3 lessons to adopt from "Atomic Habits" by James Clear

At the beginning of the year, I was fortunate to read the book “Atomic Habits” by James Clear, kind courtesy of The Acme Book Club. This book was not only an eye-opener for me, but also made me very conscious of myself and my habits in general. It had me reviewing the one thing that I’m always very quick to set, but slow to achieve and maintain; goals.

Yes, as individuals and business people, we are always very quick to set certain goals, from tiny ones like getting a clean room to major ones like earning $5000 in profit by the end of the year. But more often than not, we achieve these goals quite slowly and sometimes give up along the way because we do not see the progress we want.

Even when we do manage to accomplish the goals we set for ourselves, the excitement becomes short-lived and before we know it, we are relapsing into the same old habits that caused us to set the goals in the first place.

We are in another year of many resolutions and high set goals and expectations. But the question is, are we doing the same things we have been doing in previous years to achieve the goals we have set?

If the answer is yes, then it’s time to set your goal aside for a moment and begin to work on your systems and processes.

The journey is as important as the destination

One thing that stuck with me while reading Atomic Habits was that “If you’re having trouble changing your habits, the problem is not 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 for change.”

Doing the exact same thing will bring you the exact same results. It’s like taking one particular route to your house every day, no matter how bad or long it is. Nothing is bound to change if you do the exact same thing every time.

How you get to your destination matters as much as getting there. For example, you are looking at increasing your business’s revenue by $10,000 dollars by the end of the year, but you have been doing the exact same things since the year like social media campaign without a clear cut strategy or email marketing that has not brought you clear leads yet. This is not bound to get you the results you want within the time frame you have set.

Instead, you might want to try an entirely new marketing process, like giving value instead of direct advertising. A typical example of this will be hosting webinars and online events where you can share tips to people, even if they might not benefit from it immediately, or offering free consulting services to people interested in your scope of business as a way to get them to patronize you in the future.

This might not give you the instant results you are wishing to see, but with time, you will begin to see an increase in sales simply because you offered value to your customer base.

And so if you want better results, you need to stop focusing on setting goals and concentrate on making your systems better instead.

The compounding rule

The rule of compounding is a very interesting one because it highlights the fact that small changes can make a huge difference in anything you do. Small changes often appear to make no difference until you cross a certain threshold.

However, building good habits start with adjusting your systems little by little each and every day.

If your goal is to improve employee performance and satisfaction in your business, you need to start by doing or changing little things in your workplace. You can start by doing something totally unrelated to work, like refurbishing the office space or changing the office furniture, and move on to instituting recreational hours and fun activities as part of work schedules.

In as much as that doesn’t contribute directly to their performance, it is bound to have an effect on them in the long run when you look back because they find themselves feeling more and more comfortable in the workplace.

By introducing small changes every day, you are able to achieve the most powerful outcomes and achieve your goals way better than you ever imagined.

You are what you believe

Another thing that struck me from the book Atomic Habits is the fact that he amplified the popular belief that “You are what you believe”.

The power of the mind and our thoughts is one thing that needs to be critically considered and paid attention to when looking to form or build new habits. The things you say go a long way in determining who you really are.

If you will yourself to be a better businessman, and positively affirm it every day, you will find yourself becoming one because you chose to identify yourself as such. When you have repeated a story to yourself for a long time, it is very easy to slide into mental grooves and accept them as a fact.

And so to build long-lasting habits, you need to look at molding your identity to conform to this change. Becoming the best version of yourself requires you to continuously edit your beliefs and to upgrade and expand your identity.

To do this, write down the goals you want to achieve. Before making a decision, ask yourself questions that will help make the right choice in order to achieve your goals.

For example, if your goal is to save $2000 dollars, and you are confronted with the chance to spend money out of your budget, pause and ask yourself questions like, “Would this influence my goal to save $2000 dollars?” or identify yourself with someone whose savings habit are similar to what you are seeking to have and ask yourself if your mentor would spend x amount of money on this.

Major picks and takes

Atomic Habits did a good job in changing my perspective about how to go about building or changing my habits and I would highly recommend this to anyone who struggles to achieve their goals and wants a solution.

My major take from this book was that to develop long-lasting habits, you do not rise to the level of your goals, but rather fall to the level of your systems. And to do this, you need to start by making small changes every day which will eventually compound into giving you the needed results you desire.

If you are interested in getting this book or any other business book and engage in exciting monthly book discussions, you can join our Acme virtual book club on t.me/acmebcafrica.