Atomic Habits Part 1 - The Fundamentals
Introduction
In Atomic Habits, James Clear defines a habit as a routine or a behavior that is performed regularly, and in many cases automatically. He feels that by creating habits, he has reached his full potential. In order to reach the results that you desire, you should use small habits in your daily life because habits are compoundable and will turn into great successes as time goes on, which will in turn make your daily life easier and your total quality of life will improve, regardless of the setbacks that you will experience.
At first, Clear felt like an imposter, like someone who was trying to be what they were not. In his case, his writing career is what made him feel this way. However, he made it a point to write two articles a week and not only improved his writing skills the more he fulfilled this habit, but also grew his business and following which led to his Imposter Syndrome vanishing.
Have you ever felt Imposter Syndrome? If so, have you achieved ridding yourself of that feeling?
Life changes and situations alter us, but it’s the habits that shouldn’t change, and that is what this book is about, he says.
Part I - The Fundamentals
Why Tiny Changes Make a Big Difference
Chapter 1 The Surprising Power of Atomic Habits
Dave Brailsford became the Performance Director of the professional cycling team of Great Britain. When trying to figure out where to improve, Brailsford made a list of all of the factors dealing with performance and speed and coached the team to work on each tiny improvement possible. He referred to his strategy as “the aggregation of marginal gains”, his philosophy for searching for those tiny improvements. Massive success does not come from massive action. By improving the team 1% at a time on the tiny factors he found, by the end of the year, the change was noticeable. Imagine doing this with a few tiny factors of your life. If you improve 1% each day, you will be 37 times better than what you were by the end of the year (pg 16).
The same is true for bad habits. If you allow yourself to slip 1% each day, you will be 37 times worse than you were at the start. Continuously duplicating your mistakes will only set you up for toxic results. Just a slight change can greatly alter the direction your life is heading.
“Habits are the compound interest of self-improvement.” (pg 16)
Daily habits make success and time is on your side when creating good habits. Likewise, time is not on your side when breaking bad habits because your results depend on your trajectory, with your trajectory being your daily habits and how often you follow through.
Breakthrough is a thing and sometimes not reaching that breakthrough point is what kills our motivation sometimes. There is a threshold you can cross though which unlocks a new level of performance. Once all of your habits build up, your hard work will suddenly result in a “breakthrough” of change, which will thrust your potential forward and encourage you to keep moving. What you have to break through is the Plateau of Latent Potential. This plateau does not mean that your work was wasted, but rather that your work was stored and dramatic results will be seen shortly after- as long as you keep up the work.
Goals vs. Systems
Goals are about the results you want to achieve.
Systems are about the processes that lead to those results. Focus on the systems.
Problem #1: Winners and loser have the same goals.
They may have the same goals, but what is different is the systems that the winners implemented.
Problem #2: Achieving a goal is only a momentary change.
Do not treat the symptom without addressing the cause. Fix the inputs and the outputs will fix themselves. Yes, achieving the goal will change your life for a moment but you must keep up with the system and modify as needed in order to reach your full potential.
Problem #3: Goals restrict your happiness.
When you only focus on goals, you will continue to put off your happiness until the next milestone. You must celebrate as you go because that burst of excitement is what will keep up your ambition. Be satisfied and happy with a smooth running system, not just reaching all of those little goals and then moving on to the next.
Problem #4: Goals are at odds with long-term progress.
Your commitment to the process will determine your progress. You need something to keep you going and that is a system, not just a goal that you can mark off.
A System of Atomic Habits
If you’re having trouble changing your habits, the problem is not you, it is your system. You do not rise to the level of your goals, you fall to the level of your systems.
Atomic Habits: a regular practice or routine that is not only small and easy to do, but also the source of incredible power; a component of the system of compound growth.
Chapter 2 How Habits Shape Your Identity and Vice Versa
Three layers of habit change: outcomes, process, identity.
Outcome-based habits are too narrow in focus. Identity-based habits begin with who you are and becomes more deeply rooted. Focus on who you wish to become. If you are trying to become more healthy, ask yourself “what would a healthy person do?” And focus on your identity. When habits become a part of your identity, like I eat vegetables every day because I am healthy, you become more intrinsically motivated to stick to this.
Same with bad habits: if you are trying to quit smoking and someone offers you a cigarette, do not say “no thank you, I am trying to quit”, but rather say “no thank you, I am not a smoker” and suddenly you are more tied to who you would like to be.
The more you repeat a behavior, the more you reinforce the identity associated with that behavior.
Thus, the process of building habits is actually the process of becoming yourself.
Two-Step Process:
Decide the type of person you want to be
Prove it to yourself with small wins
Chapter 3 How to Build Better Habits in 4 Simple Steps
Behaviors followed by satisfying consequences are more likely to be repeated.
Behaviors followed by unpleasant consequences are less likely to be repeated.
Your brain creates an “if this, then that” mental rule so that you automatically know what to expect.
Habits reduce cognitive load and free up mental space so that you can spend your time thinking about things that really matter to you and that will push you forward. This means that habits are freedom, though some think that living a life of habits will create a boring life. The more habits (automatic responses) you have, the more freedom your minds holds.
The Process of How Habits Work
Cue- triggers your brain to initiate the behavior; the bit of information that predicts a reward. (ex. You wake up.)
Craving- motivational force behind every habit; the thoughts, feelings, and emotions are what transfers the cue into a craving. (ex. You want to feel alert.)
Response- the actual habit you perform, which can take the form of a thought or action. (ex. You drink a cup of coffee.)
Reward- end goal of every habit; rewards satisfy our craving and teach us which actions are worth remembering. (ex. You satisfy your craving to feel aler. Drinking coffee becomes associated with waking up.)
The Habit Loop: the cue triggers a craving, which motivates a response, which provides a reward, which satisfies the craving and, ultimately, becomes associated with the cue.
Which leads us to the 4 Laws of Behavior Change
The 1st Law (Cue) — Make it obvious.
The 2nd Law (Craving) — Make it attractive.
The 3rd Law (Response) — Make it easy.
The 4th Law (Reward) — Make it satisfying.
*this summary is based on the writings in the Atomic Habits book by James Clear. I am not the owner of this summary and do not take credit for the ideas and writings in this post.