"ATOMIC HABITS" (Chapter 3): 4 steps to a Healthy Habit | Keto Mom Book Club
Updated: Oct 11, 2021
Keto Mom here!
"Rewards are the end goal of every habit. The Cue is about noticing the reward. The Craving is about wanting the reward and the Response is about obtaining the reward. We chase towards rewards because they serve two purposes, they satisfy us, and they teach us" - James Clear
In any situation, especially today, as you are watching your habits and figuring out what things you want to break, or maybe continue, ask yourself "What would a healthy person do?" Eventually you are going to make better decisions, better choices, you're going to create and hopefully break those bad habits and create new good ones.
Points to Ponder
00:15 "Atomic Habits" by James Clear
00:39 30 day Miracle Morning Challenge
01:49 If you choose to stay out, you still have to get up
02:42 Overpower this in a good way
03:08 Power of reading and their mindset
03:46 Four simple steps to building better habits
04:32 "Feedback loop"
04:55 Habit forming
05:27 Habits give you more freedom
05:38 A cue, a craving, a response, and a reward
07:38 Never use food as a reward
09:15 An example of the Cue, Craving, Response and Reward
11:15 "The Four Laws of behavioral change"
11:39 Break the bad habit
13:03 Change the pattern
14:08 A brain break
15:24 "What would a healthy person do?"
Full Episode Transcript
Good morning! Welcome to the Keto Mom page, my name is Stephanie. For those of you who check in every morning, good morning, I hope you're having an incredible day. We are diving into chapter three of "Atomic Habits" by James Clear. If you're brand new, we are going through a book every single morning to help you create a healthy system, to help you change your habits, to help you get moving in your forward direction and not fall backwards. That's the key, getting your mindset right. So as you're tuning in, where are you tuning in from and for those of you who are doing the 30 day, Miracle Morning... So you're on day three, how are you feeling? I'm going to tell you something, I stayed up way too late last night, I went to bed and for two seconds I wanted to count how many hours of sleep I was going to get.
And then naturally, my brain was telling me for a second, maybe you should sleep in, you've worked out the last two days, it's not a big deal if you give yourself some more sleep, you should probably count your hours of sleep. Isn't it crazy how your brain can take over and go let's just skip the Miracle Morning for the day. It was my choice to stay up late, so I had to choose to get up and do all of my things this morning. There's a funny saying my dad used to say when I would stay up late in high school. And it was something like
"If you choose to stay out, you still have to get up"...
You still have to have the discipline to do the things you want to do. Otherwise, if I didn't, I would be waking up and then feeling that regret of not doing my Miracle Morning, and I'd be behind all day.
We often talk about our why and our vision, and I don't ever want to feel that way. So even though I chose to stay up late, I got up this morning and did all the things that I wanted to do.
But I did that because I've repeatedly have gotten up, and I remember the "I don't want to feel behind" feeling. So even though I chose to stay up late, I still got up. I want you to understand, this isn't just about not eating the doughnut, eating the doughnut or working out, not working out. You have to be able to overpower this in a good way, and if you cannot combat the negativity and the little voices that say "It's not a big deal, sleep in, you can start over tomorrow".... If you slip up, you slip up, but if you have to make that choice, it's the one percent better or one percent worse. I wish I could get through people's heads, the power of reading and their mindset. If you can control these things, you can accomplish the goals that you want to go after, because it's super powerful.
So for those who are doing the thirty days, you're on day three, and for those who are following along in your book, or you're going to listen and read it later today, I'm reading through chapter three. I felt like this chapter was an awareness chapter, even more "sciency", so it kind of is a lot to take in. But basically he lays out "The four simple steps to building better habits". He walks you through a story about cats and how they train these cats, he says "A habit is a behavior that has been repeated enough times to become automatic"... So I'm sure you could think of things in your life where you're like "I don't even think about that, I just do it". It's as simple as you get in your car, you drive to the office and you don't even think about it. Have you ever gotten in your car, and it's the same place that you go every day or every so often. All of a sudden you get there and you're like, "How did I even get here? I don't remember driving through the stoplights"...
You've had the habit, it's a routine, same concept, same thing.
So there's something called a "Feedback loop", it's a little "sciency" but I think it's super great just to have an awareness of how this all works. He says "Human behavior as you try something, you usually fail. You learn a lesson and then you try something different". So he says "With practice, the useless movements fade away and the useful actions get reinforced, it's called Habit forming. Whenever you face a problem repeatedly, your brain begins to automatically process on how to solve it. Habits are simply reliable solutions to reoccurring problems"....
Some of this, I was like alright let's dive into some of the science. Habits do not restrict, he said oftentimes people are like, I don't want to do that, I want to live freely, I don't want to be tied to habits. So he goes down this route of habits give you more freedom. If you create healthy habits, you've got more time in your day to do other things.
And so here's what he said, "The process of building a habit can be divided into four simple steps. There's a cue, a craving, a response, and a reward".
So he says, "Oftentimes, the first one is a cue. The cue triggers your brain to initiate a behavior. For example, your mind is continuously analyzing your internal and external environment for hints of where are the rewards"... So we're looking for things, we're going after things and what is the reward if I do this thing. "Because the cue is the first indicator that you're close to a reward, it naturally leads to a craving". Cravings are the second step, so you've got the cue the craving. "They are the motivational force behind the habit. Without some level of motivation or desire, without a craving of change, we have no reason to act". The third one is response, "The response is the actual habit you have to perform, which can take form of a thought or an action"...
So Cue, Craving, Response is the action that we take, and then the fourth is the Reward. He said, "Rewards are the end goal of every habit". So today I got up, I worked out, and my reward was I felt great, I felt accomplished and that was my reward. If you reward yourself with food, you're going to find yourself in a downward spiral. Have any of you been like, "I'm going to do really great all week, so that