How to Build Incredible Habits - with James Clear

Afford Anything

#156: James Clear wanted to start flossing, but he never managed to follow through. Despite his best intentions, his dental floss sat unused in a bathroom drawer.

Fortunately, James had learned a thing or two about human behavior and habit formation. As a self-improvement writer, he'd spent hours pouring over scientific data about behavior changes. He decided to apply a few of these concepts to his own quest.

First, he placed the floss on the bathroom counter, rather than tucking it inside a drawer. He made the floss visible.

Second, he realized he didn't enjoy the tactile sensation of wrapping floss around his fingers, so he replaced it with floss picks. He made the floss more enjoyable.

Finally, he decided to floss immediately after brushing his teeth. He used a technique called "habit stacking," in which a new habit is more likely to stick if it's tied, or triggered, by an existing habit like toothbrushing.

Thanks to these techniques, James built a flossing habit. He shares these tactics and more in today's podcast episode.

James Clear is one of the most well-respected and widely-known thinkers and writers in the world of habit formation and behavior change.

His website, jamesclear.com, gets more than one million visitors every month.

In this week's episode, we deep-dive into how to create impressive habits and how to break the terrible habits that hold you back

If you'd like to start new habits like exercising, saving more, investing, meditating, journaling, practicing yoga or flossing, but despite your best intentions you can't seem to make the habit stick, then this week's podcast episode is for you.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices