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Mohammad Sohail

Book review: 'Atomic Habits' by James Clear

An easy and proven way to build good habits and break bad ones.





Why focus on habits and creating systems to build good habits? Small habits have a powerful impact on life. The author explains, most of our actions are learned automated responses. If you make tiny changes in those responses and repeat time and time again, they will become new habits, allowing you to gain big results.


  • Habit by definition (from oxford dictionary) is, “a settled disposition to act in a certain way, one acquired by frequent repetition of the same act until it becomes almost or quite involuntary”.


  • Meaning of atomic is “the source of immense energy or power.”



1. “Small habits have a powerful impact on life”. To make that clear while giving multiple examples the writer elaborates, a few concepts such as success, on how system focus is more important than goal orientation. James gives an account of his own experience of how terrible blow to the head, knocking him unconscious, left him facing lifelong disabilities. How, luckily a young tenacious lad decided not to accept his fate. And he describes the process of his astonishing recovery which in the end became a book on experienced knowledge. One of the first ideas involve consistency and it works like the compounding interest rate rule---Compounding effect of small habits; how a millionaire who outspends his earnings each week may not be worried about his bank statement from one month to next but over a period of time, he would feel the compounding effect. So, if you are worried about behaviours and habits not paying off, try to focus on your current trajectory rather than current results. “Habits are like the atoms of our lives. Each one is a fundamental unit that contribute to your overall improvement.”


2.How habits are formed? Our brain figures out how to respond to new situations through trial and error. Habits begin with a cue, or a trigger to act. Cat in the box helped advancement of scientific understanding of habit formation; above youtube link shows that experiment. A scenario: Walking it-no a dark room cues you to perform the action that will enable sight. Next comes a craving for a change in state – in this case, to be able to see. Then comes our response, or action – flicking the light switch. The final step in the process, and the end goal of every habit, is the reward. It’s the feeling of mild relief and comfort that comes from being able to see your surroundings. Every habit is subject to the same process. Knowing how habits work, next step is about building positive habits to improve our lives.

3. Hard to miss cues and a plan of Action to build new habits. (Overcoming lack of Willpower/Motivation); All of us have cues that trigger certain habits. The buzz of your phone, for example is a cue to check your messages. Once we know that certain stimuli can prompt habitual behaviour, we can better use this knowledge to change our habits. How? One way is to change your surroundings and general environment to encourage better habits. Search for Anne Thorndike’s experiment on patients to get them to drink more water without the patients making a conscious choice. She just placed more water in shop and redesigned cafeteria to have water instead of soft drinks next to the tills. Second way to strengthen cues is to use implementation intentions. A study of voters in the United States found that the citizens who were asked the questions “At what time will you vote?” and “How will you get to the voting station?” were more likely to turn out than those who were just asked if they would vote. So instead of vague intentions, i.e I will run more often, make clear plan of action setting out when and how you will run. Say, “on Monday and Wednesday when the alarm goes off, first thing i will do is don my running gear and clock 2 miles”. And place your running shoes where you can see them you will be surprised about how easier it would be to build a new habit of running. “Many people think they lack motivation when what they really lack is clarity”





4. Humans are motivated by anticipation of reward, so making habits more attractive will help you stick to them. Human brain releases feel-good dopamine when we do pleasurable things like eating or having sex. But we get a hit of same dopamine when we anticipate the pleasurable activities. A great technique to utilise above findings is “temptation bundling”. So, you make the behaviours that are important but maybe unappealing and link them to the behaviour you are drawn to-one that will generate that motivating dopamine. i.e promise yourself half hour of social media browsing if you get certain amount of work done. Soon enough you will start finding the unenjoyable task pleasing on their own.

5. Reduce friction to make habits easy to adapt. Trick to make a habit easier to adapt is two-minute rule, the principle is that any activity can be distilled into a habit that is doable within two minutes. Want to read more? Don’t commit to reading one book every week – instead, make a habit of reading a page per night. Want to run a marathon? Commit to simply putting on your running gear every day after work. You are more likely to head out for a run and read some more if you the base tasks consistently. Consistency is what gives you compounding effect and a break in consistency is bad.



James Clear, courtesy of the Pennsylvania Conference for Women

6. Making habits immediately satisfying for effective behaviour change. In 1990, a researcher Stephen Luby working with P & G in Karachi, achieved great results concerning diarrhoea among children. Luby’s secret? Nice soap. You can look up for details. But essentially Luby utilized, the important rule of behavioural change, make habits satisfying. It can be difficult for evolutionary reasons since humans for centuries were concerned with immediate-return environments while today we live in delayed- return environment. So, when pursuing habits with a delayed return, try to attach some immediate gratification to them.


7. Create a framework to track your habits using trackers and contract. Much like the well-known American founding father Benjamin Franklin as he kept a note of adherence to his 13 personal virtues and noted his success every night from AGE 20 ONWARDS, you can do something similar. Develop a habit tracker by using a simple calendar or diary and crossing off each habit that you stick with. You will find it effective, since habit tracking itself is an attractive and satisfying habit. The anticipation and action of crossing off each day will feel good and keep you motivated. And second technique is to develop a habit contract that imposes negative consequences if you fail to stay on track.


Final summary


A tiny change in your behaviour will not transform your life overnight. But turn that behaviour into a habit that you perform every day and it absolutely can lead to big changes. Changing your life is not about making big breakthroughs or revolutionising your entire life. Rather, it’s about building a positive system of habits that, when combined, deliver remarkable results. Anyone can achieve meaningful results without overwhelming themselves.


Actionable advice


Use habit stacking to introduce new behaviours. If you want to build a new habit, try stacking it on top of an existing habit. Let’s say you want to start meditating, but you’re struggling to find the time. Try thinking about those things you do effortlessly each day, like drinking coffee in the morning. Then just stack the new habit on top. Commit to meditating, even for 2 minutes, each morning when you’ve finished your coffee and build on the natural momentum that comes from a habit you already have.




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