Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones
Author: James Clear
ISBN: 0735211299
Date finished: -
How strongly I recommend it: 9/10
Between my highlights and listening to interviews with James Clear, some of ideas in Atomic Habits have been extremely helpful for considering and crafting my systems rather than focusing on dreams, alone. As my wife and I have sought to craft our family culture, system-designing has been beneficial. *I do not include any of Clear’s helpful graphics from the book.
MY HIGHLIGHTS
A handful of problems arise when you spend too much time thinking about your goals and not enough time designing your systems. (24)
You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems. (27)
The ultimate form of intrinsic motivation is when a habit becomes part of your identity. 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. (33)
…your habits are how you embody your identity…In fact, the word identity was originally derived from the Latin words essentitas, which means being, and identidem, which means repeatedly. Your identity is literally your “repeated beingness.” (36-37)
In this way, the process of building habits is actually the process of becoming yourself. (37)
The most practical way to change who you are is to change what you do.
Each time you write a page, you are a writer.
Each time you practice the violin, you are a musician.
Each time you start a workout, you are an athelete.
Each time you encourage your employees, you are a leader. (38)
It is a simple two-step process:
Decide the type of person you want to be.
Prove it to yourself with small wins. (39)
If you’re still having trouble determining how to rate a particular habit, here is a question I like to use: “Does this behavior help me become the type of person I wish to be?" Does this habit cast a vost for or against my desired identity?” (65)
People who make a specific plan for when and where they will perform a new habit are more likely to follow through. (70-71)
The simple way to apply this strategy to your habits is to fill out this sentence: I will [BEHAVIOR] at [TIME] in [LOCATION]. (71)
Behavior is a function of the Person in their Environment [quoting Kurt Lewin]. (83)
People drink Bud Light because it is in every bar and visit Starbucks because it is on every corner. We like to think we are in control…The truth, however, is that many of the actions we take each day are shapred not by purposeful drive and choice but by the most obvious option. (83)
Stop thinking about your environment as filled with objects. Start thinking about it as filled with relationships. (87)
The Vietnam studies ran counter to many of our cultural beliefs about bad habits because it challenged the conventional association of unhealthy behavior as a moral weakness. If you’re overweight, a smoker, an addict, you’ve been told your entire life that it is because you lack self-control—maybe even that you’re a bad person. The idea that a little bit of discipline would solve all our problems is deeply embedded in our culture.
Recent research, however, shows something different. When scientists analyze people who appear to have tremendous self-control, it turns out those individuals aren’t all that different from those who are struggling. Instead, “disciplined” people are better at structuring their lives in a way that does not require heroic willpower and self-control. In other words, they spend less time in tempting situations. (92-93)
Self-control is a short-term strategy, not a long-term one…This is the secret of self-control. Make the cues of your good habits obvious and the cues of your bad habits invisible. (95)
When it comes to habits, the key takeaway is this: dopamine is released not only when you experience pleasure, but also when you anticipate it. (106)
It is the anticipation of a reward—not the fulfillment of it—that gets us to take action. (106)
Whatever habits are normal in your culture are among the most attractive behaviors you’ll find. (114)
One of the most effective things you can do to build better habits is to join a culture where your desired behavior is the normal behavior. (117)
Your culture sets the expectation for what is “normal.” Surround yourself with people who have the habits you want to have yourself. You’ll rise together. (117)
If I outline twenty ideas for articles I want to write, that’s motion. If I actually sit down and write an article, that’s action. (142)
Habits form based on frequency, not time. (145)
Whenever you organize a space for its intended purpose, you are priming it to make the next action easy. (156)
The ritual is not the stretching and weight training I put my body through each morning at the gym; the ritual is the cab. The moment I tell the driver where to go I have completed the ritual. (159)
Habits are the entry point, not the end point. They are the cab, not the gym. (162)
What you want is a “gateway habit” that naturally leads you down a more productive path…The point is to master the habit of showing up. (163)
You’re not worried about getting in shape. You’re focused on becoming the type of person who doesn’t miss workouts. You’re taking the smallest action that confirms the type of person you want to be. (165)
