How Do I Get 1% Better Today?
The answer – Remove the Cue.
In the popular best seller, Atomic Habits by James Clear, he explains how we acquire habits.
He calls it the Habit Loop. First step, the cue. We are totally creatures of habit and we live in the
world of cues. Upon reading his book, it has become easier to gain a habit or stop a habit by
understanding the loop and most importantly the first part, the cue.
The cue is the initial sight of something or lack of sight of something that begins a thought. For
example: if you want to quit eating sweets at night time before bed, the most effective way
would be to remove the sweets from the house. Remove the cue. If removing the cue is not
possible, then they should be put out of sight. You can do this with any habit you want to stop.
Remove the cue or make it hard to see.
If you want to start a habit, you have to create a cue, put it in your sight so it is easier to do. For
example: if you want to start a gratitude journal, place the journal in a place that fits your daily
habits already and make it visible. I already have the habit of reading every morning, so to start
a gratitude journal, I place the journal on top of the book I plan to read. I have to see it and pick
it up. This makes me much more likely to do it. Another example: I wanted to create the habit of
calling Success Hotline daily and struggled to remember this until I tied it to a cue…. When I
turn my key on in my truck, I call Success Hotline. Now I do this without even thinking. The cue
made it possible.
Control your cues to add a great habit or lose a bad habit. What one habit do you need to add
and what one habit do you need to stop to be the person you want to be?
John Perry
Source: Atomic Habits, James Clear