However we define success, it’s achieved through our habits.

As James Clear puts it:

“What we repeatedly do, each and every day, ultimately forms the results we enjoy and the goals we achieve.”

So to get where we wanna go, we’ve either gotta start better habits or flick bad ones.

How?

Here are James Clear's 4 science-based pillars to starting a new habit (or flicking a bad one). It’s gotta be:

1. 🚨 Obvious (or obscure)
2. 😃 Enjoyable (or miserable)
3. ✅ Easy (or hard)
4. 🥇 Rewarding (unrewarding)
   

Let’s dive into each (with 3 examples – morning hydration, less social media before bed and stretching):

1. 🚨 Obvious

Humans are forgetful. We need to be reminded.

Use alarms and visual triggers.

• Morning water: Put a glass out on the kitchen table the night before
• Less social media before bed: Charge phone in another room overnight
• Stretching: Set a daily stretch reminder on your phone
  

2. 😃 Enjoyable

We’ve gotta like it.

Tie it to (or replace it with) something you like doing.

Or if there’s more than one way to do it, choose the most enjoyable.

• Morning water: Pick your poison – ice/lemon/lime/still/sparkling
• Less social media before bed: Swap phone on the bedside table with a good book
• Stretching: Save your favourite song for stretch time. Play it loud
  

3. ✅ Easy

We’re wired to take the path of least resistance. If there’s too much friction, it’s not happening.

Reduce friction with the 2-minute rule – a smaller version of your habit that doesn't feel like a hurdle. Once we're nailing the 2-min version, add to it.

Or pick the right time and place that makes it easy.

• Morning water: Cut up lemons on a Sunday so they're ready to squeeze
• Less social media before bed: Install the One Sec app to add friction
• Stretching: Do it right after training. 1 stretch, 1 minute, get outta there
  

4. 🥇 Rewarding

What gets rewarded gets repeated.

A habit tracker is a good example. Because seeing progress is rewarding. The dopamine release motivates us to improve.

• Morning water: Coffee only after your done
• Less social media before bed: Track and check usage after dinner. Aim for less over time
• Stretching: Put a calendar on your wall. Cross off the days you stretch. Never miss 2 days in a row

Alright. So if our habit is obvious, enjoyable, easy and rewarding, we’re more likely to do it consistently.

And each time we do, it becomes more and more part of who we are. Our identity starts to shift. Becoming the type of person who does this thing.

And that's how we truly make it stick.