Designing for Success: How to Engineer Habits That Last
Understanding the theory is one thing; putting it into practice is another. The good news is that you don’t need more motivation or willpower. You need a better system. Building a good habit isn’t about forcing yourself to do something difficult. It’s about making the desired behavior as easy, obvious, and satisfying as possible. This is where a thoughtful design process comes in.
Start Infinitesimally Small: The Minimum Viable Action
One of the biggest mistakes people make when building a new habit is starting too big. We get swept up in a wave of inspiration and commit to meditating for 30 minutes, running three miles, or writing 1,000 words every day. This works for a day or two, but it’s not sustainable. The activation energy required is too high, and on a day when you’re tired, stressed, or busy, the habit is the first thing to be abandoned.
The solution is to define a Minimum Viable Action (MVA). This is the smallest, most laughably easy version of your desired habit—an action so simple you can’t say no to it. The MVA is not the final goal; it is the starting line. Its purpose is to overcome inertia and make showing up the victory.
Consider these examples:
- If you want to read more, your MVA is to read one sentence.
- If you want to meditate daily, your MVA is to take one deep breath.
- If you want to exercise more, your MVA is to put on your workout clothes.
- If you want to journal, your MVA is to write one word.
It sounds absurd, but it works because it lowers the barrier to entry to almost zero. Anyone can read one sentence, even on their worst day. And what often happens? Once you’ve read one sentence, you might as well read a paragraph. Once you’ve put on your workout clothes, you might as well do a few stretches or walk around the block. The MVA is the wedge that gets your foot in the door. The primary goal in the beginning is not to achieve results; it’s to establish consistency. Master the art of showing up first, and you can worry about optimizing later.
Audit Your Environment: The Power of Friction
Your environment is the invisible hand that shapes your behavior. The cues that trigger your habits are scattered all around you—on your desk, in your kitchen, on your phone. To build good habits and break bad ones, you need to become the architect of your surroundings. This involves a concept known as friction, which is any obstacle that makes an action more difficult to perform.
A friction audit is the process of consciously adjusting your environment to increase friction for bad habits and decrease friction for good ones.
To decrease friction for a good habit, you want to make the cues obvious and the action as easy as possible.
- Want to drink more water? Keep a full water bottle on your desk at all times. The visual cue reminds you, and the proximity makes it effortless.
- Want to go to the gym in the morning? Lay out your workout clothes, shoes, and gym bag the night before. You remove the friction of having to find everything while you’re still groggy.
- Want to practice guitar? Don’t keep it in its case in the closet. Put it on a stand in the middle of your living room where you’ll see it and be able to pick it up instantly.
To increase friction for a bad habit, you do the opposite. Make the cues invisible and the action difficult.
- Want to watch less TV? Unplug it after each use and put the remote in a drawer in another room. The extra steps required will make you pause and question if you really want to watch.
- Want to eat fewer cookies? Don’t keep them on the counter. Move them to a high shelf in the back of the pantry, preferably in an opaque container. The friction of getting a stool and digging for them might be enough to stop the mindless craving.
- Want to check your phone less? Turn off notifications, move distracting apps to the last page of your home screen inside a folder, or charge your phone in another room overnight.
Your environment will win over your willpower every time. By strategically adding and removing friction, you are no longer fighting a daily battle. You are creating a space where the right choices are the easiest choices.
Stack and Anchor: Weaving Habits into Your Day
One of the best ways to install a new habit is to link it to an existing one. This technique, often called habit stacking, uses the completion of a current habit as the cue for the new one. Your brain is already wired for the existing habit, so you’re just adding a new bead onto a well-established string.
The formula is simple: After [CURRENT HABIT], I will [NEW HABIT].
- After I brush my teeth in the morning, I will do one minute of stretching.
- After I pour my morning cup of coffee, I will write down one thing I’m grateful for.
- After I take off my work shoes, I will change into my workout clothes.
- After I finish dinner, I will put my plate directly in the dishwasher.
The key is to choose an anchor habit that is solid and occurs at the frequency you want for your new habit. “After I unlock my phone” is a poor anchor because it’s too frequent and variable. “After I sit down for lunch” is a much better, more specific cue. By stacking habits, you are building a chain of positive behaviors, creating a routine that flows naturally from one action to the next, with each one triggering the next in a seamless sequence.
