James Clear所著的Atomic Habits一书是(Atomic Habits)当今市场(market today)上最受欢迎的自助书籍之一。我们不会深入探讨本书的内容，但在本文中，您将学习如何利用Google 日历对(Google Calendar)James在其书中强调的关键行为采取行动。
完成本文后，您将拥有一个Google 日历系统(Google Calendar system)，该系统将帮助您养成新习惯以实现您的人生目标，并消除阻碍您前进的坏习惯。
什么是原子习惯？
在他的《原子习惯(Atomic Habits)》一书中，詹姆斯·克利尔(James Clear)深入探讨了为什么有些人能够坚持好习惯并将坏习惯改掉的背后的心理学。
他的自助书的主要内容是：
- 生活中的成功来自于好习惯所创造的小而渐进的改进。
- 与其专注于大局目标，不如专注于开发一个有效的基于习惯的系统。
- (Change)通过分析你的“理想”身份来(” identity)改变习惯，并塑造你的习惯来支持那个身份——(identity –)你想成为什么样的人。
本书最重要的内容是行为改变的(Behavior Change)四大法则(Four Laws)。
- 让它显而易见(Make it obvious)：写下你现有的习惯，包括你想改掉的坏习惯，以及你想养成的新习惯。
- 使其具有吸引力(Make it attractive)：将您喜欢做的习惯与您需要做但可能不太喜欢的习惯配对。
- 让它变得简单(Make it easy)：设置您的环境，以便在早上很容易做健康早餐之类的事情，并包括会触发该习惯的提醒。
- 让它令人满意(Make it satisfying)：当你完成它时，通过在日历或白板上检查它来跟踪你的习惯。
根据Clear的说法，您的环境是促进变革的关键因素。如果您每天都使用Google 日历，则可以对其进行调整，以支持您为改变行为所做的努力。(Google Calendar)
1.为Google 日历(Google Calendar)做好准备(Habits Ready)
如果你还没有读过这本书（但你应该读过！）我将引导你完成一些快速的步骤来收集你的习惯，以准备将它们加载到Google 日历(Google Calendar)中。
这个想法是你需要从你的“身份”列表(” list)到实际的习惯及其频率。这是“让它显而易见”的部分。谷歌表格电子表格(Google Sheets spreadsheet)是用于此目的的完美工具。
创建三个名为Identity、Habits和Frequency的列。
(Fill)使用上面的简单示例作为指南填写电子表格。身份栏(identity column)应该是个人身份陈述，形成您对自己作为一个人的核心积极信念 。
习惯栏(Habits column)列出了支持这些积极身份的日常习惯。最后，频率栏(Frequency column)将详细说明您计划多久养成这些积极习惯。
注意(Note)：此过程不包括改掉坏习惯，因为Google 日历(Google Calendar)主要是您用来鼓励和养成好习惯的工具。如果您也有兴趣学习如何改掉坏习惯，请 阅读Atomic Habits 。
2.将习惯(Habits)安排为谷歌日历(Google Calendar)事件
拿着你的清单，用你的谷歌账户(Google account)登录谷歌日历(log in to Google Calendar)（在calendar.google.com），从你想养成这个习惯的本周开始，创建一个新活动。这将实现习惯规划(habit planning)的“轻松”部分(” part)。
Google 日历(Google Calendar)中未启用默认提醒，因此您需要自定义这些活动详细信息以适应您的习惯。
例如，如果我想每天做三个 60 秒的平板支撑，我会在早上准备工作之前尝试做第一件事。这意味着我需要在 6:30 为该习惯发送一天事件通知。(day event notification)
为确保每天都提醒您这样做，请将下拉重复频率(recurring frequency)（默认设置为“不重复”）设置为您想要养成该习惯的频率。
在这种情况下，我想每天在准备工作之前执行此操作，因此正确的频率是将下拉菜单设置为Every weekday。
为自己的习惯选择合适的频率。
接下来，您将希望在时机成熟时收到提醒。默认(Default)通知添加了贪睡延迟。要解决此问题，请单击添加通知(Add notification)并将暂停时间设置为事件前0 分钟(0 minutes)。
按照您定义的频率，完成 您想要确保每周或每月执行的每个习惯。(week or month)
例如，一旦我在Google 日历中设置了我的(Google Calendar)晨间习惯(morning habit routine)，早上的日程安排(morning schedule)如下所示：
这些习惯中的每一个都包括自动重复设置和为早上那个时间配置的通知。
3.设置你不能错过的清晰通知(Miss)
Google 日历(Google Calendar)的优点在于，无论您身在何处，无论是在台式机或笔记本电脑(desktop or laptop)上工作，还是在您离开计算机并携带手机时，都可以确保通知发生。
为确保您的计算机上出现弹出窗口，请登录Google 日历(Google Calendar)并选择齿轮图标以打开Google 日历(Google Calendar)设置。
从左侧窗格(left pane)中选择通知(Notification)设置，然后在右侧调整以下设置：
- 通知(Notifications)：桌面通知
- 显示延后通知(Show snoozed notifications)：事件前 0 分钟
- 播放通知声音(Play notification sounds)：已启用
- 仅当我回答“是”或“可能”时才通知我(Notify me only if I have responded “Yes” or “Maybe”)：已禁用。
桌面弹出(Desktop pop-up)通知在这里更好，因为否则推送通知将转到Gmail。通过电子邮件通知，您更有可能在需要养成习惯的时候看不到它们。
接下来，您还需要在移动设备上设置Google 日历应用程序(Google Calendar app)以接收活动通知。确保您已在 Android或iOS 设备上安装了(on your iOS device)Google 日历(Google Calendar on your Android)。
启动应用程序，选择左上角的汉堡“菜单”图标，然后选择(” icon)设置(Settings)。
在设置菜单中，点击常规(General)。
在常规菜单中，选择在此设备上启用通知(Notify on this device)，然后点击日历通知(Calendar notifications)。
在通知菜单(Notification menu)中，调整以下设置：
- 显示通知(Show notifications)：已启用
- 警报(Alert)：已选择
- 显示为弹出窗口(Show as pop-up)：已启用
- 声音(Sound)：选择您喜欢的任何警报声音
- 忽略请勿打扰(Ignore Do not disturb)：调整您是否想要通知，即使启用了请勿打扰。
完成后，无论您是在使用计算机还是只是携带手机，都不会收到提醒您养成积极习惯的提醒。由于大多数人将手机用作闹钟(alarm clock)，因此手机也是接收早晨习惯(morning habit)提醒的好方法。
4.使用应用程序使其有(Apps)吸引力(Attractive)并令人满意
你需要确保你被驱使保持这些习惯的最后一件事是让倾听你的谷歌日历(Google Calendar)提醒而不是忽视它们变得有吸引力和令人满意。
为了使它具有吸引力，您应该遵循与事件相关的习惯，养成您喜欢(love)做(have)的习惯。
例如，我想在一周中的几天去健身房。我也想和我的妻子共度时光。我们喜欢一起看Netflix电影，所以我在健身房活动后配对了这项活动。第二天，我们在健身房后点了一份健康的Doordash 餐(Doordash meal)，作为一周一次成功锻炼的奖励。
显然，你不想养成吸引人的坏习惯——比如吸烟或饮酒——(smoking or drinking alcohol –)作为奖励。但是，通过以有趣的好习惯来遵循艰难的好习惯，你会让那些更难的习惯更具吸引力。之后你有一些期待！
为了使整理习惯令人满意，使用目标跟踪应用程序是个好主意。我选择的目标跟踪应用程序是Timecap，它适用于 Android(available for both Android)或iPhone(for iPhone)。这是一款付费应用，但还有很多其他免费的目标跟踪应用(goal-tracking apps)。
有很多心理学研究表明，在诸如目标跟踪应用程序之类的东西中检查已完成的习惯的行为可以满足并激励我们。如果应用程序创建了您连续多次成功完成习惯的“连续”时期，则尤其如此。
开始积极的习惯并改善自己(Start Positive Habits and Improve Yourself)
不要像其他人一样，在一月(January)的第三周之前放弃所有的新年决心。通过更多地考虑您想要建立的习惯，并使用Google 日历和目标(Google Calendar and goal)跟踪应用程序等工具，您将创建一个系统，让您始终如一地实现您的习惯（和目标）。
请记住(Remember)，生活中的每一项重大成就都来自于随着时间的推移非常小的、渐进的改进。因此，建立您的系统，并开始进行这些改进。
How to Use Google Calendar Notifications to Support Atomic Habits
The book Atomic Habits, by James Clear, is one of the most popular self-help books on the market today. We won’t dive too deeply into the content of this book, but in this article you’ll learn how to utilize Google Calendar to take action on the key behaviors James highlights in his book.
When you’re done with this article, you’ll have a Google Calendar system that will help you create new habits to hit your life goals, and end bad habits that are holding you back.
What Is Atomic Habits?
In his book Atomic Habits, James Clear dives deeply into the psychology behind why some people are able to make good habits stick, and put bad habits to bed.
The key takeaways from his self-help book are:
- Success in life comes from small, incremental improvements over time, created by good habits.
- Rather than focusing on big-picture goals, focus on developing an effective habits-based system.
- Change habits by analyzing your “ideal” identity, and crafting your habits to support that identity – who you wish to become.
The most important takeaway of this book is the Four Laws of Behavior Change.
- Make it obvious: Write down your existing habits, including the bad ones you want to get rid of, and the new ones you want to create.
- Make it attractive: Pair a habit that you enjoy doing after a habit you need to do but may not enjoy quite as much.
- Make it easy: Set up your environment so that things like making a healthy breakfast are very easy to do in the morning, and include reminders that’ll trigger that habit.
- Make it satisfying: Track your habit by checking it off on a calendar or whiteboard whenever you complete it that day.
According to Clear, your environment is the key element that fosters change. If you use Google Calendar every day anyway, you can tailor it in a way that supports your efforts toward behavior change.
1. Get Your Habits Ready for Google Calendar
If you haven’t read this book yet (but you should!) I will walk you through quick steps to collect your habits in preparation for loading them into Google Calendar.
The idea is that you need to work your way from your “identity” list to the actual habits and their frequency. This is the “make it obvious” part. A Google Sheets spreadsheet is the perfect tool to use for this.
Create three columns called Identity, Habits, and Frequency.
Fill out the spreadsheet using the simple examples above as a guide. The identity column should be personal identity statements that form the core positive beliefs you have about who you are as a person.
The Habits column lists daily habits that support those positive identities. And finally, the Frequency column will detail how often you plan to practice those positive habits.
Note: This process will not cover stopping bad habits, because Google Calendar is primarily the tool you’ll use to encourage and initiate good habits. Read Atomic Habits if you’re interested in learning how to stop bad habits as well.
2. Schedule Habits as Google Calendar Events
With your list in one hand, log in to Google Calendar (at calendar.google.com) with your Google account and starting with the day of this week that you want to start the habit, create a new event. This will achieve the “make it easy” part of habit planning.
Default reminders aren’t enabled in Google Calendar, so you’ll need to customize these event details to work for your habits.
For example, if I want to do three 60 second planks every day, I’ll try doing them first thing in the morning before I get ready for work. This means I need a day event notification at 6:30 for that habit.
To ensure you’re reminded to do this every day, set the dropdown recurring frequency (set to “Do not repeat” by default) to the frequency you want to do that habit.
In this case, I want to do this every day before getting ready for work, so the right frequency for that is to set the dropdown to Every weekday.
Choose the right frequency for your own habit.
Next, you’ll want to receive a reminder when the time comes. Default notifications have a snooze delay added to them. To fix this, click Add notification and set the snooze to 0 minutes before the event.
Work through each of the habits you want to make sure you’re doing each week or month, on the frequency that you’ve defined.
For example, once I’m done setting up my morning habit routine in Google Calendar, the morning schedule looks like this:
Each of these habits includes the automatic recurring setting and a notification configured for that time in the morning.
3. Set Up Clear Notifications You Can’t Miss
The great thing about Google Calendar is that you can make sure notifications occur wherever you are, whether that’s working on your desktop or laptop, or when you’re away from the computer and carrying your phone.
To ensure you get a pop-up on your computer, log in to Google Calendar and select the gear icon to open Google Calendar settings.
Select Notification settings from the left pane, and on the right adjust the following settings:
- Notifications: Desktop notifications
- Show snoozed notifications: 0 minutes before event
- Play notification sounds: Enabled
- Notify me only if I have responded “Yes” or “Maybe”: Disabled.
Desktop pop-up notifications are better here, since otherwise push notifications will go to Gmail. With email notifications, you’re more likely not to see them the moment you need to do the habit.
Next, you’ll want to set up the Google Calendar app on your mobile device to receive event notifications as well. Make sure you’ve installed Google Calendar on your Android or on your iOS device.
Launch the app, select the hamburger “menu” icon at the upper left, and select Settings.
In the settings menu, tap General.
In the General menu, select enable Notify on this device, and then tap Calendar notifications.
In the Notification menu, adjust the following settings:
- Show notifications: Enabled
- Alert: Selected
- Show as pop-up: Enabled
- Sound: Choose any alert sound you prefer
- Ignore Do not disturb: Adjust to whether you’d like notifications even with Do not disturb enabled.
Once you’re done, you’ll not receive reminders to do your positive habits whether you’re working on your computer or just carrying your phone. Since most people use their phone as their alarm clock, the phone is a great way to receive morning habit reminders as well.
4. Make It Attractive and Satisfying With Apps
The last thing you’ll need to ensure you’re driven to keep doing these habits is to make it attractive and satisfying to listen to your Google Calendar reminders rather than ignoring them.
To make it attractive, you should follow a habit you have to do with an event for a habit that you love to do.
For example, I want to hit the gym a couple of days during the week. I also want to spend time with my wife. We love watching Netflix movies together, so I pair that activity after the gym event. The next day, we order a healthy Doordash meal after the gym as a once-per-week reward for successfully working out that week.
Obviously, you don’t want to create attractive habits that are bad – like smoking or drinking alcohol – as a reward. But by following tough good habits with fun good habits, you’re making those more difficult habits more attractive. You have something to look forward to afterward!
To make finishing habits satisfying, it’s a good idea to use a goal-tracking app. My goal tracking app of choice is Timecap, which is available for both Android or for iPhone. This is a paid app, but there are plenty of other free goal-tracking apps out there.
There is a lot of psychological research that shows the action of checking off completed habits in something like a goal-tracking app satisfies and motivates us. This is especially true if the app creates “streaks” of periods where you’ve successfully completed the habit many times in a row.
Start Positive Habits and Improve Yourself
Don’t be like everyone else and give up all of your New Year’s resolutions by the third week of January. By giving more thought to which habits you want to establish, and using tools like Google Calendar and goal tracking apps, you’ll create a system that will keep you achieving your habits (and your goals) on a consistent basis.
Remember, every big accomplishment in life comes from very small, incremental improvements over time. So establish your system, and start making those improvements.
