If you’ve read James Clear’s book, Atomic Habits, then you know the importance of making your habits obvious. This law of behavior change centers on the idea that habits that are obvious are more likely to stick. Making it obvious means you work to increase your awareness of new habits and create an environment that ensures these habits are highly visible.
Here are some things you can begin doing today to make your habits obvious:
Pick the habits you want to develop and write them down. This will increase your awareness of them. Decide when and where you will work on these habits and write this down too.
Stack your new habits by pairing them with an existing habit. Picking something you already do and stacking a new habit on top of that is a great way to make it obvious because it reminds you to work on your new habit. For example, if you want to drink more water you might stack this on a habit you already do every morning without issue-brushing your teeth. You might even leave a glass out next to your toothbrush to remind you. Now every morning you won’t brush your teeth without also having a glass of water.
It’s important you create cues in your surroundings that help you follow through on good habits. The water idea above is an example of this, though you don’t need to stack habits in order to create cues that are going to help you follow through on your habits.
Of course you’ll also want to remove cues from your surroundings that trigger bad habits. Finally, part of your regular schedule should include evaluating your surroundings to continually improve the quality of your cues.
Do you repeat bad habits that you know are ineffective? This is most easily avoided when you act deliberately in your practice of new habits. You must be mindful of your habits to recognize bad habits before they take hold of you. Acting deliberately with your habits should include regular reflection on the current state of your habits and your goals for the future.
All of the ideas above will help you to make your habits obvious. New habits will be easier to see and do and bad habits will struggle to continue beneath your awareness.