Atomic Habits – Tiny Changes, Remarkable Results by James Clear
What if you could find an easy and proven way to build good habits and break bad ones? What if you could make tiny changes and produce remarkable results?
In this book, Author James Clear presents a revolutionary way to get 1 percent better every day. People think when you want to change your life, you need to take big and bold steps but the book essentially shows that real change comes from the compound effect of multiple small decisions and actions. This is a simple way to hack life!
James Clear starts with an extraordinary story of his terrible injury and near-death experience on a baseball field that shattered his life in a few seconds and how his journey to recovery taught him the power of small and consistent changes, efforts and victories that can completely transform a life over a period of time. His injury and recovery reveal how changes that seem small and unimportant at first will compound into remarkable results if one will to stick with them in the long haul.
The author shares a step-by-step plan for building better habits, not for days or weeks, but for a lifetime. The backbone of the book is his four-step model of habits: cue, craving, response, and reward and four laws of behavior change associated with each step. Habits are the compound interest of self-improvement. The same way that money multiplies through compound interest, the effects of your habits multiply as you repeat them. It doesn’t matter how successful or unsuccessful you are right now. What matters is whether your habits are putting you on the path toward success.
It follows then that; you should be far more concerned with your trajectory than with your current results. If you want to predict where you’ll end up in life, all you have to do is follow the curve of tiny gains or losses, and see how your daily choices will compound over time. 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. Breakthrough moments are often the result of many previous actions, which build up the potential required to unleash a major change.
James presents three layers of behavior change: a change in your outcomes (results), a change in your processes (systems), or a change in your identity (beliefs, worldview). Many people begin the process of changing their habits by focusing on what they want to achieve (outside-in changes) - this leads to outcome-based habits. The alternative and most effective way is to build identity-bases habits (inside-out changes). 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. The more pride you have in a particular aspect of your identity, the more motivated you will be to maintain the habits associated with it. True behavior change is identity change.
Example: The goal is not to read a book; the goal is to become a reader; not to run a marathon but to become a runner; not to learn an instrument but to become a musician.
Change require a simple two-step process:
- Decide the type of person you want to become
- Prove it to yourself with small wins consistently
The author shows that the process of building a habit can be divided into four simple steps:
- Cue – the cue triggers your brain to initiate a behavior. It is a bit of information that predicts a reward.
- Craving – cravings are the motivational force behind every habit. Without some level of motivation or desire, we have no reason to act. What you crave is not the habit but the change in state it delivers.
- Response – the response is the actual habit you perform, which can take the form of a thought or an action.
- Reward – the satisfaction
The cue is about noticing the reward. The craving is about wanting the reward. The response is about obtaining the reward.
This four-step pattern is the backbone of every habit. If a behavior is insufficient in any of the four stages, it will not become a habit. Eliminate the cue and your habit will never start. Reduce the craving and you won’t experience enough motivation to act. Make the behavior difficult and you won’t be able to do it. And if your behavior fails to satisfy your desire, then you’ll have no reason to do it again in the future. Without the first three steps, a behavior will not occur. Without all four, a behavior will not be repeated.
James argues that the key to creating good habits and breaking bad ones is to understand the following fundamental laws of behavior change and how to alter them to your specifications. The ultimate purpose of habits is to solve the problems of life with as little energy and effort as possible.
The 1st Law – Make it Obvious
Write down your current habits to become aware of them - (Habit scorecard). Design your environment. Make the cues of good habits obvious, visible and easily accessible.
The inversion of law 1 to break a habit: Make it invisible – Reduce the cues of your bad habits from your environment.
The 2nd Law – Make it Attractive
Pair an action you want to do with an action you need to do. Join a culture where your desired behavior is the normal behavior. Create a motivation ritual. Do something you enjoy immediately before the difficult habit.
The inversion of law 2 to break a habit: Make it unattractive – Reframe your mind-set. Highlight the benefits of avoiding your bad habits.
The 3rd Law – Make it Easy
Reduce friction. Decrease the number of steps between you and your good habits. Prime your environment by preparing it to make future actions easier. Automate your habit through technology.
The inversion of law 3 to break a habit: Make it Difficult – increase friction by increasing the number of steps between you and your bad habits
The 4th Law – Make it Satisfying
Give yourself an immediate reward when you complete your habit.
The inversion of law 4 to break a habit: Make it unsatisfying – Make the cost of your bad habits public and painful.
In closing:
The secret of getting results that last is never stop making improvements. 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. That’s the power of atomic habits. Tiny changes. Remarkable results!
Thank you so much for the summary.
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome and thank you too for taking time to ready it.
DeleteThank you so much for this sharing, i like it
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