ATOMIC HABITS
JAMES CLEAR
CHAPTER 7
THE SECRET TO SELF-CONTROL

As we continued our study this evening in the book by James Clear Atomic Habits. We have arrived safely at chapter 7, which is entitled, The Secret of Self-Control. In this Chapter, James Clear discusses self-control, willpower, and other things that are supposed to stop you and I from practicing bad habits.
James Clear provides us with a true-life story of the soldiers in the Vietnam War in 1971, who were heroin addicts. It was discovered by two congressmen, who while visiting the troops learned that over 15 percent of U.S. soldiers were addicted to heroin. Further study showed that 35 percent of the service members in Vietnam had tried the drug and as many as 20 percent were addicted to it – the problem was worse than they had previously projected. The government later created and establish a Drug Abuse prevention Office to track and rehabilitate these soldiers once they returned home.
Once the soldiers returned home it was later discovered that only five percent of them became re-addicted within a year and just 12 percent in three years. Thus, nine out of every ten soldiers who used heroin in Vietnam eliminated the addiction nearly overnight. This discovery contradicted the prevailing view at the time, which “considered heroin addiction to be a permanent and irreversible condition.” However, the findings revealed that addictions could naturally dissolve if there was a radical change in the environment.
The point that James Clear is making by using this story as his premise is that the environment that the soldiers were in (Vietnam) triggered the continual use of heroin, thus once their environment was changed by returning to the U.S. which was apparently an environment devoid of those triggers, it gave most the soldiers a better chance of recovery. Thus, when the context changed, so did the habit – this is what James Clear calls “the inversion of the 1st law of behavioral change is to “make it invisible.” Because once a habit is formed, it is unlikely to be forgotten. And that is because habits are wired deeply in our brains that many of them are never be erased, most will never be removed, some will never go away.
The people who are appear disciplined are seemingly better at structuring their lives in a way that does not require heroic will-power and self-control. And that is because they spend less time in tempting situations.
James Clear suggests that simply resisting temptation is an ineffective strategy. It is only good for a season helping us to choose to overpower and overcome temptation at the moment, but in the long run, we become a product of the environment we live in, and therefore old habits are easy to come by or resurface. So, he suggests, instead of calling a new dose of will-power whenever we want to do the right thing, he articulates that ‘your energy would be better spent optimizing your environment.’
James Clear states that a habit cannot be broken; instead, we must try to avoid the environment that sparks the habit, and for some, this can mean exerting tremendous self-control.
‘People with high self-control tend to spend less time in tempting situations’ says James. ‘It’s easier to avoid temptation than to resist it’. He introduces the view that by minimizing our exposure to a habit – we need to avoid certain situations, and by avoiding such, it is possible to eliminate poor behaviors.
James Clear suggests some things you and I can do to lessen bad habits and cut them off at the source. He says, to lessen bad habits we must reduce exposure to the triggers that causes them.
1. Make it invisible.
2. Spend less time in tempting situations.
3. It is easier to avoid temptation than to resist it.
4. Self-control is a short-term strategy, not a long-term one.
James Clear then gives us some practical steps to create a good habit. He says, we do it by the first law of behavioral change:
Law 1: Make it Obvious
1. Create and fill out the habit scorecard and write down your current habits to become more aware of them.
2. Put in to use the implementation intentions. I will [behavior] at [time] in [location].
3. Practice the use of habit stacking. After I [current habit] I will [new habit].
4. Redesign your environment, make the cues of good habits obvious and visible.
5. Reduce exposure, by removing the cues of bad habits from your environment. (inversion of the first law) make them invisible.
Here are some practical spiritual principles to help us avoid temptations or tricky situations in life.
1. Remove the temptation by making it invisible (Matthew 6:13).
And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from the evil one.
2. Runaway from temptations that trigger bad habits (2 Timothy 2:22).
Flee the evil desires of youth and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.
3. Refrain yourself more from tempting situations (1 Peter 5:8-9).
Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings.
4. Resisting is good but not enough, it’s better to avoid temptation (1 Thessalonians 4:3).
It is God’s will that you should be sanctified: that you should avoid sexual immorality; that each of you should learn to control your own body in a way that is holy and honorable, not in passionate lust like the heathen, who do not know God; and that in this matter no one should wrong or take advantage of a brother or sister. The Lord will punish all those who commit such sins, as we told you and warned you before.
5. Reduce your exposure to the temptation that causes the habit to be performed (James 1:13-15).
When tempted, no one should say, “God is tempting me.” For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. Then, after desire has been conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.
6. Remember that self-control is a short-term strategy, not a long-term one, but being Spirit-controlled is a long-term strategy, not a short-term long one (Galatians 5:16).
So, I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. flesh. For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other so that you do not do what you want.
7. Rely on God in every situation (1 Corinthians 10:13).
No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.