Atomic Habits - by James Clear

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'Atomic Habits' looks at how to make positive changes in your life and the easiest way to bring about positive change is to cultivate the right habits. In this book you will discover all about habits, what they are, how you can form them, and crucially, how you can make the best ones stick. Atomic habits is written by James Clear who is an American journalist. Clears reveals exactly how these minuscule changes can grow into such life-altering outcomes. He uncovers a handful of simple life hacks (the forgotten art of Habit Stacking, the unexpected power of the Two Minute Rule, or the trick to entering the Goldilocks Zone), and delves into cutting-edge psychology and neuroscience to explain why they matter.





Summary & Key Learnings

The Fundamentals - Why Tiny Changes Make a Big Difference

1. The Surprising Power of Atomic Habits
2. How your Habits Shape Your Identity (and Vice Versa)
3. How to Build Better Habits in 4 Simple Steps

The 1st Law - Make It Obvious

4. The Man Who Didn't Look Right
5. The Best Way to Start a New Habit
6. Motivation Is Overrated; Environment Often Matters More
7. The Secret to Self-Control

The 2nd Law - Make It Attractive

8. How to Make a Habit Irresistible
9. The Role of Family and Friends in Shaping Your Habits
10. How to Find and Fix the Causes of Your Bad Habits

The 3rd Law - Make It Easy

11. Walk Slowly, but Never Backward
12. The Law of Least Effort
13. How to Stop Procrastinating by Using the Two-Minute Rule
14. How to Make Good Habits Inevitable and Bad Habits Impossible

The 4th Law - Make It Satisfying

15. The Cardinal Rule of Behaviour Change
16. How to Stick with Good Habits Every Day
17. How an Accountability Partner Can Change Everything

Advanced Tactics - How to Go from Being Merely Good to Being Truly Great

18. The Truth About Talent (When Genes Matter and When They Don't)
19. The Goldilocks Rule: How to Stay Motivated in Life and Work
20. The Downside of Creating Good Habits

Conclusion: The Secret to Results That Last


The key learnings from this book:
A tiny change in your behaviour will not transform your life overnight however, turning that behaviour into a habit that you do every day will lead to big changes. Changing your life is not about making big breakthroughs or revolutionising your entire life but it's about building a positive system of habits. When those habits are combined they delivery remarkable results.

Actionable advice:
Use habit stacking to introduce new behaviours which is building a new habit by stacking it on top of an existing habit.


The Fundamentals - Why Tiny Changes Make a Big Difference

1. The Surprising Power of Atomic Habits

Books own chapter summary:
  • Habits are the compound interest of self-improvement. Getting 1 percent better every day counts for a lot in the long-run.
  • Habits are a double-edged sword. They can work for you or against you, which is why understanding the details is essential.
  • Small changes often appear to make no difference until you cross a critical threshold. The most powerful outcomes of any compounding process are delayed. You need to be patient.
  • An atomic habit is a little habit that is part of a larger system. Just as atoms are the building blocks of molecules, atomic habits are the building blocks of remarkable results.
  • If you wan better results, then forget about setting goals. Focus on your system instead.
  • You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems.

2. How Your Habits Shape Your Identity (and Vice Versa)

  • There are three levels of change: outcome change, process change, and identity change.
  • The most effective way to change your habits is to focus not on what you want to achieve, but on who you wish to become.
  • Your identity emerges out of your habits. Every action is a vote for the type of person you wish to become.
  • Becoming the best version of yourself requires you to continuously edit your beliefs, and to upgrade and expand your identity.
  • The real reason habits matter is not because they can get you better results (although they can do that), but because they can change your beliefs about yourself.

3. How to Build Better Habits in 4 Simple Steps

  • A habit is a behaviour that has been repeated enough times to become automatic.
  • The ultimate purpose of habits is to solve the problem of life with as little energy and effort as possible.
  • 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 Behaviour Change are a simple set of rules we can use to build better habits. They are:
    1. Make it obvious
    2. Make it attractive
    3. Make it easy
    4. Make it satisfying



The 1st Law - Make it Obvious


4. The Man Who Didn't Look Right

  • With enough practice, your brain will pick up on the cues that predict certain outcomes without consciously thinking about it.
  • Once our habits become automatic, we stop paying attention to what we are doing.
  • The process of behaviour change always started with awareness. You need to be aware of your habits before you can change them.
  • Pointing-and-Calling raises your level of awareness from a non-conscious habit to a more conscious level by verbalising your actions.
  • The Habits Scorecard is a simple exercise you can use to become more away of your behaviour.


5. The Best Way to Start a New Habit

  • The 1st Law of Behaviour Change is make it obvious.
  • The two most common cues are time and location.
  • Creating an implementation intention is a strategy you can use to pair a new habit with a specific time and location. 
  • The implementation intention formula is: I will [BEHAVIOUR] at [TIME] in [LOCATION].
  • Habit stacking is a strategy you can use to pair a new habit with a current habit.
  • The habit stacking formula is: After [current habit], I will [NEW HABIT].

6. Motivation is Overrated; Environment Often Matters More

  • Small changes in context can lead to large changes in behaviour over time.
  • Every habit is initiated by a cue. We are more likely to notice cues that stand out.
  • Make cues of good habits become associated not with a single trigger but with the entire context surrounding the behaviour. The context becomes the cue.
  • It is easier to build new habits in a new environment because your are not fighting against old cues.

7. The Secret to Self-Control

  • The inversion of the first law of behaviour change is “make it invisible”.
  • Once a habit is formed, it is unlikely to be forgotten.
  • People with high self-control tend to spend less time in tempting situations. It’s easier to avoid temptation than to resist it.
  • One of the most practical ways to eliminate a bad habit is to reduce exposure to the cue that causes it.
  • Self-control is a short-term strategy.




The 2nd Law - Make it Attractive

8. How to Make a Habit Irresistible

  • The 2nd Law of Behaviour Change is make it attractive.
  • The more attractive an opportunity is, the more likely it is to become habit-forming.
  • Habits are a dopamine-driven feedback loop. When dopamine rises, so does our motivation to act.
  • It is the anticipation of a reward - not the fulfilment of it - that gets use to take action. The greater the anticipation, the greater the dopamine spike.
  • Temptation bundling is one way to make your habits more attractive. The strategy is to pair an action you want to do with an action you need to do.

9. The Role of Family and Friends in Shaping Your Habits

  • The culture we live in determines which behaviours are attractive to use.
  • We tend to adopt habits that are praised and approved of by our culture because we have a strong desire to fit in and belong to the tribe.
  • We tend to imitate the habits of three social groups: the close (family and friends), the many (the tribe), and the powerful (those with status and prestige).
  • One of the most effective things you can do to build better habits is to join a culture where:
    1. Your desired behaviour is normal behaviour
    2. You already have something in common with the group
  • The normal behaviour of the tribe often overpowers the desired behaviour of the individual. Most days, we'd rather by wrong with the crowd than be right by ourselves.
  • If a behaviour can get us approval, respect, and praise, we find it attractive

10. How to Find and Fix Causes of Your Bad Habits

  • The inversion of the 2nd Law of Behaviour Change is make it unattractive.
  • Every behaviour has a surface level craving and a deeper under lying motive.
  • Your habits are modern-day solutions to ancient desires.
  • The cause of your habits is actually the prediction that precedes them. The prediction leads to a feeling. 
  • Highlight the benefits of avoiding a bad habit to make it seem unattractive.
  • Habits are attractive when we associate them with positive feelings and unattractive when we associate them with negative feelings. Create a motivation ritual by doing something you enjoy immediately before a difficult habit.





The 3rd Law - Make it Easy


11. Walk Slowly, but Never Backward

  • The 3rd Law of Behaviour Change is make it easy.
  • The most effective form of learning is practice, not planning.
  • Focus on taking action, not being in motion.
  • Habit formation is the process by which a behaviour becomes progressively more automatic through repetition.
  • The amount of time you have been performing a habit is not as important as the nimber of times you have performed it.

12. The Law of Least Effort

  • Human behaviour follows the Law of Lease Effort. We will naturally gravitate toward the option that requires the least amount of work. 
  • Create an environment where doing the right thing is as easy as possible.
  • Reduce the friction associated with good behaviours. When friction is low, habits are easy.
  • Increase the friction associated with bad behaviours. When friction is high, habits are difficult.
  • Prime your environment to make future actions easier.

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

  • Habits can be completed in a few seconds but continue to impact your behaviour for minutes or hours afterward.
  • Many habits occur at decisive moments - choices that are like a fork in the road - and either send you in the direction of a productive one.
  • The Two-Minute Rule states, "When you start a new habit, it should take less than two minutes to do."
  • The more you ritualise the beginning of a process, the more likely it becomes that you can slip into the sate of deep focus that is required to do great things. 
  • Standardise before you optimise. You can't improve a habit that doesn't exist.

14. How to Make Good Habits Inevitable and Bad Habits Impossible

  • The Inversion of the 3rd Law of Behaviour Change is make it difficult.
  • A commitment device is a choice you make in the present that locks in better behaviour in the future.
  • The ultimate way to lock in future behaviour is to automate your habits.
  • Onetime choices - like buying a better mattress or enrolling in an automative savings plan - are single actions that automate your future habits and deliver increasing returns over time.
  • Using technology to automate your habits is the most reliable and effective way to guarantee the right behaviour.




The 4th Law - Make it Satisfying


15. The Cardinal Rule of Behaviour Change

  • The 4th Law of Behaviour Change is make it satisfying.
  • We are more likely to repeat a behaviour when the experience is satisfying.
  • The human brain evolved to prioritise immediate rewards over delayed rewards.
  • The Cardinal Rule of Behaviour 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 it it's in a small way.
  • The first three laws of behaviour change - make it obvious, make it attractive, and make it easy - increase the odds that a behaviour will be performed this time. The fourth law of behaviour change - make it satisfying increases the odds that a behaviour will be repeated next time.

16. How to Stick with Good Habits Every Day

  • One of the most satisfying feelings is the feeling of making progress.
  • A habit tracker is a simple way to measure whether you did a habit - like marking an X on a calendar.
  • Habit trackers and other visual forms of measurement can make your habits satisfying by providing clear evidence of your progress.
  • Don't break the chain. Try to keep your habit streak alive.
  • Never miss twice. If you miss one day, try to get back on track as quickly as possible.
  • Just because you can measure something doesn't mean it's the most important thing.

17. How an Accountability Partner Can Change Everything

  • The inversion of the 4th Law of Behaviour Change is make it unsatisfying.
  • We are less likely to repeat a bad habit if it is painful or unsatisfying.
  • An accountability partner can create an immediate cost to inaction. We can deeply about what others think of us, and we do not want others to have a lesser opinion of us.
  • A habit contract can be used to add a social cost to any behaviour. It makes the costs of violating your promises public and painful.
  • Knowing that someone else is watching you can be a powerful motivator.



Advanced Tactics - How to Go from Being Merely Good to Being Truly Great


19. The Truth About Talent (When Genes Matter and When They Don't)

  • The secret to maximising 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 cannot be easily changed, which means they provide a powerful advantage in unfavourable circumstances.
  • Habits are easier when they align with you natural abilities. Choose the habits that best suit you.
  • Play a game that favours your strengths. If you can't find a game that favours you, create one.
  • Genes do not eliminate the need for hard work. They clarify it. they tell us what to work hard on. 

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

  • The Goldilocks Rules states that humans experience peak motivation when working on tasks that are right on the edge of their current abilities.
  • The greatest threat to success is not failure but boredome.
  • As habits become routine, they become less interesting and less satisfying. We get bored.
  • Anyone can work hard when they feel motivated. It's the ability to keep going when work isn't exciting that makes the difference. 
  • Professional stick to the schedule; amateurs let life get in the way.

20. The Downside of Creating Good Habits

  • the upside of habits is that we can do things without thinking. The downside is that we stop paying attention to little errors.
  • Habits + Deliberate Practice = Mastery
  • 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.


Conclusion: The Secret to Results That Last

The secret to getting results that last is to never stop making improvements. It's remarkable what you can build if you just don't stop. Small habits don't add up. They compound. That's the power of atomic habits. Tiny changes. Remarkable results.


About Post Author

Hi, my name is Christine Calo and I'm a designer by trade who has an engineering background. I have an interest in design, technology and science which I like to read, watch and write about from time to time. This blog contains random ramblings of these topics and may tangent off to other topics. Want to say hello, you can contact me on: calo.christine@gmail.com

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