I recently completed this wonderful book by James Clear, Atomic Habits. More than a book review, this is going to be a compilation of the learnings that I have from this book. The book is such a vast treasure chest of information that it is very easy to forget all of it. Even writing it down is probably not enough. The actual value of the book will come from the application of the concepts it teaches in our everyday life. But, to start things off, here goes my learnings from this great book.
Probably the strongest point which the book tries to drive home is that very small changes in your habit (atomic habits) can bring remarkable improvements in your life. This is also the tag line of the book: Tiny Changes, Remarkable Results. How true this is will only be confirmed after we apply the laws stated in this book. The author suggests that instead of trying to set some goals and achieve it, we should try to make very small changes in our mindset/system. We should not focus on what we want to achieve but on what we wish to become. This I believe is a very powerful way to see things.
Now I have read other books based on habits. For eg. The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg or the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. Both are great books in their own right and I would probably re-read them and create a similar review in future. However, what this book provided me was a complete shift in mindset of how to think about habits. Certain basic facts remain the same across these books like the habit feedback loop. It goes like this:
(The Power of Habit book combines 2nd and 3rd step into one: Routine)
The author mentions four laws to create good habits. Also the inverse of them can be used to remove bad habits. The four laws are:
1. Cue: Make it obvious
2. Craving: Make it attractive
3. Response: Make it easy
4. Reward: Make it satisfying
Let's talk about each one of these in a little detail with examples.
Cue: Make it Obvious
One of the ways of making it obvious is the point and call method. This basically means saying out the habit loud. This goes for bad habits as well. For eg. if you overeat, just call it out loud that you did so. It would automatically make things a little more obvious and help you to create new habits.
Another interesting concept that was mentioned was of habit stacking. Use your existing habits and stack your new habits on top of that. For eg. after I have my breakfast, I will walk 1000 steps.
One more way of making things obvious is to change your environment. For eg. if you want to start eating more fruits, just put out a bowl of fruit on your desk. If something is obvious, you are more likely to do it.
The opposite of this is the case if you want to break a bad habit. Just make it invisible. For eg. if you want to avoid using your mobile phone, just put it in another room. Not having it in front would do wonders to stop the bad habit of unnecessary phone surfing.
Craving: Make it Attractive
The author notes that it is the anticipation of the reward not its fulfillment that gets us to take action.
A very nice idea is presented that we should pair the action we want to do with the action you need to do. For eg:
1. After I pull out my phone, I will do10 pushups (need)
2. After I do 10 pushups, I will watch a YouTube video. (want)
Another way of making things attractive is by being around like minded people. Want to get better at chess? Be friends with people who love chess. Join a community. If your family members support and appreciate your interest, that's even better. (Do check out the story of how the Polgar sister's became WGM)
Again, to break bad habits, just invert this law. Make them unattractive. Read their detrimental effects. One eg. I want to try is to read the book
Why We Sleep which mentions the demerits of staying up late. Ideally this should make staying up late so unattractive, that you would eventually not want to do that to your body.
Response: Make it Easy
The amount of time you spend in practicing a habit is not important. The number of times you do it is what matters in making something a habit. We should spend more time in action than planning.
The author notes that humans follow a principal of least effort. Hence anything that is easy to do, we will do that. Hence in order to create new habits, we should reduce the friction in doing good things.
For eg. if you want to exercise more, set out your gym clothes ahead of time to avoid unnecessary friction.
Another interesting concept is that all habits should take less than 2 mins to do. Obviously it is not always possible so we have to break down our habits to be small enough so that they can be done under 2 mins. For eg. if your want to form a habit of going for a run, break it into these phases which all take less than 2 mins:
1. Put on your running shoes.
2. Step out of the door.
3. Take your first steps.
Now if you want to break bad habits, make it difficult. For eg. to stop browsing social media, uninstall all apps. If you download them again for use, uninstall again. Increase friction to avoid next time use.
Reward: Make it Satisfying
The cardinal rule of behavior change is that what is immediately rewarded is repeated. What is immediately punished is avoided. Bad habits usually reap immediate rewards and that is the reason it is very easy to fall into their trap.
One way of making things satisfying is using the habit tracker. For eg. marking an X in the calendar for each day you do something. Another rule that the author mentions to keep a habit streak going is to never miss twice. Once is fine but never twice in a row.
For getting rid of bad habits, one way is to setup a habit contract. Make multiple people a witness. Maybe add some monetary aspect. That way if you fail there would be others who are watching and it would be very unsatisfying for you.
Advanced Tactics
The author mentions about the Goldilocks Principle for success. It says that habits which align with your natural abilities are easier to form. You should work hard on things that come easy.
The greatest threat to success is not failure but boredom. As you keep on practicing something it will get boring as you are essentially repeating the same thing. The trick is to keep on making it a little more challenging so that you have new things to try out. Those who surpass this boredom reach great heights.
The downside of forming habits is that we stop paying attention to little errors. For eg. I have played Tabla for a long time but recently realized that my finger placement is not optimal. Now it is very hard for me to change it because it is so deeply ingrained in my memory. Hence we should try to review and upgrade/modify our habits periodically if needed. An annual habit review is the way to go.
The conclusion of the book is that the secret to get results that last is never stop making improvements. Small habits don't add up, they compound.
This is the power of Atomic Habits. Tiny Changes, Remarkable Results.
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