Atomic habits are small habits you can create to massively improve your life and get better results. Over a million readers have read this book to help them improve their sleep, relationships, health, and wealth. You, your team, or company will benefit by improving your productivity through implementing the atomic habit systems that I'm about to share with you.
This is a book summary of Atomic Habits by James Clear. Let's dive into Chapter 1, The Surprising Power of Atomic Habits. Small habit changes might not appear to make any difference in the short term, but once enough habits are made, you will be able to see the drastic improvement in your life. The effects of small habits compound over time. For example, if you get just 1% better each day, you'll get 37 times better after one year.
Results from habit changes take time to develop. You need to be patient. Focus more on your habits and systems instead of setting goals. Goals limit your results. Because number one winners and losers have the same goals because of the survivorship bias We believe that successful people are successful because they set goals We forget that there are countless people who set goals but fail Therefore setting goals won't have any real effect on the results you get Number two achieving a goal is only a momentary change Imagine your room is messy by cleaning your room.
You will achieve your goal of having a clean room The problem is that your sloppy habits cause your room to be messy in the first place. To solve this permanently, you need to focus on changing your habits instead of creating more goals. Number three, goals restrict happiness. You set goals because you want to feel happy when you achieve it.
The problem with this mentality is that you'll never achieve happiness. You will always delay it until you have achieved the next goal. And number four, most people set goals then once they achieve them, they stop improving themselves.
Chapter 2. How your habits shape your identity. There are three levels of change. Outcome change, which is setting goals.
Process change, or designing your habits and systems. And identity change. The most effective way to change your habits is to change your identity. Any person can be motivated enough to eat healthy once or twice, but when you make it a part of your identity, you will feel obligated to stick with your new habit. To change your identity, you need to follow a two-step process.
process. One, decide what type of person you want to be. And two, prove it to yourself with small wins. Every time you read a new page, you are becoming a reader. Your goal should not to be to read a book, but to change your identity to someone who reads books.
Chapter three, how to build better habits in four simple steps. A habit is a behavior that has been repeated so many times it becomes automatic. The purpose of habits is to solve recurring problems efficiently.
So for example, your problem could be that you are hungry, so you make a sandwich. You have already made a sandwich a thousand times, so you don't need to think or use a lot of energy to make one. This habit is a feedback loop that involves four steps. Number one being the cue, you get hungry. Two, the craving, you get a desire to eat a sandwich.
Three, the response, you make a sandwich. And four, the reward, you eat it. and satisfy your hunger. So let's say that instead of eating sandwiches, you want to eat a salad to lose weight.
The four laws of behavior change are a simple set of rules you can use to build better habits. Here they are. The first is to make the cue obvious.
Place the salad or ingredients in plain view where you're able to constantly see it. Number two, make the craving attractive. Keep your fridge stocked with the freshest ingredients for the salad. Number three, make the response easy. Keep your kitchen clean.
so that you can quickly prepare the salad or have the salad already prepared in containers. And number four, make the reward satisfying. Always use your favorite ingredients so that you will enjoy it.
Chapter four, the man who didn't look right. Your habits are so automatic, you often aren't aware you're in a habit loop. Therefore, to change bad habits, you first need to be aware of all of your behaviours.
Pointing and calling raises your awareness of bad habits by verbalising all your actions. So, for example, when you feel hungry, tell yourself out loud that you are hungry. By using this system, you will notice habit patterns. Another way to use the point and call process is to keep a habit scorecard.
Write down what you do each day. For example, if you want to change your eating habits, write down what and when you eat during the day. This will raise your awareness.
Chapter 5. The best way to start a new habit. The two most common cues are time and location. To create a new habit, you need an implementation intention.
The implementation intention formula is this. I will do this habit at this time in this location. For example, I will work out at 6pm in my backyard.
This will allow you to set a specific time and location that fits your schedule so that you won't have any excuses. To make new habits easier, you can use habit stacking. Habit stacking is used to pair a new habit with a current habit.
The habit stacking formula is, after I do this habit, I will do this new habit. For example, after I brush my teeth, I will floss. Or after I eat breakfast, I will drink a glass of water.
Chapter 6. Motivation is overrated. Environment often matters more. It is easier to build habits in a new environment because you will not be reminded of old cues. Every habit is started by a cue.
We tend to notice cues that stand out, therefore make the cues of good habits obvious in your environment. So for example, put your gym clothes where you'll be able to constantly see it. The economist Hawkins Stern described an idea he called suggestion impulse buying which is triggered when a shopper sees a product for the first time and visualizes a need for it.
For example, items at eye level tend to be purchased more than those down near the floor. The more available a product or service is, the more likely you are to buy it. Chapter 7. The Secret to Self-Control The inversion of the first law of behaviour change is make it invisible.
In the Vietnam War, research revealed that 35% of soldiers had tried heroin and 20% were addicted. The discovery led to the Special Action Office of Drug Abuse Prevention to promote prevention and rehabilitation and to track addicted soldiers when they returned home. They found that when soldiers who had been heroin users returned home, only 5% of them became re-addicted within a year, and just 12% relapsed within three years. In other words, 9 out of 10 soldiers who used heroin in Vietnam eliminated their addiction nearly overnight. This revealed that addictions can dissolve if there is a radical change in the environment.
In Vietnam, Soldiers spent all day surrounded by queues triggering heroin use. It was easy to access, they were under the constant stress of war, and they built friendships with soldiers who were also heroin users. Once a soldier returned to the US, there were no queues to trigger the addiction anymore. To get more self-control, you need to spend less time in tempting situations. Do not rely on willpower alone.
For example, don't follow Instagram models if you want to quit pornography. Seeing a sexy picture could tempt you to watch pornography. Chapter 8. How to make a habit irresistible.
The second law of behavior change is make it attractive. Habits are a dopamine-driven feedback loop. It is the anticipation of a reward and not the reward itself that gives us the motivation to do something.
Your brain has more neurons allocated for wanting rewards than for liking them. Researchers have found that 100% of the nucleus accumbens brain region is activated during wanting, while only 10% of the region is activated during liking. You can use this motivation you get from craving a reward to bundle it with a task you need to do.
This is called temptation bundling. Temptation bundling can be used to make your habits more attractive. The technique is to pair an action you want to do with an action you need to do.
For example, if you need to clean your room, bundle it with listening to your favorite music. Chapter 9 The role of family and friends in shaping your habits. People have a strong desire to fit in and belong to the tribe, therefore we usually adopt the habits that our culture has. We tend to copy the habits of three social groups. The close, family and friends, the many, the tribe, and the powerful, those with status and prestige.
To build better habits, make friends with or join a culture where your desired behavior isn't normal behavior and where you already have something in common with the group. If a certain behavior makes people respect and praise us, then we find it attractive. Chapter 10. How to find and fix the causes of your bad habits.
The inversion of the second law of behavior change is make it unattractive. Highlight the negatives of a bad habit. Habits are attractive. Attractive after we associate them with positive feelings and unattractive when we associate them with negative feelings.
For example, constantly read about the dangers of smoking to make it an unattractive habit. Chapter 11. Walk slowly but never backward. In the beginning, a new habit needs a lot of effort to perform.
For example, the first time you start to drive a car, it requires a lot of mental energy. You're not familiar at judging distances. Switching gears takes conscious effort. After a while... these basic skills become automatic and you'll feel more relaxed.
Chapter 12, the law of least effort. Human behavior follows the law of least resistance. We will usually choose the choice that needs the smallest amount of work. Create an environment where doing good habits are easy and bad habits are hard.
So for example, only have healthy food in your house so that you are not tempted to eat an unhealthy snack when you're hungry. Moving on to chapter 13, How to stop procrastinating by using the two-minute rule. The two-minute rule states that when you begin a new habit, it should take less than two minutes to do.
This will make it easier to slip into the state of deep focus that's required to create good habits. You'll find that almost any habit can be shortened into a two-minute version. Read before bed each night becomes read one page. Study for class becomes open my notes. The difference between a good day and a bad day is often a couple of productive choices made at key moments.
These choices stack up throughout the day and can lead to very different outcomes. Chapter 14. How to make good habits inevitable and bad habits impossible. The inversion of the third law of behavior change is making it difficult.
A commitment device is a choice you make in the present that locks in better behavior within the future. The best way to change your behavior is to automate your habits. For example, buying a better mattress or enrolling in a savings plan are single actions that force better future habits.
Chapter 15. The Cardinal Rule of Behaviour Change. When the behaviour is satisfying, we are more likely to do it again. Your brain has evolved to prioritise immediate rewards over delayed rewards.
To get a habit to stick, you need to feel good immediately, even if it's in a small way. For example, after entering the gym immediately, Give yourself a reward like listening to your favorite music or start your workout with your favorite exercise. Making it satisfying increases the chances that a behavior will be repeated. Chapter 16. How to stick with good habits every day.
One of the best feelings is making progress. A habit tracker is a great way to measure your progress, like marking an X on a calendar. Habit trackers can make your habit satisfying by providing evidence of your progress. Try to keep your habit streak alive. If you miss one day, attempt to get back on target as quickly as possible.
Never miss twice. Missing once is an accident. Missing twice is the start of a bad habit. The problem is not messing up once.
The problem is thinking that if you can't do something perfectly, then you should never do it. Chapter 17. How an accountability partner can change everything. The inversion of the fourth law of behavior change is make it unsatisfying.
We are less likely to repeat a bad habit if it's painful or unsatisfying. An accountability partner can create this painful effect. We care a lot about what others think of us, and we don't want others to have a bad opinion of us.
A habit contract can be used to make the cost of violating your promise painful. Chapter 18. The truth about talent. When genes matter, and when they don't.
The secret to improve your odds of success is to choose the habits that best suit you. Our habits are not only determined by our personalities, our genes also play a role. Our deeply rooted preferences make certain habits easier for some people than for others. A person who scores lower on conscientiousness, for example, will be less organised by nature and may need to rely more on environment design to stick with good habits.
To choose the best habits to build, ask yourself the following questions. What feels like fun to me, but work to others? What makes me lose track of time? Where do I get greater returns than the average person?
What comes naturally to me? Chapter 19. The Goldilocks Rule. How to stay motivated in life and work.
The Goldilocks Rule states that people experience the most motivation when working on tasks that are close to the edge of their current abilities. This is when we enter the flow state, where we are able to concentrate for long periods of time. In psychology research, this is known as the Yerkes-Dodson Law. which describes the optimal level of arousal as a midpoint between boredom and anxiety.
Therefore, to gain motivation, you need to constantly push your skills and performance. Chapter 20. The Downside of Creating Good Habits. The benefit of habits is that we can do things without thinking.
The downside is that we stop paying attention to little errors. The process of mastery requires that you progressively get better, each habit building upon the last until a new level of performance has been reached. Reflection and review is a process that allows you to stay aware of your performance over time.
Here's how to review your habits and make adjustments. Tally your habits for the year and ask yourself, What went well this year? What didn't go so well this year? What did I learn?
Six months later, conduct an integrity report and answer three questions. One, what are the core values that drive my life and work? Two, How am I living and working with integrity right now?
And three, how can I set a higher standard in the future? Life is constantly changing. You need to check to see if your old habits and beliefs are still serving you. This was a long one, so let's recap the 20 lessons we learned today.
Focus on habits and systems instead of setting goals. 2. The most effective way to change your habits is to change your identity. 3. Use the four laws of behavior change to build better habits, which are make the cue obvious, make the craving attractive, make the response easy, and make the reward satisfying.
Verbalise or write down your bad habits so you can raise awareness to change them. 5. Start a new habit by using an implementation formula, which is telling yourself, I will do this habit, at this time, in this location. 6. Make the cues of good habits obvious in your environment.
Spend less time in environments with temptations. 8. Make a new habit easier to adopt by doing it immediately after an existing habit, like brushing your teeth. 9. Hang around people where your desired behaviour is their normal behaviour. 10. Remind yourself of the negatives of a bad habit to make it less attractive. 11. Know that building a habit takes lots of effort in the beginning, but after a little, it gets easier.
Make new habits take less than two minutes to do. 14. Automate your habits. Examples are like buying a better mattress or setting up your own automated banking system.
Reward yourself for doing a habit, especially in the beginning. 16. Never miss a habit twice in a row. 17. Get an accountability partner. 18. Choose the habits that best suit you, not just because somebody on YouTube said you should. 19. Do your habit such that it isn't too easy or too hard.
And 20. Constantly reflect and review for errors in your behaviour.