I just read a great book titled Atomic Habits: An Easy and Proven Way to Build Good Habits and Break Bad Ones by James Clear. As the cover of the book (pictured above) reveals and its title suggests, its premise is “tiny changes, remarkable results.” Amazingly, it is the author’s first book and it has sold more than TEN MILLION copies since it was published in 2018 and I found its content truly life changing.
As Clear writes, “The ultimate form of intrinsic motivation is when a habit becomes part of your identity. It’s one thing to say I’m the type of person who wants this. It’s something very different to say I’m the type of person who is this…It is a simple two-step process: 1) Decide the type of person you want to be, and 2) Prove it to yourself with small wins.” For example, if your goal is to be more artistic, then the simple act of sketching in your notebook is a win.
The bulk of the book centers on what Clear outlines as the Four Laws of Behavior Change, which are a simple set of rules we can use to build better habits. They are (1) make it obvious, (2) make it attractive, (3) make it easy, and (4) make it satisfying. He also identifies the Cardinal Rule of Behavior Change: What is immediately rewarded is repeated. What is immediately punished is avoided.
And Clear adds, “When it comes to habits, the key takeaway is this: dopamine is released not only when you experience pleasure, but also when you anticipate it…It is the anticipation of a reward—not the fulfillment of it—that gets us to take action.” Another principle that hit especially close to home for me was the idea that when preparation becomes a form of procrastination, we need to stop planning and start practicing a habit.
Hopefully, these brief excerpts whet your appetite to check out Clear’s book for yourself and maybe even subscribe to his newsletter as I did at James Clear. Regular readers know that I do not often endorse books like this so consider it a reflection of how helpful I found its message. As Aristotle said, “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.”