How to become vegan using atomic habits.

Because being vegan is just mindless habit.

Being vegan isn’t something you do. It’s something you are.

Previously we discussed teachings by Aristotle that support this concept of BEING vegan rather than GOING vegan.

Being vegan is just habit.

Today let’s talk about how to build that habit.

FYI: An audio version of this article is available (scroll to the end of the article), for paid subscribers only.

POV: You’ve just gone vegan.

“Ok, I’m doing it. I’m going vegan.”

You do the following steps:

1. You get rid of your non-vegan products.

2. You go to the grocery store and spend $100 on their replacements. Vegan chicken, vegan ice cream, vegan milk, vegan cleaning products, you have it all now.

3. You continue your life as normal. You’re vegan now!

But you’ll quit in a week. Guaranteed.

Yes, you took one large action (the replenishment of your products) in order to “go” vegan.

But as a vegan, there are countless habits that we have developed that are unfamiliar to non-vegans.

You’ll fail because you didn’t change any of your habits. You’re still a meat eater, by habit.

If you want to go vegan: make being vegan your habit.

How to form habits

The best book on this topic is Atomic Habits by James Clear. It’s a “practical guide on how to change your habits and get 1% better everyday.”

Atomic Habits teaches a simple set of rules for creating good habits and breaking bad ones.

Let’s talk about the 3 key takeaways (paraphrased) from Atomic Habits and how they can be applied to being vegan. Not GOING vegan. BEING vegan.

Remember, we’re approaching veganism as a state of being, as a habit, as a mindless routine that we follow.

1. Small habits make a difference

Small changes - atomic changes - can have huge effects. If you get 1 percent better each day for one year, you’ll end up thirty-seven times better by the time you’re done. Conversely, if you get 1 percent worse each day for one year, you’ll decline nearly down to zero. What starts as a small win or a minor setback accumulates into something much more.

It doesn’t matter how successful or unsuccessful you are right now. What matters is whether your habits are putting you on the path toward success.

🌱 Small habits that can help you become vegan:

• Read 1 ingredient label each time you’re at the grocery store. Just one!

• Don’t replace your entire pantry right now. Start small: just buy non-dairy milk.

2. Form systems, not goals

You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems.

Goals are about the results you want to achieve. E.g., “I want to go vegan”.

Systems are about the processes that lead to those results.

If you’re having trouble changing your habits, the problem isn’t you! The problem is your system. Bad habits repeat themselves again and again not because you don’t want to change, but because you have the wrong system in place for change.

🌱 System that can help you become vegan:

• Read ingredient labels when you’re at the grocery store.

• Buy vegan products when you’re at the grocery store.

Notice how the same action (buying vegan products, reading labels) can be formulated as either a small change or a system. Start small, then make it into a system once the small change has become a habit.

3. Build identity-based habits

The key to building lasting habits is to first focus on creating a new identity. E.g., “I’m vegan.”

Your current behaviours are simply a reflection of your current identity.

Try to become the mirror image of the type of person that you believe you are.

To change your behavior for good, you need to start believing new things about yourself. You need to build identity-based habits.

But changing your beliefs isn’t nearly as hard as you might think. There are two steps.

1. Decide the type of person you want to be.

2. Prove it to yourself with small wins.

Your identity emerges out of your habits. Every action is a vote for the type of person you wish to become.

🌱 Identity-based habits to help you become vegan:

1. Decide that you are vegan.

2. Prove it to yourself by:

   1. Reading ingredient labels.

   2. Buying vegan products.

POV: You’ve just gone vegan, but you know about atomic habits.

“Ok, I’m doing it. I’m going vegan. But I’m going to apply the Atomic Habits framework!”

You do the following steps:

1. You tell yourself you ARE vegan. You aren’t GOING vegan. You’ve become someone who is vegan.

2. You confirm that this is, in fact, the person you want to be.

3. You create a system of atomic habits to prove to yourself that you’re vegan.

You commit to small changes, and you commit to revisiting these small changes every week.

Week 1: Reading product labels

You commit to reading the labels on products before buying them. That’s it. Nothing more than that.

You don’t change anything else about your grocery shopping habits. Your atomic habit is reading product labels.

You allow yourself to take whatever action you want after that - you’re just developing that habit of reading product labels. Because that’s what you do as a vegan.

After even just a week you find that reading product labels has become a habit.

Week 2: Reading product labels and buying vegan products

You add to your existing habit.

You read labels, AND you only buy the products if they’re vegan. Because that’s what you do as a vegan.

Maybe you’re still buying ground beef because there’s no label to read. But right now, that’s ok. You’re building the habit.

Week 3: Reading product labels, buying vegan products, and buying tofu instead of meat

You add to the habit. You read labels, you buy the products only if they’re vegan, AND you commit to buying tofu instead of ground beef.

Your goal is to be vegan, sure, but the way you achieve it is through your system: You add a new small change to your routine every week.

Each small change, after a week, becomes habit. Each habit gets you one step closer to being vegan. Soon enough, you developed all the habits of a vegan. You’re vegan!

The Atomic Habit framework is SO much more effective than going vegan overnight.

Yes, going vegan overnight works for some people. But for many of us, it takes months, even years, to fully go vegan. Applying the Atomic Habit framework will only help in your transition to veganism.

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Audio version of the article is below, for paid subscribers only.