Atomic Habits by James Clear – Book Summary

Chapter 1: The Surprising Power of Tiny Habits

 

What do you call success? The answer is: It is a result of continuous efforts. Something coming through the actions you do as daily habits – them atomic habits. It is never an achievement of one time performed action.

While you are at the startup of something, focus on your trajectory. The results do not matter at the startup stage. James Clear calls these tiny habits ‘the atomic habits’.

Whatever you keep doing becomes your habit. As a result of your atomic habits, you achieve a few or many things. . Your financial habits drive your net worth; eating habits drive your weight; learning habits drive your knowledge; cleaning habits drive your clutter. What you keep repeating, drives you to the result.

James Clear says: “Time magnifies the margin between success and failure. It will multiply whatever you feed it. Good habits make time your ally. Bad habits make time your enemy.”

The breakthrough moments are no surprise. Rather, it is your daily atomic habits that accumulate enough potential over time. Eventually, this potential brings in the moments which cause big changes.

You simply need to develop small processes to make up a large system. The system that leads to your goals. Then, following this system, you will get closer to your goals by simply repeating the actions.

Consider: ‘The Plateau Of Latent Potential’ plotted by James Clear:

The Plateau Of Latent Potential

James Clear says: “When you finally break through the Plateau of Latent Potential, people will call it an overnight success……. The purpose of setting goals is to win the game. The purpose of building systems is to continue playing the game. True long-term thinking is goal-less thinking. It’s not about any single accomplishment. It is about the cycle of endless refinement and continuous improvement.”          

Just stay attentive to achieving only 1 percent every day. Consequently, the compound interest after years will be a massive yield.

While following the systems, focusing on minor details of habits is equally important. Small habits, which James Clear calls Atomic Habits, are the details that you need to focus on. Don’t focus on the results, instead focus on the system you are following. Perhaps, atomic habits would seem to yield no result initially. But, after a certain level of threshold, the results will start appearing. This would eventually be the moment, people would call a sudden success. But, you know that it is the result of continuous efforts.

Chapter 2: How Your Habits Shape Your Identity (and Vice Versa)

 

It is important to understand what you need to change and how you need to change.

A change may be brought in outcomes, processes, or identity. These are the three layers of behavior change.

It is equally important to know that in each layer of change, you are changing something in the intrinsic part of your atomic habits.

James Clear says: “Outcomes are about what you get. Processes are about what you do. Identity is about what you believe…… With outcome-based habits, the focus is on what you want to achieve. With identity-based habits, the focus is on who you wish to become.”                

A certain level of motivation is achieved when you succeed in making your atomic habits a part of your identity. With two simple steps, it can be achieved:

1. Decide what you want to become
2. With small wins, prove it to yourself

To make this happen, get changes in yourself to make you compatible with your goals. Focus on what you would like to become. Similarly, separate the thinking of achieving something from yourself. Then, repeating your atomic habits for small wins will get you to the other end. Almost the end where your expected achievements are waiting for you.

 

Chapter 3: How to Build Better Habits in 4 Simple Steps

 

Four simple questions to yourself will bring clarity to your mind. Ask yourself, how can I make it:

1. Obvious?
2. Attractive?
3. Easy?
4. Satisfying?

Keep repeating the action turns it into a habit. And habit then becomes an automatic loop that solves life problems with the least effort. Consequently, it becomes a part of your subconscious mind.

Any habit can be broken down into a feedback loop that involves four steps:

1. Cue
2. Craving
3. Response
4. Reward                

The Four Laws of Behavior Change are a simple set of rules we can use to build better atomic habits. Simply make it:

1. Obvious
2. Attractive
3. Easy
4. Satisfying

 

Chapter 4: The Man Who Didn’t Look Right

 

“If you’re having trouble determining how to rate a particular habit, ask yourself: ‘Does this behavior help me become the type of person I wish to be? Does this habit cast a vote for or against my desired identity?’”                

It is the awareness that triggers the behavior change. Once you practice something continuously, it becomes a part of your subconscious mind. Then, it becomes your atomic habit. As a result, with such many atomic habits and no conscious thinking, your brain starts picking up the right choices for you. Brain, at this stage, becomes professional in making predictions which favor your goals.

James Clear says: “Pointing-and-Calling raises your level of awareness from a nonconscious habit to a more conscious level by verbalizing your actions.”

 

Chapter 5: The Best Way to Start a New Habit

 

The best way to start a new habit is to stack it onto your old habit. Hence, do not sacrifice the old habit to get to a new one. This phenomenon is called “Habit Stacking”.

James Clear says: “The habit stacking formula is: ‘After [CURRENT HABIT], I will [NEW HABIT].’”                

The two important factors which play in stacking are time and location. When to stack a new habit and where. Finally, to make this happen, follow the implementation strategy.

The implementation strategy says, bind new habits with a specific time and place. Certainly, it will become convenient for you to adopt it.

James Clear says: “The implementation intention formula is: I will [BEHAVIOR] at [TIME] in [LOCATION].”

If you want to get a behavior change, you have to make it obvious in your intention. This is what the first law of behavior says too.

Chapter 6: Motivation is Overrated; Environment Often Matters More

 

It is not only your inner that matters. Your outer matters equally. And in shaping human behavior, it is an environment that plays a comparatively broader role.

To change behavior in a distinct magnitude, you need to adopt atomic habits over time. And to adopt new atomic habits, keep following the signals life gives you over and over again. Whatever you adopt, is triggered by something from your environment.

Initially, you need to do it with the conscious mind. Consequently, after some time of practice, adopting atomic habits itself becomes a habit. And all that is controlled by your subconscious mind.

But, to make all that happen, your environment must leave positive vibes for you. To change your habits. Or to let you adopt a new one. Take care of your environment.

 

Chapter 7: The Secret to Self-Control

 

Once you adopt a habit, you are unlikely to forget it. It lives with you forever. What if you have adopted a bad habit? Or the habit itself is a good one, but it has overwhelmed you, and it resists you from embracing new atomic habits?

The answer lies in the first law of behavior change. Just go inversely to that law and make the change invisible.

The best way to resist a bad habit is to reduce or avoid exposure to the signal that caused it. Because it is easier to avoid temptation than to resist it. And for the highest level of self-control, you need to spend less time in tempting situations.

James Clear says: “Self-control is a short-term strategy, not a long-term one.”

Chapter 8: How to Make a Habit Irresistible

 

The simple way to make a habit desirable is to make it attractive. The higher is the attractiveness of action, the higher would be the chances to let it be your habit.

The motivation in your inner-self is controlled by a hormone in your body, called Dopamine. As the level of Dopamine rises, you feel more motivated and vice versa. At the same time, your mind predicts better rewards for doing something. And then your mind feels that you should do that something for getting that better reward. The ultimate result is, that something becomes your habit.

The best way to align something important to your atomic habits is to associate it with something you feel pleasure to do. This pair of actions would help you develop the habit of doing something important alongside the habit of doing something pleasurable.

 

Chapter 9: The Role of Family and Friends in Shaping Your Habits

 

Since we are living in the form of societies, our behavior is affected by societal ties. It is usual to adopt habits that our culture supports. And it is equally usual to adopt habits which our closest tiers do. Our tiers may be:

1. The closest ones: Family and Friends
2. The people doing in a huge number: The Tribe
3. The powerful people in society: Those with status and prestige

James Clear suggests: “One of the most effective things you can do to build better habits is to join a culture where:

1. Your desired behavior is the normal behavior
2. You already have something in common with the group.”

We see that the normal behavior of society overturns the desired behavior of individuals. But it is not true that the majority is always right. An individual’s behavior may also be better. Because, if it is getting you respect, praise, and motivation for something.

Chapter 10: How to Find and Fix The Cause of Your Bad Habits

 

Simply inverse the second law of behavior change. While makings that thing unattractive which you made attractive before.

It is the prediction of better rewards that are driving your habits. And your feelings about that habits are also driven by that prediction. To simply avoid a habit, change the prediction associated with it. Certainly, you can do it by highlighting the benefits of avoiding that bad habit.

When you have positive feelings about a habit, it feels attractive. Otherwise, they are unattractive.

 

Chapter 11: Walk Slowly, But Never Backward

 

Here comes in action the third law of behavior change. It says, make the habit easy.

It is planning that is more laborious than practicing. Avoid keeping to plan every time, just put your thoughts into action as early as possible.

Be careful, not to stay in motion only. Rather, take action. Further, again take action!

The amount of time is less important than the number of times. When it comes to performing an action. The greater number of times you perform an action, the sooner it becomes your habit. And with each new number of practice, it keeps becoming automatic in your behavior.

Chapter 12: The Law of Least Effort

 

James Clear says: “Human behavior follows the Law of Least Effort.”

It is human nature to do the easier things first. In other words, being convenient with easier actions.

For the actions to become your habit, create an environment that simplifies the action. This way, the task would become easier to repeat and you will more conveniently adopt it as a habit.

Accordingly, shape your environment to make your future easier.

 

Chapter 13: How to Stop Procrastinating by Using the Two-Minute Rule

 

James Clear calls the impactful moments in our life the “decisive moments”. Undoubtedly, these are the moments that offer you options for your future. Once you see such moments, make full use of them.

The cues for new atomic habits come in decisive moments. Each of these decisive moments comes like a fork on the road. Here you get a choice. Either, there is a way at this point that leads to success, or a way that goes to failure. Conceivably, each decisive moment brings many options for you for your future.

For these atomic habits to choose a success path automatically, it is necessary to improve your habit. Simply, establish a habit, then go for improvement.

The Two-Minute Rule says: “It takes less than two minutes to do something you start as your habit.”

Once a new habit is likely to be started, you need to understand its sense at the spiritual level. This is something that would take you to the deep focus of that action. Then, move on to standardizing that habit. Ultimately, then optimize it.

Chapter 14: How to Make Good Habits Inevitable and Bad Habits Impossible

 

James Clear says: “The inversion of the 3rd Law of Behavior Change is to make it difficult.”

Commitment plays a key role in making your behavior fruitful in your future. To be committed with your intention, simply make your atomic habits automatic. The decisions you take in your life as onetime choices are the best examples of locked commitments in your future. Like, buying a mattress or enrolling in an automatic savings plan. Once you have taken these decisions, you have automated future decisions.

Today, technology is a boon to automate your atomic habits. For, it is reliable and a guaranteed option.

 

Chapter 15: The Cardinal Rule of Behavior Change

 

James Clear says: “The 4th Law of Behavior Change is to make it satisfying.”

When the experience is satisfying, you are more likely to repeat that action. Because the human mind is naturally automated to select choose immediate rewards over delayed rewards.

James Clear says: “The Cardinal Rule of Behavior Change: What is immediately rewarded is repeated. What is immediately punished is avoided……. to get a habit to stick you need to feel immediately successful—even if it’s in a small way.”

Again he says: “The first three laws of behavior change—make it obvious, make it attractive, and make it easy—increase the odds that a behavior will be performed this time. The fourth law of behavior change—make it satisfying—increases the odds that a behavior will be repeated next time.”  

Chapter 16: How to Stick with Good Habits Every Day

 

“When a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure”, the law formulated by the renowned economist Charles Goodhart.

If you are making progress, you must be feeling satisfied with what you are doing. Hence, to keep track of your habits, arrange a visual tracker. You can do this simply by marking the calendar periodically. For example, you adopt a habit that asks you to perform some tasks or tasks daily. Following the same path, mark daily on the calendar to track your progress of the habit.

Never miss a habit. If you happen to miss it once, try to compensate for it the next day. Indeed, if you miss twice, you even need to compensate for its loss the next day of performing.

Keep track of what you are doing and how you are doing. Since this will keep you stuck with the habits every day.

 

Chapter 17: How an Accountability Partner Changes Everything

 

James Clear says: “An accountability partner can create an immediate cost to inaction. We care deeply about what others think of us, and we do not want others to have a lesser opinion of us.”

How would stop repeating a bad habit? Merely, invert the fourth law of behavior change and follow it. Inversion of the fourth law of behavior change says, make things unsatisfying.

Something unsatisfying, might not interest to keep repeating it.

You get back from your society what you do to it. Thus, a bad habit might cost you mightier this way. Subsequently, if you know that someone is watching you, you will feel motivated to perform good habits and avoid bad habits.

Chapter 18: The Truth About Talent (When Genes Matter and When They Don’t)

 

How would you add the possibility of success in your acts?

The answer is simple but still a secret to many. Run in the right race, the race which is for you, and you will have greater chances of the win. Contrarywise this, run in the wrong field, and you would lose.

James Clear says: “The secret to maximizing your odds of success is to choose the right field of competition…… Pick the right habit and progress is easy. Pick the wrong habit and life is a struggle.”

Genes do not reshape as per the nature of competition. Rather, they are fixed. You got to choose the correct competition. The competition which your genes are favorable to.

James Clear says: “Genes cannot be easily changed, which means they provide a powerful advantage in favorable circumstances and a serious disadvantage in unfavorable circumstances.”

The same phenomenon applies to atomic habits. That is, choose habits that align with your abilities. So, you could perform them well. Rely on your strengths.

If you don’t see a race that is in favor of your strengths, go to create one. Because, the circumstances which your genes do not favor, are the circumstances where you have to work harder.

 

Chapter 19: The Goldilocks Rule—How to Stay Motivated in Life and Work

 

James Clear makes the ground of his remarks with the Goldilocks Rule. The Goldilocks Rule states that “Humans experience peak motivation when working on tasks that are right on the edge of their current abilities.”

When an action is repeated over time, it creates boredom. In due course, the performer feels less motivated to perform a repeated task because the task itself feels less interesting with each repeat.

As atomic habits become routine, the interest to do them declines. Needless to say, the cost of repeating a task is the sacrifice of interest in that task. Therefore, to perform a task or repeat a habit with equal interest, an equal amount of motivation is required.

James Clear says: “Anyone can work hard when they feel motivated. It’s the ability to keep going when work isn’t exciting that makes the difference…… Professionals stick to the schedule; amateurs let life get in the way.”

 

Chapter 20: The Downside of Creating Good Habits

 

The upside of atomic habits is that we can do things without thinking. Inversely, the downside is that we stop paying attention to little errors.

To get mastery of doing anything, you need to keep repeating that task with your conscious mind. While focusing on and eliminating minor errors.

The formula of mastery: “Habits + Deliberate Practice = Mastery”

James Clear advises: “Reflection and review is a process that allows you to remain conscious of your performance over time….. The tighter we cling to an identity, the harder it becomes to grow beyond it.”