Before I get into the details, I want to start with the 10,000-foot view. Habits have three main parts: Cue, Routine, and Reward. Together they make up the Habit Loop. For the purpose of this series on habits, I’ll talk about the Cue and the Reward. As for the Routine (how to practice), you’ll spend a lifetime learning about that and barely scratch the surface.
In a nutshell, it works like this: you want to get into the habit of practicing every day. But how do you know when it’s time to practice? You want the decision to be automatic. So you come up with a cue. And lastly, you associate some immediate rewards with the routine. You take this plan, and you write it down on paper so that you’re clear about how you want it all to work. And then you test it out.
If your first plan doesn’t work perfectly, you play around with different cues and rewards until you find something that sticks. And that’s it. That’s the process.
Now, let’s get into the nitty-gritty details of how to do that. And we’ll start with the Cue.
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