Book Review: Atomic Habits: An easy and proven way to build good habits and break bad ones
Atomic Habits: An easy and proven way to build good habits and break bad ones by James Clear
Late December my friend, Nick Gray, gave Atomic Habits the highest recommendation and I immediately added to my queue. I can now confirm his judgement: it’s a good read for a specific and important purpose. Maybe at the start of a new year or a new decade you want to change your habits, this book is an easy-to-read, simple-to-implement guidebook based on the best of psychological research. I’ve read this category extensively so there was a lot of repetition but the structure of the book and its precision on techniques made the read worthwhile. It is well footnoted and sourced throughout, which I always appreciate.
Here are some specifics:
Emphasis on the process, not the goal: “your outcomes are a lagging indicator of your habits” os change your systems to reach your goals
Build identity based habits: e.g, I am an athlete vs I want to exercise more - “behavior that is incongruent with the self will not last” “it’s one thing to say I’m the type of person who wants this. It’s something very different to say I’m the type of person who is this. The more pride you have in a particular aspect of your identity, the more motivated you will be to maintain the habits associated with it.
His framework using Cue, Craving, Response, Reward is helpful for tactical changes to ‘your system’
Use environmental design to change your behavior: alter the space you live and work with visual cutes to reinforce positive cues and reduce exposure to negative ones
The is a difference between being in motion and taking action. “Motion allows us to feel like we’re making progress without running the risk of failure’ and ‘action is the type of behavior that will deliver an outcome’ Biggest reason why you slip into motion rather than taking action: you want to delay failure. “Motion makes you feel like you’re getting things done. But really, you’re just preparing to get something done. When preparation becomes a form of procrastination, you need to change something”
Find ways to feel successful, even in a small way.
You don’t realize how valuable it is to just show up on your bad days - don’t break the chain of commitment
Business is a never-ending quest to deliver the same result in an easier fashion.