Summary
Developing habits has been a popular subject of personal development in recent years. The challenges of forming habits and how to overcome them are researched and well presented in James Clear’s book Atomic Habits:
- make it obvious
- make it attractive
- make it easy
- make it satisfying
By making habits elastic, they become easy and satisfying instantly. An example would be to have a more active lifestyle. Instead of forcing yourself to do the impossible of going to the gym every single day, you set three levels of actions for the same required habit to achieve the goal:
- Mini - 30 skipping jumps
- Plus - going to the gym and cycling for 30 minutes
- Epic - a full workout in the gym
No matter how busy we are, everyone can spare 2 minutes out to do 30 skipping jumps. It’s not hard. What is important is that it gives you the reward of feeling that you have made progress towards your goal. The elasticity of the habit makes it easier to stick to, and more importantly, it eases the barrier for you to show up to your habit. Showing up every day reminds us of our goals and instils the identity that promotes behaviour from the inside within.
Reference
- Guise, S. (2019). Elastic habits : how to create smarter habits that adapt to your day. United States: Selective Entertainment Llc.