Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones by James Clear

I have not read the whole thing yet and only read the first few pages, despite that, I still found some information to be useful! Plus, it is not famous for no reason.

I’ve read a lot of books on changing behavior and building habits and James Clear’s Atomic Habits is my new favorite. This book is different from others in the way it covers an enormous amount of ground in the larger area of self-improvement while seamlessly tying all these ideas back into the central theme of habits.

One of the core concepts in Atomic Habits is to focus on the small improvement. The impact a 1% improvement per day can make may appear negligible at first, but Clear makes a compelling argument that in the case of habits, thinking small produces the biggest results over time. “Habits are the compound interest of self-improvement,” explains Clear.

Over the months and years, the accumulated effect of small habitual daily behaviors is staggering. Early in the book we are also warned that this compounding works both ways, so we’d better make sure we’re making it work in the positive direction, not for the negative.

This is a concept I was introduced to years ago under a different name – Kaizen – the Japanese term for continuous incremental improvement. What’s different and new in this book is how the concept is applied specifically to building habits.

I found the information introduced in chapter two about behavior change at the identity level to be spot-on. You’re also given a simple two-step process for changing your identity and this one idea alone is incredibly powerful.

In chapter three, we are introduced to the habit loop – cue, craving, response, reward – and we learn how to build good habits in 4 simple steps and break bad habits in 4 simple steps.

One of those steps to habit formation, which goes hand in hand with the 1% concept, is how to make it not only small, but easy. In the chapters that follow, this is exactly what you find out.

Other ideas of great value that stood out included, habit stacking (the best way to form a new habit), habit tracking, habit shaping and how to design your environment – physical and social – for habit building success. You learn the truth about self-control, how to stop procrastinating and how to use implementation intentions, temptation bundling and motivational rituals. The book is simply packed with actionable ideas, tactics and strategies.

Virtually every idea in the book is useful and resonated with me. While I may not agree that we should “forget about goals,” I agree with one of Clear’s core principles in the book – that we must develop systems for change. If we only focus on goals and don’t develop systems and a focus on the process, we risk falling into a number of goal-related traps which ultimately lead to stagnation. With the right systems, we’re rewarded with continuous improvement on a lifelong journey of success.

Another difference between Atomic Habits and other books in this genre is that while it’s based on science it doesn’t bog you down with unnecessary details of the research. Clear’s book is intensely practical, giving you a huge toolkit of organized and named strategies you can apply immediately to create and strengthen positive habits and stop the negative ones.

The book is conversational, and includes many interesting stories, making it easy to read – and hard to put down (I read it cover to cover in one day).

It’s possible this might become your most highlighted personal improvement book because every page is so chocked full of memorable and quotable gems of advice.

Muy buen libro muy recomendable

Atomic Habits is one of the most interesting books I have ever read. Every page I learned something new, or a new way to think about something. There are many instances when I read a sentence and then thought to myself “Wow, I have never thought of that in that way.” I also found myself guilty of a lot of bad habits. For example: I get an impulse to clean my room and I clean it. It stays clean for 2-3 days and then it goes back to being messy. Clear describes this as “treat[ing] the symptom without addressing the cause.” If you don’t make it a habit to clean your room, it will become messy again and will remain dirty until another burst of energy makes you decide to clean it again. It would be easier if you just made a habit of cleaning your room every day, so you don’t need a burst of energy to clean your room and use your energy for something else in your life.

I really think this book is great for all ages. I am eighteen and I learned a lot of things that I could apply to my life and how I can change some of my habits. I think someone 20 or even 60 years older than me can learn a lot from this book because everyone wants to change some of their habits and want to learn better ways on how they can stick to their goals.

The format of the book makes it an easy and pleasurable read. I like how most of the chapters start off with a story of a specific person that corresponds with the topic of that chapter. Also, the real life examples of an everyday average person really helps this book make sense to the average person and makes it easier for people to relate to the topics talked about. I also thought the habit cheat sheets were extremely useful and a great way to capture what was talked about in the chapter. I also think someone could copy one of those cheat sheets for their own goal and put it on their own desk computer, refrigerator, or bathroom mirror. It would definitely be an easy way to remember your habit goals if it was right in front of you reminding you what to do.

There are a couple strategies to make good habits that I am going to try to apply to my own life. For example: I really liked the idea of having a buddy or partner change all your passwords to social media for the weekdays. I feel like it creates so much free time to explore or find new things when you do not have a choice to go on social media when you are bored. I thought it was a great way to limit you from going on social media during the weekdays. Also, after you stop having someone change your passwords, it creates a habit of not going on your phone so much because you are not used to it anymore. I think this is a really good habit that a lot of young people should try out because teenagers usually can’t separate from their phone and social media very easily. Another habit that I found very interesting was about the business man who moves a paperclip to a separate bowl every time he made a sales call and would not stop until all 120 paperclips were moved to the other bowl. I couldn’t believe how much that paper clip strategy helped his productivity. It was amazing to see such a small change to his work day (or a small habit) made such a huge difference for his entire life.

I would strongly recommend this book to any person of any age. I believe this book can really teach many different people from different backgrounds a lot about how to develop good habits, but also learn how to get rid of the bad habits. Lastly, I think the author did a great job of motivating people in this book. He calls people out for being lazy if they are on their phone for more than 20 minutes scrolling through social media, but then he gives tips on how to change that bad habit. I remember reading that the average person spends 2 hour on their phone per day. That is over 700 hours per year spent on your phone. I found that statistic very powerful!

I would rate this book a 5/5 stars and would definitely recommend taking the time to read it!