Atomic habits by James Clear builds a lot off of Tiny Habits. It summarises much of the academic literature on habit formation and breaking techniques. James Clear suggests that any habit can be formed by manipulating certain variables to allow them to be integrated with your identity by:
- making the habit easier/harder to do (friction)
- making the habit more satisfying/unsatisfying to do (appeal)
- make the habit more or less visible to you with visual cues
By manipulating these different variables, habits can be easier to break or form. Once a habit has been truly formed, It often becomes integrated with our identity. We associate ourselves with the habit and when it is that ingrained its very difficult to break (for better or worse).