ATOMIC HABITS

BY JAMES CLEAR

Three Sentence Summary

Systems that make good habits obvious, easy, attractive and satisfying determine whether people build good habits, not willpower. Focus on habits not goals as the former is about continual progress, while the latter is about one-off outcomes. Changing your identity is best way to create good habits, and changing your habits is the best way to change your identity.

WHAT DID I THINK?

This is the first audiobook I ever listened to and it rocked! Clear’s book is a must-read. There is so much wisdom. It’s already heavily influenced my own systems (see my 2020 Annual Review, for example). I particularly loved his emphasis on:

• Habits vs. goals.

• Habits as identity change.

• Making habits “micro-habits” to begin with (I’m currently doing five minutes of meditation a day and it is working in terms of me sticking with it!).

I also liked his critique of motion (i.e. researching a paper vs. writing), which he warns allow us to feel like we are making progress when we aren’t.

How strongly I recommend it: 10/10

NOTES

• Change isn’t always a big event, can be small.

• Success is the product of daily habits not once in a lifetime transformations.

• Plateau of latent success - gains from habits stored, but take time to manifest. From outside it looks like overnight success.

• Mastery requires patience.

Systems vs. Goals

• Forget about goals focus on systems instead.

• Goals good for setting a direction: systems best for making progress.

• Problems arise when you spend too much time thinking about goals and not enough time designing your system.

• Problem of survivorship bias - you look at success and assume goal is reason for success, but everyone has similar goals, system is what matters.

• Goals-first mentality not good as makes happiness contingent on achieving next milestone.

• Goals create either/or outcome, systems-first approach focuses on processes that account for wide range of outcomes.

• Purpose of goals are to “win” the game, the purpose of systems and habits is to continue playing the game.

• True long term thinking is goalless, more about commitment to process.

• If you struggle with habits, it’s not you, it’s your system. You fall to the level of your systems, you don’t rise to your goals.

Habits & Identity

• Three levels of that you change:

  1. Outcome

  2. Process

  3. Identity - the most effective lever for change.

• Behind every set of actions are a set of beliefs, which we don’t often consider.

• When a habit becomes a part of your identity, you are proud and motivated to keep doing it.

• True behaviour change is identity change.

• Identity conflict is a barrier to change.

• The more you repeat a behaviour, the more you embody that identity - micro-evolutions of the self.

• Meaningful change does not require radical change.

• Change who you are by changing what you do.

• Two step process to change your identity:

  1. Decide the type of person you want to be.

  2. Prove it to yourself with small wins.

• Habits shape identity, identity shape habits = a feedback loop.

• Become identity-based not outcome-based.

How Habits Work

• Habits are automatic.

• Four step process to a create habit:

  1. Cues - predict a reward - which leads to:

  2. Cravings - you don’t crave the habit but the changed state (i.e. you don’t want toothpaste, you want a cleaner mouth).

  3. Response - this is the habit. Whether it occurs depends on friction, ability

  4. Reward - the end goal.

• Cause of modern day habits = ancient desire.

• We don’t choose our early habits - we imitate.

• We imitate the people we envy.

• Life seems reactive but it is predictive - we predict how something will feel - cues craving which gives a reason to act.

• 30-40% of your actions any given day are habits.

• Clear has four questions to help you change habits:

  1. How can I make it obvious?

  2. How can I make it attractive?

  3. How can I make it easy?

  4. How can I make it satisfying?

1st Law: Make It Obvious

• Tip: Create a habit scorecard.

  1. Look at a habit - i.e. using phone in bed - and assess if it benefits or hurts you in the long run.

  2. Think about whether it helps you to become the person you want to be.

• Tip: Implementation intention.

  1. I will X at TIME at LOCATION - can include in morning pages.

  2. When your dreams are vague, it’s easy to make exceptions.

• Tip: Habit stacking.

  1. Layer new habits on existing habits.

  2. After CURRENT HABIT I wIll X.

• Tip: Adapt environment.

  1. Only go to your bed room when tired and want to sleep

  2. One space one use.

• Tip: Invert the rule

  1. Make it obvious → make it invisible

• The idea that you need discipline to avoid bad habits is deeply engrained - i.e. willpower - but this is not the primary difference. It’s more about structuring life so you are in less tempting environments.

• In the short-term you can overpower temptation but in the long-run, we are a product of our environment.

2nd Law: Make It Attractive

• Tip: Attach a habit you need to do to something you want to do.

• Tip: Join a community - tying individual identity to group identity - makes it easier as your desired habit is the normal habit.

• We don’t choose our early habits - we imitate.

Motion vs. Action

• Being in motion is not the same as taking action, the former doesn’t produce results.

• Motion allows us to feel like making progress vs. risk failure.

• Motion is preparing to get something done

• Preparation as procrastination.

3rd Law: Make It Easy

• Aim for repetition not perfection.

• Repetition is change.

• Aim for automaticity - performing action without thinking.

• Failure to do something is not about lack of motivation - it is human nature conserve energy. If faced with two options, you will pick least effort option.

• Tip: Make it possible to do a habit by making it small = less friction.

• Tip: Design the environment to so there is less friction as possible (i.e. clothes ready).

• Tip: Invert the rule - for bad habits - make it harder to do.

• Tip: 2 minute rule - do any new habit for 2 minutes - make it easy as possible to start.

  1. Master the art of showing up.

  2. Not about what happens during workout, it’s about showing up.

• Tip: Automate habits - i.e. Freedom blocks the internet.

4th Law: Make It Satisfying

• Tip: Use rewards - what gets immediately rewarded gets repeated.

• We discount the future as negative consequences of bad habits delayed.

• The more immediate pleasure you gain from doing something, the more you should question whether fit with long term vision for yourself.

• Pick rewards that align with your desired identity

• It take times for a new identity to emerge and to sustain a habit, so you need to create motivation until that moment.

• Tip: Never miss two days in a row.. First mistake is never the one that ruins you, its the second one starts a spiral. Breaking of habit doesn’t matter if reclaiming of it is quick.

• Lost days hurt you more than successful days help you. Even a small amount compounds.

• Don’t let desire for perfection get in the way of executing on a habit.

• Tip: Use an accountability partner.

Advanced Tactics

• Personality impacts habits - do a test to understand strengths.

• When are you enjoying something that is work to other people - it is what you are meant to do.

• Genes don’t eliminate to do hard work, clarify where to focus

• Tip: Goldilocks rule:

  1. Build habits around “just managing difficulty”.

  2. Tasks right on the edge of current ability.

• Mastery requires practice, but practice makes an activity routine = risk of boredom.

• Bad habits offer continual novelty.

• Professionals stick with the schedule, amateurs let life get in the way.

• Downsides of good habits is that you become less sensitive to feedback.

• When you cling too much to one identity you become brittle, lose that identity and it results in crisis.