Review: Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones

Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones by James Clear
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

It was quite an enjoyable read. First, it was easy to grasp. Second, it is very useful for virtually anyone.

I have learnt over several decades of my life that, in most of the cases, key to success is not being lucky, talented or having the right origin (although it all helps). It is mostly about discipline. It is about establishing good and virtuous habits - and sticking to them.

This is precisely what James Clear is preaching - and providing many good tips on how to do it.

"Improving by 1% isn’t particularly notable – sometimes it isn’t even noticeable – but it can be very meaningful, especially in the long run. It’s about math: if you can get 1% better each day for one year, you’ll end up 37 times better by the time you’re done."

"Goals are good for setting a direction, but systems are best for making progress."

"Every action you take is a vote for the type of person you wish to become."

Habit stacking is one of the best ways to build a new habit:
“After [CURRENT HABIT], I will [NEW HABIT].” For example: "After I pour my cup of coffee each morning, I will meditate for one minute."

Importance of the physical environment as well as other people is discussed in great details in the book. It's easier to create new habits in the new environment.

The habit line:

"Instead of asking “How long does it take to build a new habit?” we need to ask “How many does it take to build a new habit?”. That is, how many repetitions are required to make a habit automatic?"

The power of decisive moments:

"Every day, there are a handful of moments that deliver an outsized impact – decisive moments. The moment you choose between driving your car or riding your bike. The moment you decide between starting your homework or grabbing the video controller. These choices are a fork in the road."

Two-Minute Rule:

“When you start a new habit, it should take less than two minutes to do.”:
• “Read before bed each night” becomes “Read one page”
• “Do 30 minutes of yoga” becomes “Take out my yoga mat”

The Goldilocks Rule's effect:

"The greatest threat to success is not failure but boredom. We get bored with habits because they stop delighting us. The outcome becomes expected. And as our habits become ordinary, we start derailing our progress to seek novelty. Perhaps this is why we get caught up in a never-ending cycle, jumping from one workout to the next, one diet to the next, one business idea to the next."

And once again - the biggest take-away of the book - and something I can really relate to a lot:

"The holy grail of habit change is not a single 1 percent improvement, but a thousand of them. It’s a bunch of atomic habits stacking up, each one a fundamental unit of the overall system."