THE 4TH LAW BASICS
The main idea behind the 4th Law of Behavior Change.
What is “Make it satisfying”?
A visual tool used to track your habits and encourage consistency.
What is a habit tracker?
Positive reinforcement increases the likelihood of this.
What is repeating the habit?
A written agreement that creates consequences if you fail a habit.
Clear warns not to confuse being satisfied with being this, which can kill consistency
What is complacent?
Habits become more likely to stick when followed immediately by this psychological effect.
What is a sense of pleasure or reward?
Habit tracking works effectively because it provides this type of immediate feedback.
What is visual or tangible feedback?
Clear recommends pairing habits with this type of reward to make them stick.
What is immediate gratification?
Pairing a habit with a pleasurable activity.
What is temptation bundling?
Method of transferring units from one jar to another to track completion of daily goal.
What is the paper clip method?
To make a habit stick, James Clear recommends creating this type of feedback loop.
What is a positive reinforcement loop?
Pairing a habit streak with this can increase satisfaction and motivation.
What is a reward?
Delayed rewards make habits harder to maintain due to this.
What is lack of immediate satisfaction?
Having this person can make habits more satisfying and consistent.
What is an accountability partner?
According to James Clear, a habit must be immediately satisfying because our brains evolved in this kind of environment, not a delayed-return society.
What is an immediate-return environment?
The immediate feeling after completing a habit affects this.
What is whether the habit will be repeated or stick?
This effect motivates people to maintain streaks on habit trackers.
What is the “don’t break the chain” effect?
Negative reinforcement strengthens habits by doing this.
What is making it an unpleasant consequence?
Principle for creating a strong accountability system.
What is making the consequence immediate, tangible, and meaningful?
According to James Clear, success in building lasting habits is not about making perfect decisions every day but about this — showing up and doing the work even when it’s not ideal.
What is maintaining consistency and getting back on track quickly?
Habits that are naturally enjoyable are easier to maintain because of this.
What is intrinsic satisfaction?
James Clear says this about missing days?
What is "never miss twice"?
Combining habit tracking with this creates a strong reinforcement loop.
What is immediate gratification or a satisfying reward?
James Clear cites this psychological principle—when others watch us, we perform better.
What is the Hawthorne effect (or social pressure)?
This “law of compounding” shows that small losses are fine as long as you quickly get back on track.
What is the accumulation of marginal gains (or the law of compounding habits) ?