Atomic Habits
An Easy and Proven Way to Build Good Habits and Break Bad Ones
By: James Clear
It starts with our perspective. Often, we start with the outcome we are looking for, "I want to lose 30 pounds" or "I want to run a marathon." Our focus is on the end goal. James, challenges us to change our thinking. Instead of locking in on the goal and making our success and happiness a pass/fail based on our ability to reach the goal, ask "what does a person successful in that area do?" Change the perspective "I want to run a marathon" to "I want to be a runner" and set up (micro) habits to regularly run, start easy and grow until you are in the regular practice of running. Instead of "I want to lose 30 pounds," change your view to "I want to be a healthy person" and set up little habits to move you in that direction.
But it's not just perspective. The science shows that there is a psychological progression that takes place between desire, action and response. James' version has four steps, "cue, craving, response, reward."
Cue - This is when something activates our brain towards a desired end.
Craving - The desire or gap in our brain that we are trying to fulfill.
Response - The action we take to fulfill the desire.
Reward - The prize we get or give ourselves resulting from responding to the craving.
To achieve our desired identity ("say I am a runner"), and navigate the steps in a way that creates the desired habit, I need to....
Make it obvious - I can set out my running shoes by bed so that I see them when I wake up, thus triggering the desire to be a runner.
Make it attractive - Instead of running someplace boring and routine, find a special place the excites you. If you want to read more, find a comfortable place that stirs you. The environment matters, take time to think through how you can leverage your emotions as they connect to where and how to perform your habit.
Make it easy - It doing my new habit takes a lot of work, I'm not going to do it for long. If it takes forever to find my running gear, it will seem like more work than it's worth. Build another habit of laying of the gear so that when I get home from work, it's easy to go.
Make it satisfying - It's amazing how easy we are to satisfy. In it's most simple for, I can set up a calendar for days I've run and put a big X when I'm done. Or if I want to right a book, I could set out 200 paper clips and each time I complete a page, drop one into a jar. The psychological wins are huge as they reinforce the habit in our brains.
Make it obvious - I can set out my running shoes by bed so that I see them when I wake up, thus triggering the desire to be a runner.
Make it attractive - Instead of running someplace boring and routine, find a special place the excites you. If you want to read more, find a comfortable place that stirs you. The environment matters, take time to think through how you can leverage your emotions as they connect to where and how to perform your habit.
Make it easy - It doing my new habit takes a lot of work, I'm not going to do it for long. If it takes forever to find my running gear, it will seem like more work than it's worth. Build another habit of laying of the gear so that when I get home from work, it's easy to go.
Make it satisfying - It's amazing how easy we are to satisfy. In it's most simple for, I can set up a calendar for days I've run and put a big X when I'm done. Or if I want to right a book, I could set out 200 paper clips and each time I complete a page, drop one into a jar. The psychological wins are huge as they reinforce the habit in our brains.
Likewise, if I want to kill a habit -- say watching t.v. in bed, I need to make it not obvious (remove all electronics from my bedroom); make it not attractive (only watch on an old t.v. or get rid of Netflix); make it hard (store the old t.v. in a closet in the basement); make it not satisfying (contribute $5 to the 'other' political party when I perform this habit).
James lists other tips and tricks that are helpful. Things like "habit stacking," which is when you connect a new habit to an existing habit. Let's say that I want to build a time of reflection each morning. I can stack this on my already (very ingrained) habit of getting my first cup of coffee. I could set my book by the coffee pot (obvious, easy). Another tip is to set a time and location agreement with myself (called an "implementation intention"): I will [behavior] at [time] in [location]. Ultimately, habits are less about self-control and more about setting up our environments in ways that are conducive to success; we want to make doing the right things easy and the wrong things hard.
Application: I am a Leader
My leadership coach challenged me to see my leadership development journey through the lens of this book. Here's how that plays out.Ultimate Goal: Be an amazing leader that attracts great talent, develops and inspires each person on the team and together achieve amazing results and impact for our organization.
Challenges: Showing up consistently with courage, confidence, and skills to inspire, cast vision, develop and execute against plans.
Atomic Habits: Start with identity. "A healthy leader...." takes time to reflect on their leadership and learn from day to day experiences, regularly engages with each person on their team personally and professionally, helps each person know what is expected of them and how they are doing, supports and encourages providing opportunities for growth, protects them when necessary and shows up consistently, regardless of busyness or stress.
- Habit: Regular reflection. Build a habit to regularly reflect on leadership for growth and encouragement. Note current situations, how I think I should and how I did respond and what I've learned.
- Habit Stacking: Each day I have a regular time of scripture reading and meditation.
- Make it Obvious: Place the journal app next to the Bible app on my iPad so that I see it.
- Make it Attractive: I always have my first cup of coffee and my spot is right next to the fireplace.
- Make it Easy: I'm already there, I simply need to carve out the time.
- Make it Satisfying: I have a "task" in Outlook that I get to check when I complete.
What is your desired goal? What do people successful with that do? How can you connect it to something you already do to make it obvious, attractive, easy and satisfying?
