on a calendar makes progress obvious, attractive, and satisfying. Clear says that’s it’s inevitable we will break a habit. For this, he follows the rule “never miss twice.” If he misses a workout, he will not miss the next one. Finally, Clear believes measuring habits must be kept in context. It’s easy to try to optimize a “number,” but it’s important to keep the intent in mind.
Related quotes:
- The mere act of tracking a behavior can spark the urge to change it.
- Furthermore, habit tracking provides visual proof that you are casting votes for the type of person you wish to become, which is a delightful form of immediate and intrinsic gratification.
- The problem is not slipping up; the problem is thinking that if you can’t do something perfectly, then you shouldn’t do it at all.
Chapter 17 – How an Accountability Partner Can Change Everything
Here, Clear explains that an effective way of breaking a bad habit is to make it immediately unsatisfying. He introduces a “habit contract” where one commits to a goal, lays out consequences if the goal is not met, and enlists an accountability partner. Since we typically care deeply about what other people think about us, the habit contract uses that as a motivating force. This creates immediate dissatisfaction.
A couple of related quotes:
- The more immediate the pain, the less likely the behavior.
- Behavior only shifts if the punishment is painful enough and reliably enforced.
- To make bad habits unsatisfying, your best option is to make them painful in the moment.
Andrew T. Daniel 