Atomic habits

Right off the bat I would rate Atomic Habits by James Clear a ten out of ten. I absolutely loved this book. I really enjoyed learning so much about building habits in a new way. I implemented so much of it into my own life and it changed it for the better. The whole idea of small changes big results made everything so simple. 1% a day is all it took for me to completely transform my life. Let’s deep dive into the book together.

The whole idea of only improving 1% while it may not be noticeable at first is that it isn’t overwhelming. It is almost a guaranteed win for you. Think about it like this as well you are only improving even if it’s only 1% never getting worse. Small habits can start out as flossing one tooth then progressing to two, then three, so on and so forth. Another example is doing one pushup a day then over time working up until you push to failure everyday.

A lesson the book teaches is to set systems. Your goals are abouts what you want to achieve while your system is about how you are going to get there. You can set solid goals but if you don’t have a good system in place everything will tumble down around you. Instead of saying my goal is to floss my teeth, create a system. After I brush my teeth a night I will floss my teeth. Habit stack. Build onto what you already do. Create routine.

James Clear also tells us to build identity based habits. To do this you must first decide who you want to be. What are you core values and beliefs? Then prove it to yourself with small wins. He tells us that our identity emerges out of our habits. Our actions is a reflection on who we are. If you want to be a more motivated and disciplined person you need to prove that to yourself by maybe waking up earlier, following through with what you say. If you say you are going to complete a task then do it instead of pushing it off. If you constantly partake in bad habits then it is a good idea to break those if they don’t match with the type of person you want to be.

He goes on to talk about four key steps to build better habits. Cue, craving, response and reward. Cue it triggers the craving which encourages the response and provides a reward. It’s the habit loop. This is for both good and bad habits.

To create good habits: (Read daily)

Cue: make it obvious (Keep books in plain sight)

Craving: make it attractive (Read favorite genre)

Response: make it easy (Keep book next to couch or bed)

Reward: make it satisfying (Have a sweet treat after each page read)

To break bad habits: (Junk food)

Cue: make it invisible (Put it in cupboards)

Craving: make it unattractive (Buy healthy options)

Response: make it difficult (Don’t buy it, or buy less)

Reward: make it unsatisfying (Buy least favorite snacks)

As you can see it can be used either way. Some other examples of habits it can be used for is playing less video games, writing more, spending less time on the phone, drinking more water. The list goes on. Write out the goals you have, the habits you identify with and the systems you need to get there. You can do it!