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Habit Design

Chris Sparks Productivity Coach

SparksVC.com @SparksRemarks

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Building habits makes it easier to build future habits

Learnable meta-skill

All high performers have strong habits

Commonality

Up to 40% of what we do daily is habitual

40% rule23

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Why Habits?

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Walk away with an action plan for your own habit

Practice

Learn the meta-habit of behavior design

Teach

See the world through the lens of habits and systemsAlter your perception2

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Goals for this talk

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Keystone Habits

02What will make the rest of the day easier?

Habit helping you build other habits

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Types of Keystone Habits• Exercise

• Yoga (10 min)• Meditation

• Headspace (20 min)• Journaling

• Moleskine (one page)• Gratitude

• 5 Minute Journal (AM + PM)• Day Planning

• Productivity Planner (Priorities) + Printed Daily Schedule (tracking time)• Regular Reviews

• Weekly Review, Monthly Goal Measurement, Quarterly Goal/Value Rewrite

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THE BREAK

Exercise #1 (30 sec.)

[Select a Habit]

1) Why is it important?2) How will it make the rest of your day easier?

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THE BREAK

[jamesclear.com]

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• Specific • No weasel-room

• Consistent context • Already happens every day!

• Algorithmic • “After [trigger], I do [habit]”

Triggers

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• Automated

• Unavoidable

• Combine physical & digital

Reminders

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THE BREAK

Exercise #2 (1 min)

[Selecting Triggers]

1) What is your anchor?2) How will you remind yourself?

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• Activation Energy

• Default opt-in

• Focusing on initial micro-habit

Routine - Automaticity

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• UX for real-life

• Choices cause other choices

• Upstream effects

Routine - Easier

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• Eliminate extra steps

• Eliminate decisions

• Eliminate excuses

Routine - Simplified

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• Identify areas of improvement

• Build muscle memory

Routine - Offline Training

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THE BREAK

Exercise #3 (1 min)

[Streamline Routine]

How can you make your habit…1) More automatic?2) Easier?3) More simple?

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Rewards

02Trigger a “craving” to do the habit

Reinforce habit through repetition

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• Future self = stranger • Short term > Long term

• Internalize immediacy • Physical difference • Feeling of accomplishment

• Structure your day • Earn your rewards!

Rewards

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Power of Accountability

• You have an idea or goal: 10%• You consciously decide you will do it: 25%• You decide when you will do it: 40%• You plan how you will do it 50%• You commit to someone you will do it: 65%• You have a specific accountability appointment with a person: 95%

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THE BREAK

fate of universe in your hands

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THE BREAK

Exercise #4 (1 min)

[Choose Your Rewards]

1) How will your reward yourself?2) How will you hold yourself accountable?

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• Treat self as experiment • Science needs objective data

• Setbacks = Lessons • Limit # of times you pay tuition

• Create positive feedback loops • Feed data to your algorithm • Faster learning = faster improvement

Tracking - Models

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• Successes (Seinfeld) • Build momentum • Digital vs. Analog

• Setbacks (Introspection) • Diagnose and prevent repeats • Journal / Review

Tracking - Methods

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A few handy tips:

• Have a backup plan• What if context changes?• No two days missed in a row• Getting back on track if you fall off

• Small wins• Make victory so easy you can’t say no• Focus on building first step• Scale difficulty up as you go

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THE BREAK

Exercise #5 (1 min)

[Tracking]

1) How will you track completions?2) When will you have time for learning and reflection?3) What is your small win?

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Process orientation. Setbacks are lessons.

We are Verbs.

Diagnosing where to focus.

Points of Leverage in a Habit

Habit building is a life-long experiment.Habit Design = Life Design2

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In Conclusion

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I love talking about this stuff!

Find me anytime and ask me questions

I will give you immediate feedback and will follow-up in 30 days.

Email me your habit action plan

Let me know if you want to review an early version.Writing an ultimate guide to productivity2

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Next Steps

Chris Sparkschris@sparksvc.com@SparksRemarks