Atomic Habits – by James Clear
Date read: 11/4/18. Recommendation: 8/10.
The idea behind Atomic Habits is that by stacking tiny habits over time you can achieve compounding, remarkable results. Your outcomes, as Clear suggests, are the lagging measure of your habits. He offers great insight into nonlinear growth (breakthrough moments), identity, discipline, and environmental design, as it relates to behavior change. The models used throughout the book help make each concept relatable and are something I will come back to for years to come. The importance of playing the long game and building better systems is hard to undervalue. There’s room for everyone to improve in this capacity, and if nothing else it’s a refreshing reminder: “Does this behavior help me become the type of person I wish to be? Does this habit cast a vote for or against my desired identity?"
See my notes below or Amazon for details and reviews.
My Notes:
“To write a great book, you must first become the book.” Naval Ravikant
Automatic Habits + Deliberate Practice = Mastery
Self-improvement:
1% better each day for one year = 37x better
“Habits are the compound interest of self-improvement."
Your outcomes are a lagging measure of your habits. Knowledge is lagging measure of your learning habits.
Nonlinearity:
Ice cube example warming from 26 degrees, one degree at a time, to 32 when it finally begins to melt. But no visible progress from 26-31.
Breakthrough moments = culmination of actions leading up to that point.
Habits need to persist long enough to break through plateau where you don’t see tangible results or “success” as you’ve envisioned it.
Sorites Paradox: Can one coin make someone rich? No, but as you keep adding/stacking coins (habits), at a certain point one coin makes the difference.
Goals vs. Systems:
Goals are good for setting direction, systems best for making progress.
“The purpose of setting goals is to win the game. The purpose of building systems is to continue playing the game.” Refinement, improvement and commitment to the process.
Goal is not to read a book, it’s to become a reader. Not to learn an instrument, it’s to become a musician.
Identity and behavior change:
Who is the type of person that could get the outcome I want? If it’s a person who could write a book, that means consistent, reliable, etc.
Decide the type of person you want to be and prove it to yourself with small wins.
“Does this behavior help me become the type of person I wish to be? Does this habit cast a vote for or against my desired identity?"
At a certain point, the identity itself becomes the reinforcer. Behavior becomes automatic because it’s who you are.
Keep your identity small:
Tighter you cling to an identity, harder it is to grow beyond it and less capable you are of adapting when life challenges you.
“When you cling too tightly to one identity, you become brittle. Lose that one thing and you lose yourself.”
Redefine yourself so you keep important aspects of your identity even when your role changes. Instead of “I’m the CEO,” “I’m the type of person who builds and creates things."
Identity should work with changing circumstances, rather than against them.
Discipline:
“It is only by making the fundamentals in life easier that you can create the mental space needed for free thinking and creativity."
“‘Disciplined’ people are better at structuring their lives in a way that does not require heroic willpower and self-control. In other words, they spend less time in tempting situations."
Create a disciplined environment —> easier to practice self-restraint when you don’t have to use it often.
Environmental design: Remove friction, make doing the right thing as easy as possible. Inversion: add friction to make bad behaviors more difficult.
Clarity:
Don’t mistake lack of clarity for lack of motivation, make it obvious.
Be specific about what you want and how you will achieve it. When you’re vague about your dreams it’s easy to ignore the specifics you need to do to succeed.
Imitation:
Proximity has powerful effect on our behavior (both physical and social environments). Running against the grain requires extra effort.
Surround yourself with people who have the habits you want to have yourself.
“When changing your habits means challenging the tribe, change is unattractive. When changing your habits means fitting in with the tribe, change is very attractive."
Motion vs. Action:
Motion = planning, strategizing, learning. Important, but don’t produce a result. Allows you to feel like you’re making progress without risk of failure. Ex) Making a list of 20 articles to write.
Action = behavior that will deliver an outcome. Ex) Actually sitting down to write an article.
Start with repetition, not perfection. Habits form based on frequency, not time.
Time inconsistency (hyperbolic discounting):
The way the brain evaluates rewards is inconsistent across time. From an evolutionary perspective, you naturally value present more than future
Costs of good habits are felt today. Costs of bad habits are felt in the future.
“Most people will spend all day chasing hits of quick satisfaction. The road less traveled is the road of delayed gratification. If you’re willing to wait for the rewards, you’ll face less competition and often get a bigger payoff. As the saying goes, the last mile is always the least crowded."
Consistency:
Always show up, even on your bad days. Lost days hurt you more than successful days help you.
$100 grows 50% to $150. Only takes a 33% loss to take you back to $100. Avoiding 33% loss just as valuable at 50% gain.
Don’t enter games you’re not willing to play:
Maximize your odds by choosing right field of competition.
Think about where you achieve greater returns than the average person and the type of work that hurts you less than it hurts others.
Flow = 4% beyond your current ability.
Checking progress/reflection:
Annual review, EOY: 1) What went well this year? 2) What didn’t go so well this year? 3) What did I learn? https://jamesclear.com/annual-review
Integrity report, mid-year: 1) What are the core values that are driving my life and work? How am I living and working with integrity right now? How can I set a higher standard for the future?