Putting It All Together: Two Worked Examples
Theory is helpful, but seeing these principles in action makes them tangible. Let’s walk through how someone might design and implement two common habits using the scientific framework we’ve discussed: an evening wind-down routine and a morning focus primer.
Example 1: The Evening Wind-Down Routine
The Goal: Sarah wants to stop endlessly scrolling on her phone before bed. It’s hurting her sleep quality, and she wakes up feeling groggy. Her desired outcome is to read a book and be in bed with the lights out by 10:30 p.m.
The Identity: Sarah decides to shift her focus from “I need to stop using my phone” (a negative goal) to “I am a calm, well-rested person who enjoys reading.” This identity gives her a positive and aspirational North Star.
The Design Process:
1. Minimum Viable Action (MVA): Instead of committing to reading a chapter a night, Sarah’s MVA is to read one single page. This is so easy that even on an exhausting day, she knows she can do it.
2. Habit Stacking & Cue: Sarah needs a reliable cue. She decides to set a recurring alarm on her phone for 9:45 p.m. labeled “Wind-Down Time.” This alarm is her cue. She stacks her new habit onto this cue: “When my ‘Wind-Down Time’ alarm goes off, I will plug my phone in to charge.”
3. Friction Audit: To make her bad habit harder, Sarah decides to increase friction. She moves her phone charger from her nightstand to a power strip in the corner of her bedroom, far from her bed. This makes it impossible to mindlessly scroll once she’s under the covers. To decrease friction for her good habit, she places the book she wants to read directly on her pillow each morning when she makes her bed. When she gets into bed at night, the book is right there waiting for her, an obvious and inviting cue.
4. The Reward: The immediate reward is the pleasure of a good story. The longer-term reward, which she consciously reminds herself of, is waking up feeling more refreshed and clear-headed. This reinforces the entire loop, making her brain associate this new routine with positive feelings.
5. Safeguards: Sarah knows some nights she’ll be out late or too tired. Her relapse plan is simple: “If I miss my reading routine, I will not feel guilty. The next night, my only goal is to get back to reading one page. I will not try to ‘catch up’ by reading more.” This follows the “never miss twice” rule and focuses on compassionate recovery.
Example 2: The Morning Focus Primer
The Goal: Ben is a freelancer who struggles to start his workday. He often gets pulled into a reactive vortex of checking emails and social media, and by 10 a.m., he feels scattered and unproductive. He wants to start his day with intention.
The Identity: Ben reframes his goal. He isn’t just trying to avoid email; he’s trying to become “a focused, proactive professional who controls his day.” Every time he performs his new habit, he is casting a vote for this new identity.
The Design Process:
1. Minimum Viable Action (MVA): Ben’s ultimate goal is to spend the first 60 minutes of his day on his most important task. But his MVA is much smaller: to open his journal and write down his single most important task for the day. That’s it. It takes less than a minute.
2. Habit Stacking & Cue: Ben’s most reliable morning habit is making a cup of coffee. This becomes his anchor. His habit stack is: “After I sit down at my desk with my morning coffee, I will open my journal.” The act of sitting down with the coffee is the trigger.
3. Friction Audit: To support his new habit, Ben decreases friction by leaving his journal and a pen open on his desk at the end of each workday. When he sits down with his coffee, it’s the most obvious thing to engage with. To increase friction for his bad habits, he uses a website blocker that prevents him from accessing email and social media sites for the first 90 minutes of his workday. He also logs out of these accounts on his computer the night before, forcing an extra step of logging in if he were to break his rule.
4. The Reward: The immediate reward is a small but powerful sense of clarity and control. He knows what he needs to do. The act of writing it down feels productive and satisfying. The long-term reward is ending his days feeling accomplished rather than reactive, which deeply reinforces the value of the morning routine.
5. Safeguards: Ben’s “never miss twice” plan is that if he has a chaotic morning and gets pulled into email first, he will not beat himself up. His only goal for the next day is to return to his MVA: just open the journal and write one thing. He resets with compassion, understanding that consistency over the long run is what builds the identity he seeks.
