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Book review on Atomic Habit.
My book review will be on one of my spirit-driven books. ATOMIC HABIT by JAMES CLEAR. A book that drove me kin to what I want to achieve and track my good habit lifestyle.
James Clear is a writer and speaker focused on habits, decisions making and continuous improvement. He is the creator of the habit academy, the premier training platform for organizations and individuals who are interested in building better habits in life and work, I am a living example of this, I won’t say installing habits trackers and all is wrong or discouraging but I did and it always controlled me the wrong way but reading the Atomic Habit turning tiny changes to remarkable one did the best to my habits from breaking the bad ones to good.
What interest me about James Clear is his story and how he was made to fight through the challenges that made him great today, while he was growing his family faced a lot of hospital visit from his sister who battled with her health to him who battled with his health also due to accident while playing games for competition. While reading this part, the first thing that came to my mind was village people and how we would have bound and cast them all out, but his family fought through it all till they were all strong and as times went on he was strong and he built back his stand and through consistency and dealing with fighting to a good habit and here he is now, writing a good book spinning all around the world and known as a best-selling author through his book Atomic Habit and also Just Stand No Matter What.
James Clear made it very simple to one’s understanding using four laws of building up a habit:
How to create a good habit with the four laws:
1st LAW- Make it Obvious- Cue
Fill out the habit scorecard. Write down your current habits to become aware of them:
Use implementation intentions: “I will (Behavior) at (Time) in (Location)”.
Use habit stacking: “after (current habit), I will (new habit)”.
Design your environment: make the cause of good habits visible.
2nd LAW- Make it Attractive- Crave
Use temptation bundling: pair an action you want to do with an action you need to do.
Join a culture where your desired behaviour is normal.
Create a motivation ritual. Do something you enjoy immediately before a difficult habit.
3rd LAW- Make it Easy- Response
Reduce friction. Decrease the number of steps between you and your good habits.
Prime the environment. Prepare your environment to make future action easier.
Master the decisive moment. Optimize the small choices that deliver outsized impact.
Use the two-minute Rule. Downscale your habit until they can be done in two minutes or less.
Automate your habits. Invest in technology and one-time purchase that lock in future behaviour.
4th LAW- Make it Satisfying- Reward
Use reinforcement. Give yourself an immediate reward when you complete your habit.
Make “doing nothing” enjoyable. When avoiding a bad habit. Design a way to see the benefits.
Use a habit tracker. Keep track of your habit streak and “don’t break the chain”.
Never miss twice. When you forget to do a habit, make sure you get back on track immediately.
How to create a bad habit with the four laws:
1st LAW- Make it Invisible
Reduce exposure. Remove the cues of your bad habits from your environment.
2nd LAW- Make it Unattractive
Reframe your mindset. Highlight the benefits of avoiding your bad habits.
3rd LAW- Make it Difficult
Increase friction. Increase the number of steps between you and your bad habits.
Use a commitment device. Restrict your future choices to the ones that benefit you.
4th LAW- Make it Unsatisfying
Get an accountability partner. Ask someone to watch your behaviour.
Create a habit contract. Make the cost of your bad habits public and painful.
One other important note is the TWO-MINUTE RULE it helps even when you know you should start small, it's easy to start too big. When you dream about making a change, excitement inevitably takes over and you end up trying to do too much too soon. The most effective way I know to counteract this tendency is to use the two-minute rule, which states, “when you start a new habit, it should take less than two minutes to do”. You’ll find out that any habit can be scaled down into a two-minute version:
“Read before bed each night” becomes “Read one page”.
“Do thirty minutes of Yoga” becomes “Take out my Yoga mat”.
“Study for class” becomes “open my notes”.
“Fold the laundry” becomes “fold one pair of socks”
“Run three miles” becomes “Tie my running shoes”
The idea is to make your habits as easy as possible to start. Anyone can meditate for one minute, read one page, or put one item of clothing away. And as we have just discussed, this is a powerful strategy because once you’ve started doing the right thing, it is much easier to continue doing it. A new habit should not feel like a challenge. These actions that follow can be challenging, but the first two-minute should be easy. What you want is a “gateway habit” that naturally leads you down a more productive path.
My best Motivation:
Motion makes you feel like you are getting things done, but really, you’re just preparing to get something done.
How long does it take to form a new habit? Is by repeating a habit that leads to clear physical changes in the brain.
How do I achieve more with less effort? Environment design (prime the environment for future use).
How do I stop procrastinating? It is by using the two-minute rule. And dealing with everyday rituals.
LESSONS LEARNT:
*Awareness comes before desire.
*Happiness is simply the absence of desire.
*With a big enough why you can overcome anyhow.
*Peace occurs when you don’t turn your observations into problems.
*Being curious is better than being smart.
*Suffering drives progress.
*Our expectation determines our satisfaction.
*The pain of failure correlates to the height of expectation.
*How one small(atomic) change to one’s daily routine can yield unprecedented results in a long run.
My recommendation:
If you have not read Atomic Habit by James Clear and Baby steps to reading by Lengdung Tungchamma then you are missing the formation of a good dream come true habit. Enjoy your read!!!.
James Clear is a writer and speaker focused on habits, decisions making and continuous improvement. He is the creator of the habit academy, the premier training platform for organizations and individuals who are interested in building better habits in life and work, I am a living example of this, I won’t say installing habits trackers and all is wrong or discouraging but I did and it always controlled me the wrong way but reading the Atomic Habit turning tiny changes to remarkable one did the best to my habits from breaking the bad ones to good.
What interest me about James Clear is his story and how he was made to fight through the challenges that made him great today, while he was growing his family faced a lot of hospital visit from his sister who battled with her health to him who battled with his health also due to accident while playing games for competition. While reading this part, the first thing that came to my mind was village people and how we would have bound and cast them all out, but his family fought through it all till they were all strong and as times went on he was strong and he built back his stand and through consistency and dealing with fighting to a good habit and here he is now, writing a good book spinning all around the world and known as a best-selling author through his book Atomic Habit and also Just Stand No Matter What.
James Clear made it very simple to one’s understanding using four laws of building up a habit:
How to create a good habit with the four laws:
1st LAW- Make it Obvious- Cue
Fill out the habit scorecard. Write down your current habits to become aware of them:
Use implementation intentions: “I will (Behavior) at (Time) in (Location)”.
Use habit stacking: “after (current habit), I will (new habit)”.
Design your environment: make the cause of good habits visible.
2nd LAW- Make it Attractive- Crave
Use temptation bundling: pair an action you want to do with an action you need to do.
Join a culture where your desired behaviour is normal.
Create a motivation ritual. Do something you enjoy immediately before a difficult habit.
3rd LAW- Make it Easy- Response
Reduce friction. Decrease the number of steps between you and your good habits.
Prime the environment. Prepare your environment to make future action easier.
Master the decisive moment. Optimize the small choices that deliver outsized impact.
Use the two-minute Rule. Downscale your habit until they can be done in two minutes or less.
Automate your habits. Invest in technology and one-time purchase that lock in future behaviour.
4th LAW- Make it Satisfying- Reward
Use reinforcement. Give yourself an immediate reward when you complete your habit.
Make “doing nothing” enjoyable. When avoiding a bad habit. Design a way to see the benefits.
Use a habit tracker. Keep track of your habit streak and “don’t break the chain”.
Never miss twice. When you forget to do a habit, make sure you get back on track immediately.
How to create a bad habit with the four laws:
1st LAW- Make it Invisible
Reduce exposure. Remove the cues of your bad habits from your environment.
2nd LAW- Make it Unattractive
Reframe your mindset. Highlight the benefits of avoiding your bad habits.
3rd LAW- Make it Difficult
Increase friction. Increase the number of steps between you and your bad habits.
Use a commitment device. Restrict your future choices to the ones that benefit you.
4th LAW- Make it Unsatisfying
Get an accountability partner. Ask someone to watch your behaviour.
Create a habit contract. Make the cost of your bad habits public and painful.
One other important note is the TWO-MINUTE RULE it helps even when you know you should start small, it's easy to start too big. When you dream about making a change, excitement inevitably takes over and you end up trying to do too much too soon. The most effective way I know to counteract this tendency is to use the two-minute rule, which states, “when you start a new habit, it should take less than two minutes to do”. You’ll find out that any habit can be scaled down into a two-minute version:
“Read before bed each night” becomes “Read one page”.
“Do thirty minutes of Yoga” becomes “Take out my Yoga mat”.
“Study for class” becomes “open my notes”.
“Fold the laundry” becomes “fold one pair of socks”
“Run three miles” becomes “Tie my running shoes”
The idea is to make your habits as easy as possible to start. Anyone can meditate for one minute, read one page, or put one item of clothing away. And as we have just discussed, this is a powerful strategy because once you’ve started doing the right thing, it is much easier to continue doing it. A new habit should not feel like a challenge. These actions that follow can be challenging, but the first two-minute should be easy. What you want is a “gateway habit” that naturally leads you down a more productive path.
My best Motivation:
Motion makes you feel like you are getting things done, but really, you’re just preparing to get something done.
How long does it take to form a new habit? Is by repeating a habit that leads to clear physical changes in the brain.
How do I achieve more with less effort? Environment design (prime the environment for future use).
How do I stop procrastinating? It is by using the two-minute rule. And dealing with everyday rituals.
LESSONS LEARNT:
*Awareness comes before desire.
*Happiness is simply the absence of desire.
*With a big enough why you can overcome anyhow.
*Peace occurs when you don’t turn your observations into problems.
*Being curious is better than being smart.
*Suffering drives progress.
*Our expectation determines our satisfaction.
*The pain of failure correlates to the height of expectation.
*How one small(atomic) change to one’s daily routine can yield unprecedented results in a long run.
My recommendation:
If you have not read Atomic Habit by James Clear and Baby steps to reading by Lengdung Tungchamma then you are missing the formation of a good dream come true habit. Enjoy your read!!!.
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