Atomic Habits.
By James Clear
Tiny Changes, Remarkable Results.
An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones.
I first read this book in 2019, shortly after it came out. Recently, two friends asked me on separate occasions if I had read it, and after enthusing about what a good book it was, I found myself worrying about how much of the content I actually remember! I decided to reread it. I was happily surprised – I enjoyed it even more the second time, and was pleased to find that over the last five years I have put many of James’s pointers into practice, with good results. I find myself, once again, inspired to keep making and implementing constructive habits – small to start – and reaping the long-term benefits as they compound.
Key take outs for me:
The quality of our lives depends on the quality of our habits.
Our thoughts, feelings and beliefs impact (even dictate!) our behaviour.
Good habits: We dismiss small (difficult) habits because the (positive) results are not always immediate. Bad habits: We embrace small (easy) habits because the (negative) results are not always immediate. Instant gratification wins over long term satisfaction! (James provides many clever steps on how to reframe this and turn it to our advantage.)
Habit change needs details, and an implementation plan.
Keep pitching up, and do the reps, and trust time to take care of the rest.
A perfect outcome is that you enjoy the habit itself (i.e the training, the healthy eating, the learning) and not just the result.
Habit: A routine or practice performed regularly; an automatic response to a specific situation.
James Clear shares his personal story, in which his injury taught him a critical lesson: Changes that seem small and unimportant at first will compound into remarkable results if you are willing to stick with them for years.
Chapter 1: The Surprising Power of Atomic Habits
Too often we think that massive success requires massive action. But if you can get 1% better each day for one year, you’ll end up thirty-seven times better after 365 days.
Habits are the compound interest of self-improvement – the effects multiply as you repeat them.
Over the span of a lifetime our choices determine the difference between who we are, and who we could be.
Be more concerned with your current trajectory, than your current results.
“Your outcomes are a lagging measure of your habits” (Your net worth, weight, knowledge, clutter etc. – you get what you repeat.)
Time will multiply whatever you feed it (I love this!).
People make a few small changes and fail to see a tangible result, and then stop. Mastery requires patience!
Break through the “Plateau of Latent Potential” - your work is not being wasted – it is just being stored.
Results have less to do with the goals you set, and nearly everything to do with the systems and processes you follow – so focus on these. Winners and losers have the same goals, but their systems differ.
Fix the inputs, and the outputs will fix themselves.
Once you achieve your goal – you’ll be happy – but be happy with the process/system, and then you don’t have to wait!
Your commitment to the process will ensure the progress.
You do not rise to the level of your goals – you fall to the level of your systems.
Chapter 2: How your Habits shape your identity, and vice versa
Few things can have a more powerful impact on your life than changing your daily habits.
Habit change can be challenging because either we try to change the wrong thing; or we try to change habits in the wrong way.
There are three levels at which change can occur:
1. Outcomes (results): What you get.
2. Processes (your practices): What you do.
3. Identity (Your world view and self-image): What you believe.
Build identity-based habits by focusing on who you wish to become, rather than what you want to achieve. It’s a two-way street – your habits shape your identity, and your identity shapes your habits.
If you have a new goal and a new plan, but you aren’t open to changing who you are, you will struggle. True behaviour change is identity change.
The identity must resonate with you: “I am the kind of person that…”
The goal is to become reader, rather than read a book or a musician rather than play the piano.
When your behaviour and identity are fully aligned, then you are no longer pursuing behaviour change (and so your biggest barrier to change is identity conflict).
Progress sometimes requires unlearning. Edit your beliefs. Upgrade and expand your identity.
The process of building habits is there for the process of becoming yourself. Every action you take is a vote for the type of person you wish to become. (Each time you write a page, you are a writer!)
Your goal is to win the majority of the time.
It’s a simple, two-step process:
1. Decide the person you want to be.
2. Prove it to yourself with small wins.
The first step is not what (outcome) or how (process) but rather who (identity).
You have a choice in every moment!
Chapter 3: How to build better habits in 4 simple steps
When you face a problem repeatedly, your brain begins to automate the process of solving it.
Habits do not restrict freedom – they create it (i.e. resources, energy, positivity, knowledge).
Building habits in the present allows you to do more of what you want in the future.
Without these 4, a behaviour will not be repeated:
1. Cue: Triggers your brain to initiate a behaviour (its information that predicts a reward)
2. Craving: The motivational force behind every habit (you crave the change in internal state that the habit delivers).
3. Response: The actual habit (thought or action) which is dependent on friction and ability.
4. Reward: The end goal of every habit (rewards satisfy us, and they teach us which actions are worth remembering – good and bad, unfortunately!)
The 4 Laws of behaviour change: (i.e. how to create a good habit, and break a bad habit):
1. Cue: Make it obvious for good habits, and invisible for bad habits.
2. Craving: make it attractive for good habits, and unattractive for bad habits.
3. Response: Make it easy for good habits, and difficult for bad habits.
4. Reward: Make it satisfying for good habits, and unsatisfying for bad habits.
**Use these laws to create your own system.
THE FIRST LAW: MAKE IT OBVIOUS
Chapter 4: The man who didn’t look right
Insight: You don’t need to be aware of the cue for the habit to begin – it can be unconscious i.e. turning on a light, grabbing a treat off the counter, or the phone out your pocket.
Begin with awareness, as opposed to mindlessness.
We need a “point and call” system for our personal lives! Try this out loud, which helps to raise your awareness to a conscious level.
Habit scorecard: List all habits, and label them good/bad/neutral. Categorize your habits according to how they will affect you in the long run.
Does this behaviour help me to become the type of person I wish to be?
Start by observing.
Chapter 5: The best way to start a new habit
An implementation intention is a plan you have made beforehand about when and where to act (how you intend to implement a particular habit). People don’t lack motivation – they lack clarity!
When situation X arises, I will perform response Y.
When the moment of action occurs, there is no need to make a decision – simply follow your predetermined plan.
Two common habit cues are Time, and Location.
I will (behaviour) at (time) in (location).
Habit Stacking: Often each behaviour becomes a cue that triggers the next behaviour. The best way to build a new habit is to stack your new behaviour on top of a current habit that you do each day.
After (current habit) I will (new habit).
NB: Make it obvious, with an implementation plan and by habit stacking.
Chapter 6: Motivation is overrated; Environment often matters more
Kurt Levin: “Behaviour is a function of the Person in their Environment.”
Many action we take are shaped by the most obvious option.
You don’t have to be the victim of your environment – you can be the architect of it!
If you want to make a habit a big part of your life, make the cue a big part of your environment.
Be the designer of your world and not merely the consumer of it – alter the spaces where you live and work to increase your exposure to positive cues.
Think of your environment as filled with relationships rather than objects.
Create spaces according to habits, and give each habit a home.
Chapter 7: The secret to self-control
Disciplined people structure their lives in a way that requires less willpower – they spend less time in tempting situations.
“Cue-induced wanting” is when an external trigger causes a compulsive craving to repeat a bad habit.
It’s almost impossible to stick to positive habits in a negative environment.
To eliminate a bad habit, reduce exposure to the cue that causes it. Make it invisible!
Self-control is a short-term strategy, not a long term one.
THE SECOND LAW: MAKE IT ATTRACTIVE
Chapter 8: How to make a habit irresistible
Habits are a dopamine-driven feedback loop. Habit-forming behaviours are associated with higher levels of dopamine.
Dopamine is released when you experience pleasure, but also when you anticipate it… which increases your motivation to act. The anticipation can often feel better than the attainment of it!
It is the craving that leads to the response.
Use temptation bundling to make your habits more attractive by linking an action you want to do with an action you need to do.
After (current habit) I will (habit I need).
After (habit I need) I will (habit I want).
Example: After I work out, I will stretch for ten minutes. After I’ve stretched for ten minutes, I will have coffee with my workout friends.
By anticipating the (conditional) reward, you take the action.
Chapter 9: The role of family and friends in shaping habits
Behaviours are attractive when they help us to fit in/belong.
Imitating the close: Proximity has a powerful effect – we soak up the qualities/practices of the people around us. Join a culture where your desired behaviour is the normal behaviour, and ideally if you already have something in common with the group.
Imitating the many: Whenever we are unsure how to act, we look to the group to help guide our behaviour. When changing your habits means fitting in with the tribe, change is attractive.
Imitating the powerful: We are drawn to behaviours that earn us respect, approval, admiration and status.
Chapter 10: How to find and fix the causes of you bad habits
Quoted from Allen Carr’s Easy Way to Stop Smoking: “ You are losing nothing, and you are making marvelous positive gains not only in health, energy and money but also in confidence, self-respect, freedom and, most important of all, in the length and quality of your future life.”
Every behaviour has a surface level craving and a deeper, underlying motive. (Examples: conserve energy, obtain food and water, find love and reproduce, connect and bond with others, win acceptance and approval, etc.).
NB: There are many different ways to address the same underlying motive.
The same habit can spark a good or a bad habit depending on your prediction – your prediction leads to feelings.
Your craving is that something is missing, and you want to change this state. The gap between your current and desired state is your reason to act – or not act; of you keep your identity in mind!
Habits are attractive when we associate them with positive feelings – use this insight – learn to associate hard habits with a positive response i.e. you don’t “have to” train or work – you “get to”.
Reframe you habits to highlight their benefits rather than their drawbacks.
Create a motivation ritual before hard habits.
THE THIRD LAW: MAKE IT EASY
Chapter 11: Walk slowly, but never backwards
We can get so focused on figuring out the best approach that we delay the action itself.
When you are in motion you are planning/strategizing/learning. Motion is useful, but it will not produce an outcome by itself.
Action – the doing – is what delivers the outcome. You just need to get your reps in! Simply doing these is one of the most critical steps you can take in encoding a new habit.
Motion is preparation (which can become procrastination).
Connections in the brain strengthen based on recent and repeated patterns of activity.
The question is nor how long will it take to build a new habit – its how many reps are required to build a new habit.
Chapter 12: The law of least effort
Energy is precious, and the brain is wired to conserve it wherever possible.
People naturally gravitate towards the option which requires the least amount of work.
Habit like checking email or messages, and scrolling social media steal so much time because they can be performed without effort.
Every habit is just an obstacle to getting what you really want i.e. dieting is an obstacle to losing weight; exercise is and obstacle to getting fit; meditation is an obstacle to feeling clam; journalling is an obstacle to thinking clearly.
You don’t necessarily want the habit itself – you want the outcome the habit delivers.
If you can make your good habits more convenient, you’ll be more likely to follow through on them.
Make it as easy as possible in the moment to do things that pay off in the long run.
NB: Practice environment design by removing the points of friction that hold you back i.e. (the phone/treats/social media/wine).
Reduce the friction for good habits (i.e. training clothes out; fruit bowl out; desk and diary prepped for the next day) and increase the friction for bad habits (i.e. no treats in the house; phone in another room)
Design a world in which it is easy to do what is right.
Chapter 13: How to stop procrastinating by using the 2-minute rule
Mastering the decisive moments of your day is important.
Each choice sets the trajectory for how you will spend the next chunk of time.
Habits are the entry point; not the end point.
The rule: When you start a new habit, it should take less than 2 minutes to do.
Establishing a “gateway habit” can make it easier to continue doing the right thing once you have begun.
Your goal may be to run a marathon, but your gateway habit is to put on your running shoes. Your goal may be to write a book, but your gateway habit is to write one paragraph.
The more you ritualize the beginning of a process, the more likely you can slip into the deep focus required to do great things.
If you keep showing up, you are casting votes for your new identity. You’re taking the smallest action that confirms the type of person you want to be.
It’s better to do less than you hoped, than nothing at all.
Chapter 14: How to make good habits inevitable and bad habits impossible
Success can be less about making good habits easy and more about making bad habits hard.
A commitment device is a choice you make in the present that controls your actions in the future.
The key is to change the task such that it requires more work to get out of a good habit than to get started on it i.e. schedule a session and pay ahead of time.
The best way to break a bad habit is to make it impractical to do – increase the friction until you don’t even have the option to act i.e. remove alcohol from your house, or pack a healthy lunch, or move your savings money out of your account first each month, before any expenses.
Examples of one-time actions that lock in good habits: Buy a water filter; use smaller plates; buy a good mattress; remove the TV from your bedroom; unsubscribe from emails; set up a debit order; get a dog!
When working in your favour, automation can make your good habits inevitable and your bad habits impossible.
THE FOURTH LAW: MAKE IT SATISFYING
Chapter 15: The cardinal rule of behaviour change
We are more likely to repeat a behaviour when the experience is satisfying.
Cardinal rule: What is immediately rewarded is repeated; and what is immediately punished is avoided.
Positive emotions cultivate habits, and negative habits destroy them.
Making it obvious, attractive and easy works for habits repeated this time.
Make it satisfying works for habits repeated next time.
Due to “time inconsistency”, we value the present more than the future. The costs of your good habits are in the present, and of your bad habits in the future.
In the moment of decision, instant gratification wins.
As a rule, the more immediate pleasure you get from an action, the more strongly you should question whether it aligns with your long-term goals.
In a perfect world, the reward for a good habit is the habit itself (i.e. if you love training; or eating healthy food.)
Habit stacking ties your habit to an immediate cue.
Reinforcement ties your habit to an immediate reward, which makes it satisfying when you finish i.e. a reward for a week of good exercising can be a massage (not an ice-cream – the reward must align with your long-term vision).
A habit must be enjoyable to last!
Chapter 16: How to stick with good habits every day
Visual measures can help to provide clear evidence of progress (i.e. paper clips, marbles, food journals, work out logs)
“Don’t break the chain” is a powerful mantra.
Habit tracking can be simultaneously obvious, attractive and satisfying.
Habit tracking:
Creates a visual cue that reminds you to act.
Is motivating because you see the progress you are making and don’t want to lose it.
Feels satisfying whenever your record another successful instance of your habit.
How to recover quickly when your habits break down? Rule: Never miss twice. Miss just one workout, or just one healthy meal, but never the next one.
The first mistake is never the one that ruins you – it’s the spiral or repeated mistakes that follows.
Lost days hurt you more than successful days help you.
Chapter 17: How an accountability partner can change everything
We are more likely to avoid an experience when the ending is painful.
If you want to prevent bad habits and eliminate unhealthy behaviours, then adding an instant cost to the action is a great way to reduce the odds of breaking the good habit. (Examples: late payment fees; grades linked to attendance)
Create a habit contract (an agreement where you state your commitment to a particular habit – as well as the penalty/punishment for breaking it) with an accountability partner – knowing that someone is watching/keeping track can be a powerful motivator.
ADVANCED TACTICS: FROM MERELY GOOD TO TRULY GREAT
Chapter 18: The truth about talent
Genes do not determine your destiny – they determine your areas of opportunity.
Direct your efforts towards areas that both excite you and match your natural skills.
There is a version of every habit that can bring you joy and satisfaction – find yours!
Exploration of avenues:
o What feels like fun to me, but not to others?
o What makes me lose track of time?
o Where do I get greater returns than the average person?
o What comes naturally to me?
People get so caught up in the fact that they have limits that they rarely exert the effort required to get close to them.
Chapter 19: The Goldilocks rule: How to stay motivated in life and work
The human brain loves a challenge, but only if it’s in the optimal zone of difficulty.
Rule: Humans experience peak motivation when working on tasks that are right on the edge of their current capabilities.
The greatest threat to success is not failure, but boredom, and boredom can sometimes come with mastery.
Its important to continue to advance and improve in small ways.
Professionals stick to the schedule, and amateurs let life get in the way.
Chapter 20: The downside of creating good habits
Habits create the foundation for mastery.
At first, each repetition develops fluency, speed and skill.
As a habit become automatic, you become less sensitive to feedback.
Beware of mindless repetition.
Habits + Deliberate Practice = Mastery
Mastery is the process of narrowing your focus to a tiny element of success, then repeating until you have internalized the skill, and then using this as a foundation to advance to the next frontier of your development.
Establish a system to reflect and review.
Revisit your desired identity and consider how your habits are helping you become the type of person you wish to be.
Reflection brings perspective!
Warning: the tighter we cling to an identity, the harder it becomes to grow beyond it. Don’t become brittle! Remember that everything is impermanent.
CONCLUSION: THE SECRET TO RESULTS THAT LAST
Each improvement is like adding a grain of sand to the positive side of the scale, and slowly tilting things in your favour.
Eventually if you stick with your habits, you will reach the tipping point.
Ultimately, progress comes through a commitment to tiny, sustainable, unrelenting improvements.
It’s a continuous process – never stop making improvements.
Good Habits: Make them obvious, attractive, easy and satisfying.
Bad Habits: Make them invisible, unattractive, hard and unsatisfying.
James Clear sums this brilliant book (and user-friendly manual!) up at the end:
“That’s the power of atomic habits. Tiny changes. Remarkable results.”
Well, well worth the full read!