I picked up “Atomic Habits” by James Clear shortly after its 2018 release, and it migrated from nightstand to coffee table to book shelf—and finally to a Florida beach, where reading ensued and procrastination ceased.
Still working on that particular habit.
Atomic Habits offers a framework for improvement by making small changes that ultimately yield desired results. While much of the book addresses personal habits and goals, the business applications are obvious: incremental positive steps can lead to impressive gains.
Clear offers four laws of behavior change to build better habits:
Cue: Make it obvious.
Craving: Make it attractive.
Response: Make it easy.
Reward: Make it satisfying.
The end goal is to make desired habits easy and effortless to adopt.
Some insights from Atomic Habits:
Create or remove environmental cues. Make cues for good habits obvious and those of bad habits invisible.
Embrace the two-minute rule. Scale down desired habits into two-minute increments (i.e., “run three miles” becomes “tie my running shoes.”).
Join a culture where the desired behavior is the normal behavior.
Master the art of showing up. Success is the product of daily habits, rarely transformation.
Tie your new habit into something you already do (i.e., “habit stacking”).
Detail how you’ll implement a new habit (“implementation intention”).
Verbalize your intentions to make attainment more likely.
Clear provides habit worksheets on his website readers can download to aid in the process.
Credit Union Magazine’s Winter 2022 issue highlights data-driven marketing, the board’s role in cybersecurity, elder abuse scams, credit unions’ auto lending advantage, and more.
