The importance of *atomic* habits

September 29, 2021

“Anyone can work hard when they are motivated. It’s the ability to keep going when work isn’t exciting that makes the difference”

What if I told you that to achieve all of your goals, you only have to be 1% better every day.

Sounds completely doable, right?

According to James Clear, author of #1 New York Times Bestseller Atomic Habits, it’s the smallest habits that make the biggest difference in the long run. Yes, the long run.

If your plan for achieving anything in life is to do it quickly with minimal work, well.... you’re in for a rude awakening. Accomplishing any type of goal, big or small, is a marathon, not a sprint. As he puts it: “Success comes from daily habits, not overnight transformations…”

Having tested all of his tips on his own life, James Clear provides lots of valuable insight into how our brains work when it comes to creating good habits and eliminating bad ones.

So who is this book intended for? EVERYONE! I believe that everyone should give this book a read. Why? Because regardless of what our goals are (or even if we have no goals), this book really makes you aware of the habits (good or bad) that you have in your daily life – even the ones you do on autopilot without consciously noticing!

*Disclaimer: Here’s the thing about sharing information from books – we all interpret books differently – a.k.a. we naturally retain tips/tricks/facts that are relevant to our lives and the answers that we are seeking. So, with that being said, here is how I interpreted this wonderful book!

Atomic Habit: that 1% improvement.

That one small change every single day can guide your life in a completely different direction.

One of my favourite lines in this book is found at the very beginning. It goes something along the lines of: if you’re having trouble changing your habits, the problem isn’t you, it’s your systems. Phew! I was a little worried that it was me!

He goes on to explain that small daily habits are very important, but they are pretty much useless if you don’t have a solid system in place. A good system will be the strong backbone to achieving your goals and being able to sustain them in the long run.  

If you work toward a goal but have no system, once you achieve said goal, what now? However, if you have a system, once you achieve your goal (woohoo!) you can continue on with your system and achieve even more.

In the end, your commitment to your system, to the process, will determine your progress.

Next, the book teaches us about the 3 layers of behavioural change.

Outcome -> what you get

Process -> what you do

Identity -> what you believe

Naturally, we work toward to outcome (a.k.a. accomplishing the goal); however, the author explains that we need to change our mentality and work toward the identity –specifically, becoming that identity.

One of the first examples that come to mind is quitting smoking. If your goal (outcome) is to quit smoking, the identity to match that is to identify as someone who doesn’t smoke. Rather than working toward the outcome, you work toward becoming the identity. Naturally, you will accomplish the goal and also go beyond that. Why would a non-smoker smoke? They wouldn’t!

Decide what typeof person you want to be.

Prove it to yourself with small wins.

A very interesting question that the author asked and answered was whether having too many systems would make life boring and limit the amount of freedom that we have. Turns out, quite the contrary! Having systems in place for certain things allows you to conserve brainpower and energy for the things that matter in your day! Instead of focusing on having a different morning routine every day, create a system so that way you are more efficient and have a little extra time for yourself in the morning.

Habit stacking: probably one of the greatest ways to create a cluster of good habits. Basically, how habit stacking works is you identify a habit that you already have and then stack a new one on top! For example: my habit is that I drink coffee every morning. I wanted to start my day with a big glass of water, rather than coffee, so I added drinking a big glass of water to my habit of drinking coffee. I also want to take my collagen supplements every day, so I added the habit of putting collagen in my coffee every morning. My habit of drinking coffee every morning has now turned into, wake up – drink a glass of water – make a coffee – add collagen to coffee.

But what do you do about those habits that you know are good for you, but still sooooo hard to do? You shift your mindset! Change the dialogue in your mind.

Rather than saying “I have to…” say “I get to…”

I have to go to the gym -> I get to go to the gym.

Do you notice how much better that sounds?

Now the big question is, how long do you have to do a habit over and over for it to stick? 3 weeks? One month? Nine months?

Answer:Habits form based on frequency, not time. It’s not about how long you do it for, but how often you do it.

Habits are much easier to create and sustain when they fit into your environment and the flow of your life. You need to create an environment where performing that good habit is as easy as possible. 

And it’s the opposite when you want to get rid of bad habits! Create an environment where it's hard to perform your bad habit. Watching too much TV? Unplug your TV, hide the remote somewhere annoying to get to (like at the bottom of the mess you have in that random closet), or better yet, put the entire TV in that closet! Next time you want to watch TV, you have to decide if it’s worth going through all that trouble to set the TV up.

 Lastly, here is a key tip: Never miss a habit twice!

It’s normal (and completely okay) to skip out on your habit here and there, but never miss it twice!

“Progress requires unlearning. Becoming the best version of yourself requires you to continuously edit your beliefs and to upgrade and expand your identity.

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Know yourself, know your body & until next time!

Mags

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