Atomic Habits: How to get Remarkable Results Through Tiny Changes

“You don’t rise to the level of your goals, you fall to the level of your systems.”

James Clear, Atomic Habits

Most people tend to overestimate the importance of single actions, while underestimating the power of making small improvements repetitively over a longer period of time. Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones by James Clear, takes us through examples from sports, business, and education, along with evidence from psychology and neuroscience. The book explains why real change and major transformations comes from the compound effects of numerous small, deliberate, tweaks to our daily routines, decisions or small habits that accumulate over time to produce remarkable results: changing lifestyles, behaviors and identities to help us lead healthier, happier, and more productive lives.

In college James Clear was an Academic All-American baseball player, and an avid weightlifter. He is now a writer and speaker focused on habits, decision making, and continuous improvement, and have written about these topics at JamesClear.com since 2012. He is the author of the #1 New York Times bestseller, Atomic Habits. The book has sold over 10 million copies worldwide and has been translated into more than 50 languages. His work is used by players and coaches in the NFL, NBA, and MLB. He has given talks at Fortune 500 companies, clients include Cisco, General Electric, Honda, Intel, LinkedIn, Lululemon, McKinsey & Company, Merrill Lynch. His work has been featured in places like TIME magazine, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal and on CBS This Morning.

I highly recommend this book. The key points are meant as a preview and not a replacement for the original work. If you are intrigued after reading this, please consider purchasing the original book to get the full experience as the author intended it to be.

Key Points

Tiny habits and minuscule changes can turn into life altering outcomes.

Four Key Insights

1. The 1% rule
2. Focus on systems, rather than goals
3. Identity change drives habit change
4. The 4 fundamental laws of behavior change

1. The 1% Rule

• If we can get 1% better each day for a year, we become 37x better (1.01³⁶⁵).
• Habits do not seem to make much difference on a given day, but the impact across months or years can be absolutely enormous.
• Habits are the compound interest of self-improvement.
• Learning one new idea will not make you a genius, but a commitment to lifelong learning can be transformative.
• The more you help others, the more others will seek to help you.
• A habit is just a behavior repeated enough times to become automatic.
• Habit formation is incredibly useful because the conscious mind is the bottleneck of the brain.
  
• We do not actively and consciously think about brushing our teeth in the morning and before we go to bed, yet we do it every day. It has become a habit. Likewise, we can form new habits for other small tasks that are beneficial to us, preferably at set times in the day. This will free up mental space, as we do not have to actively remember them and force ourselves to do them. Nor having to consider which days to do something, whether to do it or not, and at what time, also not having to think about the activity in general. It is just part of our routine. Freeing up that extra mental capacity in your conscious mind will feel like a relief. Habits allow us to put systems in place, leading us to accomplish more.
  
• Conversely, be aware that when we repeat bad habits day after day, they will accumulate into larger problems. Time magnifies the margin between success and failure. Habits will multiply whatever you feed it. Good habits make time your ally, while bad habits make time your enemy.
  
• The Plateau of Latent Potential is the time lag between efforts and achieving the results we want. Our efforts do not make a visible change unless they cross a critical threshold. What we experience prior to this moment is called the Valley of Disappointment. We typically think that results are going to be linear and that we will keep getting better or improving at something at a consistent pace. This is not how habit building works. When you keep doing something over time, then you typically improve exponentially. This is when the compound interest of self-improvement takes hold and we see amazing results.
  

2. Focus on Systems, Rather than Goals

• Winners and losers have the same goals. Setting goals will not set you apart from the rest.
• Goals are about the results you want to achieve.
• Systems are about the processes that lead to those results.
• Goals are good for setting a direction, but systems are best for making progress (systems of atomic habits).
• When we achieve a goal we only change our life for a moment. What allowed you to attain those results was the underlying systems (habits) that you had in place (e.g. writing, working out, cleaning consistently).
• Goals tend to restrict our happiness. There is typically an implicit assumption behind a goal that once a goal is reached, you will be happy. That assumption also rests on the releasing feeling of reaching the goal and the fact that you allow yourself to truly celebrate the victory of reaching the goal. Very driven people often tend to set another goal once, the current goal is in sight, and take the current goal for granted once it is within reach. Thus, there is limited emotional release and feeling of celebration, since the mind is now focused on the next goal (next mountain top over and beyond the initial one).
• Goals can be at odds with long-term progress, as the purpose of setting goals tends to be to win the game. The purpose of building systems is to continue to playing the game. This line of thinking is very similar to that of Simon Sinek in his book The Infinite Game. What we tend to want is not the goal of lifting 100kg, but being someone who is fit (someone that works out regularly). With the right systems (habits) in place, score (of the game) will take care of itself.
  

3. Identity Change Drives Habit Change

Three layers of behavior change:

• Outcomes
• Processes (related to our habits / systems)
• Identity (related to our beliefs)

Most of us work from outcomes to identity, rather than identity to outcome. When we solve problems in terms of outcomes and results, we only solve them temporarily. To solve problems for the long-term, at the systems level, we need to change our identity.

An example from the book is Mitch who decided he was going to go the gym to get in shape. In order to lower the bar for himself, he could only work out for 5 min each time for the first 6 weeks. He made it very easy for himself to accomplish this. He quickly mastered the art of showing up at the gym, which helped him form the habit and accelerated his transformation into becoming the kind of person that goes to the gym (identity change).

However, if you decide you are an X kind of person, say, an athlete, and as an athlete it is normal to workout every day, then you might be able to shortcut this, and get even more rapid results. Or, rather than trying various diets, think about yourself as a healthy and fit person, thus you will naturally choose food that is congruent with that idea / your identity. The reason being that the ultimate form of intrinsic motivation is when it becomes part of our identity.

Keep in mind that you need to be able to form a habit in order to further improve it, or optimize it. Thus, set the bar low, if you have to, but get started.

4. The 4 Fundamental Laws of Behavior Change

Keep in mind that one of the greatest challenges in changing habits is maintaining awareness of what we are actually doing.

The ultimate purpose of habits is to solve the challenges of life with as little energy and effort as possible. The cue triggers a craving, which motivates a response, which provides a reward, which satisfies the craving and, ultimately, becomes associated with the cue. Based on this, the process of building a habit can be split into four stages:

1. Make it obvious, as a cue triggers the brain to initiate an action
   • Given that we are more dependent on vision than any other sense, it is no surprise that visual cues are the greatest catalyst to our behavior.
     
   • Design your environment. Put fewer steps between you and the good behaviors.
     • In the physical space: E.g. when you make your bed in the morning, place a book on your pillow, so that you remember to read a page (or more) in the evening. Another example is laying out your workout clothes on your bed, and building a habit by committing to putting them on immediately after coming home from school or work. Once the clothes are on, the hardest part is done, and now the threshold is much higher for bailing out (rather than doing it). Now it is just a matter of walking out the door.
       
     • In the digital space: e.g. have a clean computer desktop. Have a computer/phone background picture to remind you to focus on what you are supposed to do. Have your book or podcast apps on your main screen, so that they are the first thing you see, and the ones that you see most often. Uninstall, or place apps that tend to distract you on the last screen on your phone or hide them in a subfolder, and turn off their notifications.
       
     • Rather than pairing a new habit with a particular time and location, it can pair it with an existing habit. This method can be used to design an obvious cue for nearly any habit. The habit stacking formula is: “After I [current habit], I will [new habit].”
       
       
2. Make it attractive, as craving provides the motivational force
   • Dopamine is not only released when you experience pleasure, but also when you anticipate it. Gambling addicts experience a dopamine spike just before they place a bet, not after they win. Cocaine addicts get a surge of dopamine when they see the white powder, not after they take it. Hence, whenever you foresee that an opportunity will be rewarding, your levels of dopamine spike in anticipation, along with your motivation to act. In fact, your brain has far more neural circuitry allocated for wanting rewards than for liking them.
     
   • As a result, we need to make our habits attractive because it is the expectation of a rewarding experience that motivates us to act in the first place. To facilitate this, employ temptation bundling, by linking an action you want to do with an action you need to do, or feel good about. E.g. you deeply enjoy your daily meditation, and you decide that before allowing yourself to meditate you first need to complete a workout session.
     
   • The culture we are a part of tend to influence which behaviors we perceive as attractive. The normal behavior of the tribe often tend to overpower the desired behavior of an individual. Thus, (unfortunately) many would rather be wrong along with the crowd, than be right by ourselves. Also, if a behavior can get us approval, respect, and praise, we typically find it attractive. As a result, 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).
       
   • With this in mind, one of the most effective things you can do to build better habits is to join a culture where
     • your desired behavior is the normal behavior, and
     • you already have something in common with the group.
       
   • Habits are attractive when we associate them with positive feelings. Thus, a quick and easy way to reprogram your mind is to reframe the associations by highlighting their benefits (rather than their drawbacks) to make habits seem more attractive.
     • e.g. rather than viewing saving money as a sacrifice, you can reframe it as an opportunity to increase your future purchasing power.
     • e.g. when meditating you can view each interruption, rather than irritation, as a chance to practice returning to your breath.
     • e.g. instead “I have to get up at 6 am“, say “I get to wake up at 6 am“.
       
   • Instead of seeing these things in your life as obligations, you see them as opportunities. This rephrasing & reframing gives you a different way of interpreting reality. When your perception changes, your response changes.
     
     
3. Make it easy, to illicit a response/action/habit to be performed
   • Being in motion (busy) vs. taking action:
     • Motion/Busy: planning / strategizing / learning, is good, but does not lead to an outcome/result.
     • Action: the type of behavior that will yield an outcome/result.
       
   • We tend to lean towards motion because it allows us to feel like we are making progress without running the risk of failure. We typically take the path of least resistance and comfort ourselves with “at least we re doing something“, rather than taking the action that (we know) is required. This is a fools errand. Also, since we do not want to fail or be judged publicly, we tend to avoid situations where that might happen, with the aim of postponing failure. It is better to take the action required, but rather attempt to split it into smaller steps, a smaller duration etc.
     
   • To master a habit start with repetition, not perfection. No analysis paralysis, just start practicing. Each time we repeat an action, we are activating a particular neural circuit in the brain associated with that habit. Thus, getting your reps in is one of the most critical steps you can take to encode a new habit.
     
   • The less friction you face, the easier it is to take action. Make it as easy as possible when the moment comes, to do things that payoff in the long run. Rather than trying to overcome the friction in your life, reduce it.
     
     • E.g. keep healthy food in your fridge, and get rid of unhealthy snacks and junk food, or alcohol. Try to remove anything that you tend to consider as a negative temptation that will lead you to exert unnecessary willpower to withstand. Keep in mind that willpower is fixed at a certain amount, and is drained during the day. Make it easier for yourself to reserve your willpower for the important decisions.
       
     • Keep e.g. a musical instrument, a Rubik’s Cube, a book or juggling balls nearby so in case you fall into procrastination you replace what you should be doing with something else that you would like to do / to learn & to get better at.
       
   • Stop procrastinating by using the two-minute rule: when you start a new habit, it should take less than two minutes to do. Start by mastering the first two minutes of the smallest version of the behavior. Then, advance by focusing on just the first two minutes the next stage, and mastering it before moving on. Eventually, you will end up with the habit you were hoping to establish.
     
     
4. Make it immediately satisfying, as a reward will lead to repeated action
   • The cardinal rule of behavior change is that what is immediately rewarded (dopamine burst) is repeated, thus attach some sort of immediate gratification to your new formed habit.
   • Keep in mind that what is immediately punished is avoided.

The great power of atomic habits is the emphasis it places on systems rather than goals, identity rather than outcomes, and small habits rather than drastic change (which will not be sustainable). Habits are not a finish line, but a lifestyle to live.

Great Quotes

• “Every action you take is like a vote for the type of person you want to become.”
  
• “When you are making plans think big, when you are making progress think small.”
  
• “Most of your achievements in life are lagging measures of your habits”
  • Knowledge is a lagging measure of your reading habits.
  • Your bank account is a lagging measure of your financial habits.
  • Your weight is a lagging measure of your eating and exercising habits.
  • Your clutter is a lagging measure of your cleaning habits.
    
• “In the short-run, we can selectively override temptation. In the long-run, we become a product of the environment that we live in.”
  
• “Make the cues of your good habits obvious and the cues of your bad habits invisible.”
  
• “You don’t rise to the level of your goals, you fall to the level of your systems.”
  
• “The results come naturally when you build the systems to drive them.”
  
• “Join a group where the desired behavior is the normal behavior.”
  This quote builds on the well-known notion that you are the average of the 5 people you associate the most with. Considering this and taking action accordingly will help you sustain your new formed positive habit in the long run.
  
• “Happiness is simply the absence of desire. When you observe a cue, but do not desire to change your state, you are content with the current situation. Happiness is not about achievement of pleasure (which is joy or satisfaction), but about the lack of desire. It arrives when you have no urge to feel differently. Happiness is the state you enter when you no longer want to change your state.”
  

For a short intro, watch James Clear on CBS This Morning explaining to David Begnaud how you can build good habits and break bad ones.

If you would like to dig deeper and learn more, we recommend watching James Clear on the The Tim Ferris Show (podcast).