Atomic Habits — Part 11

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1. How to make it easier to develop good habits, by making behaviors easier to achieve habit formation, and discuss the secrets of effective learning and attention. 00:01 - Taxi drivers have larger-than-normal hippocampi, study finds, but they shrink in retirement. 00:59 - When faced with a new problem, you need to figure out your own solution and what to focus on during the exploration process. 01:47 - The key to effective learning is to find the focus, and forming a habit requires more persistence and adjustment. 2. Perfectionism is the enemy of action. Only through taking
一、如何让好习惯更容易养成，通过让行为变得容易，从而实现习惯的养成，并讨论了有效学习和关注的秘密。 00:01 - 研究发现出租车司机的海马体比正常人大，但在退休后会萎缩。 00:59 - 面对新问题时，需要自己想办法，探索过程中需要关注什么。 01:47 - 有效学习的关键是找出关注点，养成习惯需要更多的是坚持和调整。二、完美主义是行动的敌人，只有通过采
Sister, I really like you so much. You are my motivation to learn English now. It’s so relaxing to listen to you. It’s one of the few long videos that I can finish watching. I hope my English will get better and better! ! !
姐姐我真的好喜欢你啊啊啊你现在是我学英语的动力听你讲话超放松为数不多能看完的长视频啦希望我的英语也越来越棒！！！
marvelous! ! ! Discover the treasure up! I just wanted to read this book when I saw my sister’s video! My sister’s speech is very fascinating and the examples she gives are also very vivid. Learn from my sister, come on! [call]
太棒了！！！发现宝藏up！刚想看这本书就看到了姐姐的视频！姐姐讲得很引人入胜，举的例子也很生动，向姐姐学习，加油！[打call]

Transcript

0:00This one research done on taxi drivers
0:03in the UK shows that taxi drivers
0:05have a bigger hippocampus than normal people,
0:07but after they retire and stop driving
0:09for a while, researchers witness an atrophy
0:12in that part of the brain.
0:13The takeaway from this is that...
0:15Hi everyone, welcome to Read with Selina.
0:17Today we're talking about chapter 11*
0:19of Atomic Habits by James Clear.
0:21Now we've arrived at the
0:23third law of behavioral changes,
0:24which is make it easy.
0:25If you're unfamiliar with this framework,
0:28I will recommend you to check
0:29out my previous videos.
0:30There're four laws to behavioral changes that
0:33each correspond to one of the four
0:34steps in the habit loop, which are
0:36cue, craving, response, and reward.
0:39And in this video, we're going to
0:41talk about making a good habit more
0:43likely to happen by (making) taking action easier.
0:45When I first graduated from law school,
0:47I realized that there's so many
0:49new problems that I'm suddenly facing
0:51in life that didn't have a
0:52straightforward right or wrong answer to.
0:55And especially when I first started recording videos,
0:58every day I was faced with a new set of problems that I
1:01had to solve, such as
1:02what kind of videos to make,
1:03which platforms should I launch them onto,
1:05what topics should I talk about,
1:07how should I structure the scripts.
1:09And I didn't have anyone in my
1:11immediate connections for me to ask those
1:13questions to, so I pretty much had
1:15to figure out everything on my own.
1:16In this process of blind exploration, I
1:20really wanted to know what are the
1:21things I should focus on, what should
1:23my priorities be, and how can I
1:25learn and improve myself more effectively?
1:28Despite not having the answers, I got
1:30started anyways and gradually over time, I
1:33realized this one valuable lesson.
1:35My answers to those questions that
1:37confused me at the beginning started
1:39to improve over time.
1:40But more importantly, through that experience,
1:42I learned a valuable lesson on
1:44HOW to figure out what to focus on.
1:47This chapter discusses exactly that and we're
1:50going to explore the secrets to efficiently
1:53learning as well as finding out what
1:54you should focus on in this video.
1:56We're also going to talk about
1:58the common myth that it takes
2:0021 days to develop a habit.
2:02According to the author James Clear,
2:04who is an expert on habits,
2:06it is inaccurate to say that
2:08it takes 21 days to develop a habit.
2:11Instead, there is a
2:12much more important metric.
2:13Let's start with a story.
2:15On the first day of class,
2:16a professor in Florida that teaches photography did
2:19this very interesting experiment with the students.
2:21He divided the students into two groups.
2:23Group 1 was the quantity group, meaning
2:26that at the end of the semester,
2:28they will be evaluated based on how
2:30many pictures they've taken.
2:31If you've taken 100 photos,
2:33you get an A.
2:34If you've taken 90, you get a
2:35B, and so on and so forth.
2:37The second group was the quality group,
2:39meaning that for the entire semester,
2:41the students only had to submit one photo
2:44and their performance will be evaluated based
2:46on the quality of the photo.
2:47So, in order to get an A,
2:49they will have to submit a photo
2:50that is close to perfect.
2:52By the end of the
2:52semester, the outcome of the
2:54two groups surprised the professor.
2:55The first group of students who were
2:57evaluated based on quantity
2:59were actually able to deliver much better quality videos than
3:02the quality group student.
3:04Why is that?
3:05It is because through the process of continuously
3:08taking pictures, they constantly improved
3:10on different aspects of photography that by the
3:12end of the semester they've honed their
3:14skills on many dimensions.
3:16Whereas the quality group student spent too
3:19much time contemplating on how to make
3:21the best photo without actually taking actions.
3:23The moral of the story is the
3:25best is the enemy of the good,
3:28meaning that if you aim for perfection,
3:30chances are you might not even be
3:32good because you're setting your standard up
3:34so high that you may never even
3:36get started to produce something that is satisfactory.
3:39Perfectionism is enemy of actions, and
3:42without actions you can't get outcomes.
3:44So here,
3:45the author distinguishes two distinct concepts,
3:47being in motion and taking action.
3:50Being in motion means that you are
3:53busy doing something; either learning or planning
3:56but that thing itself does not directly
3:58produce an outcome versus when you're taking
4:01actions, you're building towards something,
4:03you're putting yourself out in the world and you're
4:05creating tangible results.
4:07So, for example, if you
4:08brainstorm a plot to a story,
4:10you are in motion.
4:13Whereas if you actually put your
4:15ideas down in paper and write
4:16a first draft, that is considered
4:17to be taking actions.
4:19For someone like me, I really enjoy
4:20the feeling of being in motion.
4:22I like making plans and strategizing
4:25and thinking about what I would
4:26do in the future.
4:27The caveat here is that while being
4:29in motion is helpful for some purposes
4:32such as learning or planning,
4:33sometimes you do need to be in motion.
4:36More often than not, it
4:38is an obstacle that prevents
4:40you from taking action timely.
4:42Many of us are in motion simply
4:44because we don't want to face failure.
4:47And all that we're doing by not
4:49engaging in the actual action but simply planning
4:51for it is that we're delaying when
4:53the failure will take place.
4:55In that sense, being in motion became
4:58a way of procrastinating from taking the
5:00action that we actually need to take.
5:02So, in order to create this
5:04channel, I had to make tons
5:06and tons of plans.
5:07And even in this notebook that I
5:09have in my hand, I have a
5:10lot of planning related to different aspects
5:13of video shooting,
5:14such as: How should
5:15I streamline the production of my videos?
5:17What should I do about hiring?
5:19Which tasks I should outsource?
5:21Things like that.
5:21And I've made so many plans in
5:23different places, such as Google Drive.
5:25I've been using my physical notebook.
5:27I've also used planning softwares like Figma
5:30and note-taking softwares such as OneNote.
5:33And if planning is what you
5:35need at the moment, these are
5:36great tools to have.
5:37But I realized that I make
5:39too many plans than necessary.
5:41Most of the plans in this notebook,
5:43were never carried out and they
5:45were made based on what I think
5:47the future would be rather than what
5:48they actually turn out to be.
5:50And the reason why it's so hard
5:52to make the perfect plan for the
5:54future is because things are constantly happening
5:56and you can't take into account things
5:58that you simply don't know.
6:00We talked about the “unknown unknown” quadrant
6:03one time in one of our previous
6:04videos, and I would recommend you to
6:06check that video out as well if
6:07you're not familiar with the concept.
6:09There's always going to be things
6:11in the “unknown unknown” quadrant.
6:12You simply don't know
6:13what you don't know.
6:14So instead of spending so much time
6:16trying to come up with the perfect
6:17plan for the future, it is much
6:19wiser to let things happen
6:21and see how the reality actually plays out.
6:23Saying that is easy but
6:24doing that is extremely hard.
6:26When I first started recording videos,
6:27I also had a lot of
6:28hesitation about basically everything.
6:30I didn't realize I was a perfectionist, but
6:32I realized that I am because when
6:33I started to do videos, I realized
6:35that I had a lot of concerns.
6:37For one, I wanted to
6:38have a good format.
6:40I also wanted to know exactly
6:41what I would be talking about.
6:43When you are doing something completely new
6:44you feel like the world is a
6:46white piece of canvas and you also
6:48don't want your first stroke to mess
6:50up the entire picture.
6:51So, I made a
6:52series of different plans.
6:53I think I have at least
6:54three versions of how my first
6:56video would look like.
6:57And I went through
6:58a lot of iterations.
6:59And I was in motion for a
7:00long time but none of those motions
7:02were captured in any of my videos.
7:04When I eventually got started, I made
7:07this one video that was really short.
7:08It was probably around one minute, and
7:11I carefully scripted it, and I thought
7:12it was the best thing I could
7:14come up with at the time and
7:15then I filmed it in one afternoon.
7:17When I was editing that video,
7:19I knew that it was not great,
7:20but I still decided to
7:22release it because I wanted to
7:23put this thing in the world.
7:25I wanted to expose myself
7:26to the potential failure.
7:27I wanted to be able
7:28to receive some feedback.
7:29And having some real skin in the
7:31game would motivate me to improve.
7:33And looking back, that was
7:34the right decision to make.
7:36That was my first step that
7:37transitioned me out of being in
7:39motion to taking actions.
7:41I released on multiple platforms, and it
7:43got two-digit views and almost no likes
7:46except from those that I received from
7:48my closest friends and family.
7:49I realized that I have this
7:51mindset of going for perfection and
7:54I knew that it was a
7:55limiting mindset so I tried to
7:56expose myself to ideas that would
7:59encourage me to take more actions.
8:01Things like iteration.
8:03Iteration basically means that you create one
8:05version, and you make improvements constantly based
8:07off of that instead of trying to
8:09have one perfect solution from the onset.
8:14And there's also this idea called failing forward
8:17by John Maxwell which basically means
8:19that you have to continuously fail in
8:22order to move forward.
8:24This idea is encapsulated in a book
8:26that he has with the same name.
8:27And then there's this other
8:29quote from one of my
8:30favorite books by Reid Hoffman.
8:32His book is called
8:33The Startup of You.
8:34He is the founder of LinkedIn,
8:35which is a very popular professional
8:37networking website that is highly successful.
8:40He has this quote:
8:41if you're not embarrassed by the first version of
8:43your product, you've launched too late.
8:46And I think that quote really
8:48motivated me and inspired me to
8:50release the first video.
8:51And now I look back at it
8:53and when I see the quality was
8:55slightly embarrassing, I can say that I
8:57did the right thing.
8:58And after I released that first
9:00video, I continued to iterate and
9:02improve on my video content.
9:05First, by trying out a
9:06variety of different genres.
9:07My first one was an introduction
9:09of a mental model and then
9:11I experimented with unboxing videos,
9:14smoothie videos, and study tip videos.
9:17And now I'm transitioning into book videos.
9:19And I'm starting to enjoy this process
9:21of constant iteration from improving the sound
9:23quality to figuring out the best layout
9:26for the video to improving the editing
9:28techniques then to improving the workflow and
9:31actually starting to hire editors to manage
9:34this aspect of the work for me
9:35to improving the structure of the stories
9:38and upgrade my presentation skills.
9:40It is a constant journey of
9:42improvement but it's only able to
9:43happen because I have been taking
9:45actions and putting myself out there.
9:47I'm risking failure through these actions.
9:50And during this journey, I've received a
9:52lot of negative comments as well.
9:53The first time I ever received
9:55a negative comment, I was actually
9:57really proud of myself.
9:58Because I know that that's a sign
10:00that I'm actually taking actions and
10:02exposing myself to ridicule and criticism.
10:06And in my mind, having your reach
10:08access an audience that does not like
10:10your content is also a type of milestone,
10:13which means that I'm having a
10:15reach far enough that can impact a
10:17lot more people that would enjoy and
10:19benefit from my videos.
10:21And to me, that is
10:22extremely gratifying and motivating thing.
10:24And here the takeaway from this
10:25section of this chapter is that
10:27you really want to be practicing.
10:29In order to get good,
10:30in order to begin learning,
10:32you have to start practicing.
10:33He says if you want to master a habit,
10:35the key is to start with repetition, not perfection.
10:38You don't need to map out every
10:40single feature of a new habit, you
10:41just need to practice it.
10:43This is the first takeaway of
10:44the 3rd law, you just need
10:46to get your reps in.
10:47And the second idea we're going to
10:48talk about is how long does it
10:50take to form a new habit if
10:53it is not 21 days?
10:54In order to answer that question, we
10:56need to first understand two concepts.
10:59The first one is long-term potentiation.
11:01This term basically means that
11:03our brain structure literally changes
11:05based on its recent activity.
11:06There's a saying that neurons
11:08that fire together wire together.
11:11If you repeat the same action over and over,
11:14gradually, you begin to form a little pathway in
11:17your brain and the part of the
11:18brain that is responsible for that action
11:21also increases in volume.
11:23One example is taxi drivers.
11:25This one research done on taxi drivers
11:28in the UK shows that taxi drivers
11:31tend to have a bigger hippocampus than
11:33normal people but after they retire and
11:35stop driving for a while, researchers witness
11:38an atrophy in that part of the brain,
11:40meaning that the hippocampus becomes smaller
11:43and goes back to the size of normal people.
11:45The takeaway from that is
11:47if you don't use it, you lose it.
11:48If you use it a lot,
11:49it gets stronger.
11:50So, when we first do something, we
11:52usually feel a great level of difficulty,
11:55and this is because the brain pathway
11:57is not yet formed.
11:58Think about simple things like writing.
12:01The first time you picked
12:02up a pen and tried to
12:03write your own name, it was
12:05extremely difficult, but after a while
12:07it will become nearly effortless.
12:09Now when you pick up a
12:10pen and write your name, you
12:11can do it automatically.
12:12And the reason is because with
12:14enough repetition, your brain starts to
12:16identify this pattern and over time,
12:18the more you do it,
12:19the better at it you become.
12:20One of my personal examples
12:22comes from Latin dancing.
12:23I took my first legit Latin dance
12:26class when I was 22 or 23 years old.
12:29The instructors were all from very
12:31prestigious, top of the industry schools and
12:34they were amazing at what they do.
12:36And all the students were also
12:38super super impressive and individually
12:41anyone of them look like they've
12:42been doing that for ages.
12:44So, I went into the class, and
12:46I was super clumsy, and I tried
12:49to imitate the movements that everybody else
12:51was doing and before doing that class
12:53I didn't even realize that there's so
12:55many parts of my body and there's
12:56different requirements for moving each part of
12:59your body and there's very specific requirements
13:02to exactly how you should move.
13:03As the class went on, the teacher
13:05continued to add on different requirements to
13:07our movements, but as someone that was
13:10new to this dance form, it was
13:12impossible for my brain to grasp so
13:14many concepts that I was able to
13:17simply move my legs like this.
13:19It was extremely basic and that's all
13:21I could muster while trying to move
13:23my hands kind of like this.
13:24And now when I look back
13:25on the videos that I took
13:27of myself, I could see how
13:29bad I was at doing that.
13:31But I told myself, okay, every
13:32class we just focus on one thing
13:34and we get it down.
13:35And next time we'll
13:35focus on something else.
13:37Because I really love the dance, I
13:38was fascinated by it, I went to
13:40dance classes every day for six months
13:42straight and I could see visibly my
13:45improvement during that time period and every
13:48single time that I go to class
13:50again I could feel that my body was
13:52more agile compared to the last time.
13:55At the very beginning, I couldn't
13:57even control my own body but
13:59at the end, more and more
14:00actions started to feel automatic.
14:02Before, I had to consciously control my
14:04legs to do certain movements and think
14:07about my arms at the same time.
14:09But as I continue to repeat those
14:11movements, I feel like once the instructor
14:13says start, I can move my body
14:15voluntarily while focusing on the one or two
14:18things that he or she emphasizes on
14:20And here I want to introduce
14:21another concept called automaticity.
14:24Here is a graph that demonstrates
14:28what the process looks like.
14:29So here there's two axes.
14:32On the x-axis it means the number of repetitions
14:34and the y-axis represents how
14:37automatic this process is for you,
14:39meaning that the lower you are on the y-axis,
14:41the more effortful it is, and
14:45when you first start doing the activity,
14:47the number of repetitions is relatively low,
14:49and it requires a high amount of
14:51effort to do that activity.
14:53As you continue to put in
14:54more reps and you reach B,
14:56it becomes more effortless.
14:58Then as you continue on to practice,
15:00you start to reach this point C,
15:02and this is the point where the
15:04action is already automatic.
15:05It means that you don't have
15:07to consciously think about the action
15:09in order to do it.
15:10It has become a habit.
15:12And this line over here called the habit line.
15:14It marks whether an action
15:16is still effortful or effortless.
15:19The right question to ask is not
15:20how long does it take to
15:21form a habit, but rather
15:22how many repetitions does it take
15:24to make a habit automatic?
15:25Once you've put in enough repetitions
15:27to make a habit automatic, you
15:28can perform it effortlessly and automatically.
15:31In order to pass the habit line,
15:32you have to have enough number of
15:34successful attempts for the behavior to be
15:37deeply embedded in your brain.
15:39And I'll close this video with a quote,
15:41focus on taking action not being in motion.
15:44Question for today is:
15:45what do you want to take more actions on?
15:48Please leave me a comment, like the
15:50video, and share it with your friends.
15:51Make sure to subscribe to the channel
15:53to get notified on the latest releases.
15:55I'll see you again next time.

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