In this solo video, habit coach Morgan (The Habits Coach) explains a simple, research‑backed formula for forming new habits, drawn from James Clear’s Atomic Habits. He recounts a study of about 250 participants split into three groups: a control group that only tracked exercise, a motivational‑talk group that also received information about exercise benefits, and a third group that received the same motivational talk but was required to write a concrete implementation‑intention plan (“During the next week, I will partake in at least 20 minutes of vigorous exercise on [day] at [time] in [place]"). The study found that the planning group exercised roughly twice as often as the other two groups. Morgan distills this into the actionable formula: “I will perform X behavior at Y time in Z location.” He emphasizes that clarity—specifying time and location—is the key cue for habit success, and urges viewers to apply the formula to double their chances of sticking to any new habit. The video ends with a typical YouTube call‑to‑action for likes, comments, and subscriptions.
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What's up guys, Morgan here, The Habits Coach. And today I want to share with you the best way to start a new habit. And specifically, I actually want to share with you a formula that is going to make it twice as likely that you will succeed with your new habit. So this is, um, this is a formula that I'm pulling from, uh, James, James Clear's book Atomic Habits. Um, And it's basically called an implementation intention. So before I get into this, what this formula is, I'm first going to tell you a little story and kind of explain the context around this formula, if you will. So basically, there was a study that was done. They took like 250 people and they divided them into 3 groups. So one group was a control group and they were trying to get these people to exercise more, right? So one group was a control group. And they, they just were asked to track how much they exercise. The second group, they were also asked to track how much they exercise, but they were also instructed to read some motivational material on the benefits of exercise, and they had to sit through a presentation on, you know, the— what would, you know, the benefits it has on like your health and your, you know, heart disease and all this kind of stuff, right? So they were a little different than the first group because they also had that little bit of motivation. But then the third group, they also had that same motivational talk and they had to sort of go through what the benefits of exercise were. So they still had the motivation, but here's the key difference. They were asked to get clarity. They were asked to formulate a plan on when and where they were going to do the exercise, right? And the specific formula really is is, you know, what day— they had to actually— they had to— I'll read you the sentence they had to write out. They had to write out, "During the next week, I will partake in at least 20 minutes of vigorous exercise on certain day, certain time, in certain place." Right? And the results of this study were pretty substantial. So this is what's interesting. The control group and the group that had the motivational talk but didn't make a plan they both exercised at the same amount. It was like 35% of them exercised at least once a week or something like that. Um, but they both exercised the same amount. The crazy thing is the people who simply had to write down that one sentence about what day, what time, and what place they were doing the exercise doubled the rate of success, right? They exercised twice as much as the other two groups. So what can you take from this, right? Really what you can take from this is that, that clarity is king. And the two— what does he have in this book— is the two most common cues that can trigger a habit are time and location. And simply by making a plan of when and where you're going to do what you say you're— you want to do, it's going to double your chances of success. So That's a crazy stat. Clarity is king. Making a plan is huge. And to do this for yourself, literally apply the same strategy. And the formula he has in the book is, "I will perform X behavior at Y time in Z location." I was like, "What's what comes after?" Anyways, hilarious. But that's pretty much it. Make a plan. It's going to double your chances of success. I hope this helps you with whatever habit you are trying to implement. And as always, if you liked this video, let me know, give me a like, um, leave me a comment down below. Do you think this is helpful? Yes or no? And if you're on YouTube, hit that subscribe button and I will see you for the next video.
