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The key to becoming world-class in your endeavors is to build your performance around world-class routines. It can be difficult, even futile, to predict or control what will show up in the middle of your workday. But you can almost always control how your day starts and ends.

The 1st law (Cue) Make it obvious. The 2nd law (Craving) Make it attractive. The 3rd law (Response) Make it easy. The 4th law (Reward) Make it satisfying.

One of the most effective things you can do to build better habits is to join a culture where your desired behavior is the normal behavior. New habits seem achievable when you see others doing them every day. If you are surrounded by fit people, you're more likely to consider working out to be a common habit. If you're surrounded by jazz lovers, you're more likely to believe it's reasonable to play jazz every day. Your culture sets your expectation for what is "normal." Surround yourself with people who have the habits you want to have yourself. You'll rise together.

At work, setting rules to reduce the volume of choice can be incredibly effective. For example, if we set rules to only check our e-mail once per hour, or to only have one coffee break per morning, we are less likely to succumb in the moment, which helps these rules to become habits we stick to by default.

Eliminating the choices and reducing the activation energy made getting up and going to the gym the default mode. As a result, once I ingrained a lifetime positive habit of morning exercise, I now don't have to sleep in my gym clothes anymore.

The punch line is clear: people who make a specific plan for when and where they will perform a new habit are more likely to follow through.

The upside of habits is that we can do things without thinking. The downside of habits is that you get used to doing things a certain way and stop paying attention to little errors. You assume you're getting better because you're gaining experience. In reality, you are merely reinforcing your current habits--not improving them. In fact, some research has shown that once a skill has been mastered there is usually a slight decline in performance over time.

reliable approach is to cut bad habits off at the source. One of the most practical ways to eliminate a bad habit is to reduce exposure to the cue that causes it. # If you can't seem to get any work done, leave your phone in another room for a few hours. # If you're continually feeling like you're not enough, stop following social media accounts that trigger jealousy and envy.

# The Goldilocks Rule states that humans experience peak motivation when working on tasks that are right on the edge of their current abilities. # The greatest threat to success is not failure but boredom. # As habits become routine, they become less interesting and less satisfying. We get bored. # Anyone can work hard when they feel motivated. It's the ability to keep going when work isn't exciting that makes the difference. # Professionals stick to the schedule; amateurs let life get in the way.

If you want to master a habit, the key is to start with repetition, not perfection. You don't need to map out every feature of a new habit.

You've heard psychologists say that something doesn't become a habit until you practice it for three weeks. It's not an exact science, but it's a good benchmark, and it has worked for me. So, ideally, I want you to stick with your choice to track your behaviors for twenty-one days.

It is a simple two-step process: Decide the type of person you want to be. Prove it to yourself with small wins.

Habits + Deliberate Practice = Mastery

Four Laws of Behavior Change until you find the next bottleneck. Make it obvious. Make it attractive. Make it easy. Make it satisfying.

The process of building a habit can be divided into four simple steps: cue, craving, response, and reward.

A habit is a behavior that has been repeated enough times to become automatic.

No matter how consistent you are with your habits, it is inevitable that life will interrupt you at some point. Perfection is not possible. Before long, an emergency will pop up--you get sick or you have to travel for work or your family needs a little more of your time. Whenever this happens to me, I try to remind myself of a simple rule: never miss twice. If I miss one day, I try to get back into it as quickly as possible. Missing one workout happens, but I'm not going to miss two in a row.

Our habits and routines allow us to use minimal conscious energy for everyday tasks. They help keep us sane and enable us to handle most situations reasonably well. And because we don't have to think about the mundane, we can focus our mental energy on more creative and enriching thoughts. Habits can be helpful--as long as they're good habits, that is.

Whatever your present situation, I assure you that you are not your habits. You can replace old patterns of self-defeating behavior with new patterns, new habits of effectiveness, happiness, and trust-based relationships.

Duhigg's core idea is the role of the three-step "habit loop." The first step is a cue--some "trigger that tells your brain to go into automatic mode and which habit to use," according to Duhigg. Step two is the routine, "which can be physical or mental or emotional." Finally, there is a reward, which helps your brain figure out if this particular loop is "worth remembering for the future." Repetition reinforces this loop until over time it becomes automatic.

The first mistake is never the one that ruins you.7 It is the spiral of repeated mistakes that follows. Missing once is an accident.8 Missing twice is the start of a new habit.