James Clear’s new book Atomic Habits has been getting an enormous amount of praise, and rightfully so. Clear gives us a fresh perspective on forming and maintaining good habits, which is one of the most important parts of our personal lives as well as our careers. In this review of Atomic Habits, we’ll take you through the major takeaways from this book to help you make up your mind about whether or not it’s right for you.
My reasons for reading this book
As a writer, I believe in continually learning. And I also love reading, so combining those two facts means that when I find someone who writes about an interesting topic or has a unique perspective on things, I have to read their books. That was my motivation for picking up James Clear’s book, Atomic Habits: An Easy and Proven Way to Build Good Habits and Break Bad Ones. The fact that it’s a popular title didn’t hurt either! So here are some of my thoughts after finishing his book.
What did I like about the book?
Atomic Habits is a highly inspirational read and it’s full of actionable advice that’s based on scientific research. I love how James focuses on creating smaller changes to make your overall goal more achievable. For example, if you want to improve your golf swing you can do it gradually by improving how long you practice each day or week. By making small incremental improvements, you are much more likely to reach your goals rather than giving up halfway through because of how unrealistic they seem. This is a highly recommended book for anyone who wants to learn ways of building positive habits in their daily lives.
What could have been better?
How many times have you started a new year, goal, or habit only to fail and let yourself down within weeks? It happens all too often, doesn’t it? According to James Clear, a self-described science nerd who specializes in habit development, starting things is important but not everything. After all: success lies in perfecting your techniques. In his book, Atomic Habits, Clear explains why developing good habits is often easier said than done. Combining scientific evidence with practical advice as well as examples from successful athletes like Michael Phelps and companies like Disney Clear helps readers examine why habits are hard to form and how they can create more positive ones for themselves.
WHY YOU SHOULD READ JAMES CLEAR’S ATOMIC HABITS – Youtube
My key takeaways from the book
Atomic Habits is full of insightful and practical advice to help you form new habits and break bad ones. It contains dozens of different principles that can be applied to your own life, as well as specific steps you can take to build new habits and eliminate old ones. I especially liked how James provides concrete examples that show how his advice has worked for him and other people he knows. Some of my favorite quotes from Atomic Habits: Success isn’t a result of spontaneous combustion. You must set yourself on fire. The trick is to find what ignites you. If you don’t have an intrinsic motivation for doing something, then it won’t last long enough to turn into a habit no matter how simple or easy it might seem at first glance. If there are no consequences for not doing something, then there will never be any reason to do it consistently over time. People often make New Year’s resolutions without really thinking about why they want to change their behavior in the first place.
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For example, many people say they want to lose weight because they feel unhealthy. But feeling unhealthy is just a symptom of being overweight; it doesn’t explain why you’ve gained so much weight in the first place (or why you haven’t been able to lose it). When you make decisions based on feelings alone, there’s no way for them to become lasting habits because feelings aren’t reliable predictors of what we need or want in life. If you try to force yourself to do something out of obligation or guilt, then your brain will naturally resist those actions. The only way to create a truly sustainable habit is by identifying a clear purpose behind every action. For anything to become habitual, it needs to be tied directly back to one of our core values. To figure out which values are most important in your life, ask yourself these questions: What would I choose if I could never fail? What would I choose if I knew no one would judge me? What would I choose if money were not an issue? If you’re having trouble identifying your core values, start by looking at some of your past choices and actions that didn’t stem from obligation or guilt.
The why behind my takeaway points
Simply put, habits rule our lives. They are a powerful force that determines what we do, who we become, and how successful we ultimately become. This book dives into everything you need to know about habits including how they work, why they’re so important, and most importantly – how to build good ones and break bad ones. The first section of Habit covers some fundamental aspects of habit formation: cue-routine-reward. It discusses why these components of habit formation are essential in building new habits, but also explains why it is necessary to change one or all of them if you’re trying to create a better version of yourself by forming a better habit. For example, you might want to replace a bad habit with a good one (ex. smoking with running), which would require changing your routine (for example instead of smoking after dinner, run for 30 minutes). Or perhaps you want to form an entirely new habit that doesn’t currently exist (ex. drinking more water every day), which would require changing both your routine and reward (drink water when you wake up). There is no single best way to form habits because everyone has different goals; however, there are certain strategies that can be used universally for anyone looking to make positive changes in their lives through developing better habits. One such strategy discussed in Habit is pre-committing to your desired behavior. We tend to fall back on bad habits out of convenience, which makes sense from an evolutionary perspective. In other words, it was beneficial for us as humans to take shortcuts whenever possible because it saved us time and energy; however, these days where instant gratification is at our fingertips 24/7, we often find ourselves giving in to those temptations without even realizing it.
Conclusion
The book is short, a quick read. It’s also packed with helpful and insightful advice that will help you start and continue your journey to building good habits. The reason I like it is because of how useful and accessible its advice is; it’s filled with lots of actionable suggestions, personal anecdotes, and relatable examples. Plus, there are plenty of tools to help you achieve success with your habits including a nifty little app called Habit Master (for iOS) that tracks your progress on habits using an old-school daily journal format. (It’s not available for Android yet.) Atomic Habits was so useful that I started building some daily habits immediately after reading it. Let me know what you think have you read it? Comment, Like, Share, and Subscribe to the blog.
