James Clear ‘Atomic Habits’ event: Melbourne, Sydney, Auckland

James Clear speaking at Melbourne and Sydney

It’s fair to say that James Clear's Atomic Habits is a phenomenon, with 15 million books sold in 50 languages. What we at GRIST love about James Clear’s approach is it introduces a simple yet comprehensive framework for understanding and shaping habits. Understanding how habits work is a powerful tool to help anyone examine what they want to achieve and what might be holding them back in a new way.

Over three days of speaking events in Auckland, Melbourne and Sydney, the GRIST team hosted some of our clients at James Clear’s Atomic Habits tour. The principles of Atomic Habits closely align with our micro-behavioural approach, and we saw this as a fantastic opportunity to get a more in-depth understanding of Clear’s methodologies and open a discussion with our partners on how we can all use the principles of habit formation when we’re designing behavioural change interventions across an organisation.

Here are the 4 stages that create a habit:

1. Cue: this is the spark that initiates the habit. It's a piece of information that predicts a reward. Our brains are constantly scanning the environment for cues that signal potential rewards. When our brain thinks it’s found a reward, this triggers a craving.

2. Craving: this is the desire to change something — the motivational force behind every habit. Without some level of motivation or desire—without a craving—a habit will not be formed.

3. Response: this is the actual habit you perform, which can be a thought or an action. Whether a response occurs depends on your ability to complete the habit and the motivation (craving) you have to do it.

4. Reward: this is the end goal of every habit, the reason why habits exist. Rewards close the feedback loop and complete the habit cycle. They satisfy our cravings, and by doing so, teach us which actions are worth remembering in the future.

Attendees in Melbourne and Auckland

Clear presented 4 actionable ‘laws’ to change any behaviour and create a new habit, based on the 4 stages we know our brain goes through:

Clear’s 4 laws of behavioural change:

1. Make it obvious: this relates to the Cue. This law suggests that if you want to cultivate a habit, the cues associated with it should be as clear and and obvious as you can make them. Let’s say you want to drink more water during the day. Putting a drink bottle on your desk will help ‘cue’ your brain.

2. Make it attractive: this is tied to the Craving. The more appealing the expected outcome of the habit, the more motivated you will be to instigate it. Maybe you want to go for a morning walk but you’re struggling to get out of bed. Asking a friend to walk with you is a strong motivator to jump over that hurdle.

3. Make it easy: this connects with the Response. For habits to form, the desired action should be as frictionless and straightforward as possible. This absolutely resonated with us! Rather than trying to make huge, sweeping changes, what’s something small and manageable that will get you on the path? If you want to read more, start with just 10 mins. Usually it’s the act of starting something that’s the hardest; so make it as easy as you can to start and build from there.

4. Make it satisfying: this brings us to the Reward. If the habit provides immediate satisfaction, there's a higher likelihood you'll repeat it in the future. This one might take some trial and error but is worth digging in to. If we look at the first example – while you might know rationally that there will be a reward to drinking more water, maybe in the moment you don’t really like it. You could add some fruit or mint to flavour your water, or, use a fancy cup to make it more of a ritual. Whatever will help you enjoy the process (not just the end result) will help you embed your habit long-term.

For many of us, good habits aren’t the issue – it’s breaking bad ones that are hard. Clear suggests an inversion of the laws in this case:

1. Make it invisible (reduce the cues you’re receiving)

2. Make it unattractive (diminish your cravings)

3. Make it difficult (add friction to hinder the response)

4. Make it unsatisfying (try to nullify the reward)

Post-event lunch in Melbourne and Sydney

What we enjoyed most was the post-event discussion over lunch – there was robust debate over both the advantages and difficulties of applying Clear’s laws to learning and development – and what we’d all be looking to do differently in our own working lives.

Thank you to everyone who attended, we had a terrific time and definitely walked away buzzing with a ton of new ideas and insights!