The Setup

After listening to James Clear’s Atomic Habits for the third time, I decided to stop being inspired and start implementing. Here’s what I learned from 90 days of deliberate habit design.

The Framework (Quick Recap)

Clear’s core insight: Forget about goals, focus on systems.

The four laws of behavior change:

  1. Make it obvious (Cue)
  2. Make it attractive (Craving)
  3. Make it easy (Response)
  4. Make it satisfying (Reward)

My Experiment: 5 Habits

I chose five habits to build over 90 days:

1. Morning Meditation (10 minutes)

Implementation:

  • Obvious: Meditation cushion next to bed
  • Attractive: Morning coffee after meditation
  • Easy: Started with 2 minutes, scaled up
  • Satisfying: Checkmark on wall calendar

Result: 87/90 days completed. The key was tying it to coffee - my brain learned that meditation = coffee permission.

2. Daily Writing (300 words)

Implementation:

  • Obvious: Laptop open on desk with blank document
  • Attractive: “No writing = no breakfast” rule
  • Easy: 300 words minimum (often wrote 1000+)
  • Satisfying: Watch word count grow

Result: 82/90 days. Struggled on travel days until I switched to phone notes.

3. Evening Gratitude (3 items)

Implementation:

  • Obvious: Journal on nightstand
  • Attractive: Paired with calming tea
  • Easy: Just 3 bullet points
  • Satisfying: Re-reading past entries

Result: 90/90 days. Easiest habit to maintain.

4. Reading (20 pages)

Implementation:

  • Obvious: Book on pillow
  • Attractive: “This replaces phone scrolling” mindset
  • Easy: Physical books (easier on eyes)
  • Satisfying: Track books completed

Result: 85/90 days. Read 7 books in 90 days.

5. Exercise (30 minutes)

Implementation:

  • Obvious: Gym clothes laid out night before
  • Attractive: Great playlist + podcast
  • Easy: Home workouts on lazy days
  • Satisfying: Fitness tracker stats

Result: 78/90 days. Hardest to maintain during illness.

Key Insights

1. Identity Shift is Real

By day 60, I wasn’t trying to meditate - I was a person who meditates. Subtle difference, massive impact.

2. Environment Design Matters More Than Willpower

The habits with the best environmental cues (meditation cushion visible, journal on nightstand) had the highest completion rates.

3. Start Absurdly Small

The “2-minute rule” isn’t a gimmick. My meditation habit only stuck because I started with 2 minutes, not 20.

4. Miss Once, Not Twice

Clear’s advice: Missing once is an accident. Missing twice is the start of a new (bad) habit. This rule saved my streaks multiple times.

5. Habit Stacking Works

Meditation → Coffee → Writing became one fluid sequence. My brain stopped seeing them as separate tasks.

The Unexpected Benefits

Beyond the habits themselves:

  • Increased sense of agency
  • Better self-trust (I do what I say)
  • Reduced decision fatigue
  • Compound effects (meditation improved writing, reading improved meditation)

The Failures

Not everything worked:

  • Cold showers - Lasted 12 days, couldn’t make it attractive enough
  • No phone before noon - Too much friction with work requirements
  • Learning Spanish - Didn’t connect it to existing habits

The Debug Perspective

As a developer, I realized habit formation is like:

class Habit {
  constructor(behavior, cue, reward) {
    this.behavior = behavior;
    this.cue = cue;
    this.reward = reward;
    this.streak = 0;
  }

  execute() {
    if (this.cue.isObvious() &&
        this.behavior.isEasy() &&
        this.reward.isSatisfying()) {
      this.streak++;
      return true;
    }
    return false;
  }
}

No willpower required - just good system design.

Resources

  • Book: Atomic Habits by James Clear
  • App: Habit tracking apps (I used a simple spreadsheet)
  • Community: r/theXeffect on Reddit

Next Steps

Going forward:

  • Maintain current habits with minimal effort
  • Add 1-2 new habits using proven framework
  • Focus on subtraction (breaking bad habits) next

What habits are you building? What’s your biggest challenge?