Atomic Habits - James Clear
An Easy and Proven Way to Build Good Habits and Break Bad Ones
Introduction
During high school years, Clear had terrible accident, being hit in the face by a baseball bat. Almost lost his life, but slowly and painfully recovered. That recovery phase showed him the power of small but consistent habits.
[bq] “Changes that seem small and unimportant at first will compound into remarkable results if you’re willing to stick with them for years.”
[q] “To write a great book, you must first become the book.”
- Naval Ravikant
The Fundamentals - Why Tiny Changes Make a Big Difference
1. The Surprising Power of Atomic Habits
When looking at success, we often like to link it to one defining moment or central action/decision.
We ignore the tiny changes that compound over time to make the real difference.
Getting 1% better at something every day means after a year you improved 37x!
But because we don’t see change after two or three times, we often give up too early.
Same thing true for bad habits. A single bad meal or night of overwork doesn’t really register much, so it’s easy to slip into the habit and have negative effects compound.
[bq] “Making a choice that is 1% better or 1% worse seems insignificant in the moment, but over the span of moments that make up your lifetime these choices determine the difference between who you are and who you could be. Success is the product of daily habits - not a once-in-a-lifetime transformation.”
[bq] “Time magnifies the difference between success and failure.”
[bq] “It’s a hallmark of the compounding process: the most powerful outcomes are delayed.”
Calls it the “Plateau of Latent Potential”: The frustrating phase where you don’t see improvement despite regular effort. And after a final breakthrough people will often call it an overnight success.
Problem is that we often focus on the goals, not the systems that get us there.
[bq] “Goals are good for setting a direction, but systems are best for making progress.”
Winners and losers have the same goals, but different systems.
Goals are only momentary. Even achieving one might not lead to a lasting impact. System have lasting impact.
Goals tie your happiness to future milestones, rather than enjoying the process itself.
Goals can leave you with a vacuum (and even worse, a rebound) once achieved.
2. How Your Habits Shape Your Identity (and Vice Versa)
Three layers of behaviour change:
Outcomes
Process
Identity
Most people focus on outcomes (“outcome-based”) rather than who they wish to become (“identity-based”), never considering the beliefs and biases that drive their actions.
Habits only really stick if they become part of your identity.
[bq] “It’s one thing to say I’m the type of person who wants this. It’s something very different to say I’m the type of person who is this.”
[bq] “The goal is not to run a marathon, the goal is to become a runner.”
Similarly fall into bad stories we’ve told ourselves for a long time and have become part of our self-identity. E.g. “I’m terrible at math” or “I’m not a morning person.”
Repeated actions, habits, are what shape our identity the most.
[bq] “Every action you take is a vote for the person you wish to become.”
[bq] “Meaningful change does not require radical change.”
Two step process:
“Decide the type of person you want to be."
“Prove it to yourself with small wins."
Start from your goals and then ask what kind of person would achieve these goals.
It’s a feedback loop, since identity influences habits and vice versa.
Figuring out who you want to be is the most important first step. It directs everything else.
3. How to Build Better Habits in 4 Simple Steps
[q] “Habits are, simply, reliable solutions to recurring problems in our environment.”
- Jason Hreha
Habits are automatic behaviours, shortcuts that save mental processing power.
[bq] “Habits reduce cognitive load and free up mental capacity.”
[bq] “Habits do not restrict freedom. They create it.”
Four steps of habit formation:
Cue
Craving
Response
Reward
Rewards can have two purposes. They satisfy us, and they teach us which actions/cues are worth remembering/repeating.
The above four steps form a neurological feedback loop.
Can split into problem phase (cue, craving) and solution phase (response, reward).
Based on these steps, get “Four Laws of Behaviour Change"
Cue: Make it obvious
Craving: Make it attractive
Response: Make it easy
Reward: Make it satisfying
Similarly, inversion for bad habits:
Cue: Make it invisible
Craving: Make it unattractive
Response: Make it difficult
Reward: Make it unsatisfying
The 1st Law - Make it Obvious
4. The Man Who Didn’t Look Right
Cues that trigger habits can be so subtle we’re not even aware of them.
[bq] “Our responses to these cues are so deeply encoded that it may feel like the urge to act comes from nowhere.”
[q] “Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life and you will call it fate.”
- Carl Jung
To change habits, need to begin with awareness.
Make a Habits Scorecard: Write down all the things you do on a regular/daily basis (e.g. “wake up”, “brush teeth”, “make a coffee”, “go to gym”) and label them with +, -, and = depending on whether they are good, bad, or neutral habits. It’s a simple exercise, but helps you stat build awareness.
5. The Best Way to Start a New Habit
Setting an “implementation intention”, a simple statement of “when situation X arises, I will perform responses Y” dramatically improves how well people stick to goals.
[bq] “Many people think they lack motivation when what they really lack is clarity.”
[bq] “The simple way to apply this strategy to your habits is to fill out this sentence: I will [behavior] at [time] in [location].”
Behaviors don’t happen in isolation. They trigger each other. Can use this to do “habit stacking”, attaching a new habit to one your already have.
E.g. “After I make a cup of coffee (existing habit), I will meditate for ten minutes (new habit).”
Can keep stacking to develop entire routines (especially good in morning or evening, with fewer external distractions).
Want to be as specific as possible about how, when, and where to act. “Read more” is useless. “Read ever morning on my couch after making first coffee” is much more effective.
Implementation intentions and habit stacking build obvious cues. The most common cues are time, location, or completing another action.
6. Motivation is Overrated; Environment Often Matters More
[bq] “People often chose products not because of what they are, but because of where they are.”
Your habits change because of your environment and the cues that surround you. If there are cookies and doughnuts on your office table, you will grab some from time to time.
The more easily available and obvious something is, the more likely you are to try it.
Visual cues are usually the strongest.
[bq] “Creating obvious visual cues can draw your attention toward a desired habit.”
Designing your environment for positive cues and reducing negative ones is extremely powerful.
Think about how your interact with the spaces around you. Cues are not just individual objects but entire contexts.
Creating a new habit/routine can be easier in a new environment.
[bq] “If you want behaviours that are stable and predictable, you need an environment that is stable and predictable.”
7. The Secret to Self-Control
Willpower is drastically overrated. What really sets “disciplined” people apart is that they structure their life and environment to avoid tempting stimuli in the first place.
[bq] “Bad habits are autocatalytic: the process feeds itself. They foster the feelings they try to numb.”
[bq] “I have never seen someone consistently stick to positive habits in a negative environment.”
[bq] “It’s easier to avoid temptation that resist it.”
The 2nd Law - Make It Attractive
8. How to Make a Habit Irresistible
The modern food industry has become a master of using our ancient desire for salt, sugar and fat, and turning their products into something so irresistible that we constantly overindulge.
Happens in many other industries as well.
[bq] “They exaggerate features that are naturally attractive to us, and our instincts go wild as a result.”
All habits share one biological signature: dopamine.
Dopamine regulates desire (not the pleasure that comes from fulfilling it.) Every craving is a spike in dopamine.
It spikes in anticipation of a reward, and increases motivation to act.
[bq] “Desire is the engine that drives behaviour.”
Can use “temptation bundling”: Doing something you need to do (e.g. ride a stationary bike to get in shape) every time you do something you want to do (e.g. watching Netflix).
Can also place needs before wants. E.g. “every time before I check Facebook I do ten pushups.”
Through temptation bundling, eventually the need will become a want because the brain associates it with the reward.
9. The Role of Family and Friends inn Shaping Your Habits
[bq] “Behaviors are attractive when they help us fit in.”
Especially imitate habits of people who are close, many, or powerful.
[bq] “We soak up the qualities and practices of those around us.”
Surrounding yourself with people that practice your desired habits is the best way to build them yourself.
[bq] “Nothing sustains motivation better than belonging to the tribe.”
Whenever we are unsure of something, we look for what the majority does/thinks. We look at reviews on Amazon/Yelp too make the “best” decision, etc. But this can have a negative effect.
[bq] “The normal behaviour of the tribe often overpowers the desired behaviour of the individual.”
[bq] “Running against the grain of your culture requires effort.”
We all want power and status, it gave us evolutionary advantage. So we try to imitate those who already have it.
Looking at successful people and trying to imitate their habits can be a way to success.
10. How to Find and Fix the Causes of Your Bad Habits
[bq] “Your habits are modern-day solutions to ancient desires. New versions of old vices.”
But how we address them can be different. E.g. can relieve stress with going for a run, or smoking a cigarette.
Given a cue, you try to predict what will provide a desired outcome, given your past experiences.
Changing our mindset/phrasing so that hard habits are associated with positive experiences makes them stick better. Highlight benefits rather than drawbacks/difficulties.
Can use “motivation ritual” to link certain unrelated cues (e.g. a song) to specific habits and get you in the zone.
[NFW: Very similar to Josh Waitzkin’s idea of building triggers.]
[bq] “The key to finding and fixing the causes of your bad habits is to reframe the associations you have about them.”
The 3rd Law - Make It Easy
11. Walk Slowly, but Never Backward
[q] “The best is the enemy of the good.”
- Voltaire
Often spend so much time planning that we never really get around to taking action.
Often confuse motion (the planning and preparation phase) with action. Only action will actually move you forward.
[bq] “Motion allows us to feel like we’re making progress without running the risk of failure.”
[bq] “If you want to master a habit, the key is to start with repetition, not perfection.”
Repetition is key for habit formation.
Hobb’s Law: “Neurons that fire together wire together.”
Habits transition from effortful practice to automatic behaviour.
Habits form based on frequency, not time. The more reps you put in, the more automatic sonneting becomes.
12. The Law of Least Effort
The Law of Least Action is fundamental to physics, but humans essentially follow it too, usually following a path of least effort.
Most habits take very little every/effort. That’s why they become habits in the first place. (Swiping on phone, watching Netflix, etc)
So the key is to make our desired habits as easy as possible.
Hard things require motivation. They are great when we do have motivation, but at times where we don’t we want as many simple but good habits to catch/support us.
Again, can use environmental design to make habits easier (e.g. choosing a gym that’s along your daily commute).
Practice “addition by subtraction”: What friction points in your environment can you remove to make desired behaviours easier?
Applies to things, but also people!
Priming your environment for future use is great tool (e.g. if you want to cook healthy breakfast, prepare all tools and ingredients the night before).
Can also invert this, trying to make bad habits more difficult.
[bq] “The greater the friction, the less likely the habit.”
[bq] “Redesign your life so that the actions that matter most are also the actions that are easiest to do.”
13. How to Stop Procrastinating by Using the Two-Minute Rule
Habits themselves might be short, but they often affect the behaviour we engage in for minutes or hours afterwards.
[bq] “Habits are like the entrance ramp to a highway.”
[bq] “Every day, there are a handful of moments that deliver an outsized impact.”
E.g. decision to order take-out or cook dinner, take the car or walk.
[bq] “Decisive moments set the options available to your future self.”
[bq] “Habits are the entry point, not the end point.”
Often initial excitement and motivation make us do too much too soon and then later abandon the habit. Instead, should start a habit with two-minute rule: “When you start a new habit, it should take less than two minutes to do.”
Examples: “Tie my running shoes” instead of “Run 10km”, or “take out yoga mat” instead of “do 30 min of yoga.”
[bq] “Instead of trying to engineer a perfect habit from the start, do the easy thing on a more consistent basis.”
Want to ritualise the beginning of a longer/more difficult routine.
Can even force yourself to stop a new habit early every time, to make it feel even less like a chore. Then slowly scale up from there.
14. How to Make Good Habits Inevitable and Bad Habits Impossible
Commitment device: “A choice you make in the present that controls your actions in the future.”
Can use them to make the most of good intentions or sudden surges of motivation.
[bq] “The key is to change the task so that it requires more work to get out of the good habit than to get started on it.”
Want to look for one-time actions that then lock you into good behaviours.
Technology can be really helpful here (e.g. installing a website/internet blocker like Freedom).
[bq] “The downside of automation is that we can find ourselves jumping from easy task to easy task without making time for more difficult, but ultimately more rewarding work.”
The 4th Law - Make It Satisfying
15. The Cardinal Rule of Behaviour Change
Cardinal Rule: “What is rewarded is repeated. What is punished is avoided.”
For most of human (and even longer evolutionary) history, we lived in immediate-return environment where reward (or punishment) followed an action right away. Now live in delayed-return environment.
[bq] “Our brains evolved to prefer quick payoffs to long-term ones.”
Many bad habits lead to delayed punishment, but instant reward.
[bq] “As a general rule, the more immediate pleasure you get from an action, the more strongly you should question whether it aligns with your long-term goals.”
People who are better at delayed gratification are generally more successful. But it’s hard.
Want to try to add some instant reward to good habits (and instant pain to bad ones).
Especially rewarding yourself for avoiding a bad behaviour can be effective.
16. How to Stick with Good Habits Every Day
Visual progress markers can help with motivation (e.g. moving an object every time you do the habit, journals, workout logs, etc.)
Habit tracker can be powerful too. Simplest version: Just put an X in the calendar every day you do the habit.
People who track their habits/goals are much more likely to stick with them.
[bq] “The mere act of tracking a behaviour can spark the urge to change it.”
It also motivates us by visually showing our progress.
And it can feel rewarding and satisfying in itself.
It makes you focus more on the process rather than the result.
Only problem: Tracking itself is another habit that you first have to develop.
Missing a habit once is not an issue, and shouldn’t beat yourself up over it. Just make sure it doesn’t happen twice in a row; that’s the beginning of a new habit.