Hello friends, today’s book is “Atomic Habits” written by James Clear. So let’s dive right into today’s book.
Introduction
Atomic habits are small seemingly insignificant habits that if are repeated for years compound into remarkable results. The author of this book James Clear relied on small habits to change his life positively and thus shared his method in this book to form good habits and change bad ones. This book contains step by step guide for building better habits for a lifetime. It contains four step model of habits – cue, craving, routine and reward and the four laws of behavior change. This book is about the fundamentals of human behavior and how habit is formed which helps people to form good habits and eliminate bad ones through small simple effective steps.
The Suprising Power of Atomic Habits
Atomic habits work like compound interest. They compound magnificently over period of time. Success is not something which happens overnight. Success is the product of small efforts repeated over a period of time. Small habits repeated day in and day out for a longer period of time will get you amazing results.
The interesting thing about atomic habits is that you don’t get to see the results instantly. And there’s were most people give up on the good habits and also keep practising bad habits.
They give up on good habits because they don’t see the result immediately. For example, if you go gym for three days, you will see no improvement in your physique. If you save some pennies now, you are still not a millionare. If you learn how to create your first simple Hello world program in python, you are still not a professional programmer.
On the other hand we keep practising our bad habits because they don’t show instant results as well. For example, if you eat a packet of doritos, you won’t be overweight instantly. If you take that sip of smoke, your lungs won’t be damaged rightaway.
The result is only seen after two, three or five years of long time period. It works like how a bamboo tree can barely be seen for the first five years as it builds it’s extensive roots underground and then explodes upto 90 feets in air in the next six weeks.
A Powerful Quote From Book
Let me share with you one quote from the book that is taken from social reformer Jacob Riis and I found so powerful. It is this, “When nothing seems to help, I go and look at a stonecutter hammering away his rock, perhaps a hundred times without as much as crack showing in it. Yet at the hundred and first blow it will split in two, and I know it was not that last blow that did it – but all that had gone before.”
System and Goals
Most of us fail in life not because we don’t have any goals. Most of us fail in life because we focus too much on goal and don’t follow the systems that are necessary to achieve that goal.
So, What are systems? System are simply the preparation, planning and execution. If you have a football match or any kind of sports then planning, preparation and practice are the systems. If I am a blogger then writing everyday and focusing on my writing is my system.
The author says that Winners and losers both have the same goals. The thing that separates winners from losers is the system that the winners follow day in and day out. Winners focus on the discipline, dedication and practice while the losers just imagine the end result of the goal. If you focus too much on scorecard rather than focusing on playing well, would you win? Probably not, right. So to progress in life, focus on systems not on goals.
So are goals totally useless? No, goals are good for having a direction in life. But after setting goals you need to focus on systems and repeat it day in and day out if you want to succeed. And that’s what will separate you from the 99% of unsuccessful people.
Why We Find It So Hard To Change Our Habits
According to Author, we find it hard to change a habit because one of the two reasons:
- We try to change the wrong thing
- We try to change our habits in the wrong way
Our first mistake is we try to change the wrong thing. To understand this, author James Clear points out three levels at which change occurs in our life. He describes it as the Three Layers of Behavior Change. Let’s understand them.
Three Layers of Behavior Change
- The first layer is changing your outcomes. This level is concerned with changing your results. Writing a book, winning a championship, losing weight, etc. Most of your goals are associated with this level.
- The second layer is changing your process. This level is concerned with changing your habits. Following a to do list, Practising guitar chords daily, etc. Most of your habits are associated with this level.
- The third and deepest layer is changing your identity. This level is concerned with changing your beliefs. Your self image, your perception of the world, your belief about yourself, etc. Most of your beliefs are associated with this level.
Now the important thing is unless and until you change your identity, it’s almost impossible to break free from a habit or form a new habit. That is, unless you focus on third layer, the first and second layer alone cannot change your habit. For example, until you believe yourself to be a smoker, it’s very hard for you to stop smoking no matter what goals you set up or what plan you make. You can only quit smoking if you belief you are now not a smoker, that you were smoker in the past but now you are not a smoker. Similarly your goals should be based on your identity in order to be accomplished. As the author says, “The goal should not be to read a book, The goal should be to become a reader.”
So friends, that’s it for today. I hope you learnt some helpful lessons from this book summary. Thanks for watching.
