Atomic Habits
by James Clear
You know at the beginning of the year when you tell yourself you are going to change all of these things in your life and start setting up overly aggressive plans to achieve those goals. Or you simply want to achieve those goals with no plan on how? If you are one of those people, then this is the right book for you. Atomic habits by James Clear is a great road map that breaks down the four (4) laws of how to build good habits and how to break old ones. It provides an easy-to-read understanding of how these habits can create a better you.
It’s interesting because this is the second time I have read this book, and I feel like I remember very little about the first time I read it. I was given the book by my daughter’s god mother after a huge medical scare with my daughter. She gave it to me to give to my daughter, but my daughter was not interested in reading anything at the time. Since I love books and reading, I was curious and read it myself. One of the only things I can remember, at the time, while reading the book is how I wanted to be one of those people that did their bed in the morning every day and even though that might be considered a trivial task, it is something that at the time I had not been able to master. I hated seeing my room with the bed undone and knew that doing the bed was not difficult I had just not included that “habit” in my routine and after reading this book it taught me how (not to do the bed but to create the habit of doing it, lol).
This book focuses on providing you with four (4) laws that need to be followed to master a habit. Mastering a habit is not so much about repeating the same thing for 20 days or 30 days, mastering a habit is about integrating that small habit into your daily life and making it almost innate for you to do that habit. When developing habits they need to be:
· Obvious – meaning they need to be the obvious choice. Look at your environment and see what elements of that environment are going to help you create that new habit or impede you from breaking the old one. Example: if you are trying to be healthier but there are only unhealthy foods in your house it would be very hard for you to create the new habit because when you go to eat something all your visual cues are unhealthy foods.
· Attractive – when something is attractive our dopamine grows in the expectation of the reward we receive when we execute the new habit. Therefore, it becomes attractive for us to complete the new habit. What we need to be careful with when it comes to habits being attractive is that sometimes we might consider the habit attractive because it helps us fit in with a certain group of people and we need to decide if it’s worth it and if it will help us with our ultimate goal. Example: we might form habits from our childhood that are attractive because they helped us fit in but those same habits might not be good for us now.
· Easy – we are naturally designed to do what is easy and follow the path of least resistance. When developing new habits, they also need to be easy. 40-50 percent of our actions are done by habit without thinking therefore the habits we follow without thinking will often be the decision we make when we are thinking. Example: if you are looking to go to the gym but the gym is not in close proximity and you have to drive further after work to get there you most likely will not go because it is not easy enough. To combat this, find a gym that’s closer or find an alternative of going to a park close by on the route to home after work.
· Satisfying – habits need to satisfy you because “pleasure teaches your brain that a behavior is worth remembering and repeating”. If it doesn’t bring you joy it will be much more difficult for the habit to stick. The worst thing that could happen is that you get more satisfaction out of the habits you are trying to break than the habits you are trying to establish. So please ensure to find ways to make your new habit satisfying.
Habit forming is a great way to reach your goals. Knowing how to create habits that are obvious, attractive, easy and satisfying are essential in this process but also considering your realities is imperative in their success. Through the guidance of the author in this book habit forming and breaking can become more accessible and not so burdensome, so try it and become a habit master!
Amazon Link: Atomic Habits – James Clear