Atomic Habits – What Is This Book All About?
Atomic Habits is a Self-Improvement book written by James Clear where he shares his easy and proven ways to Build Good Habits and Break Bad Ones.
This book review is based on the version published in 2018.
To Check Out The Atomic Habits Book…
>> Click Here To Check Out The Atomic Habits Book By James Clear
Book Content:
- Introduction: My Story
- The Fundamentals (Why Tiny Changes Make a Big Difference)
- The Surprising Power of Atomic Habits
- How Your Habits Shape Your Identity (and Vice Versa)
- How to Build Better Habits in 4 Simple Steps
- The 1st Law (Make It Obvious)
- The Man Who Didn’t Look Right
- The Best Way to Start a New Habit
- Motivation Is Overrated; Environment Often Matters More
- The Secret to Self-Control
- The 2nd Law (Make It Attractive)
- How to Make a Habit Irresistible
- The Role of Family and Friends in Shaping Your Habits
- How to Find and Fix the Causes of Your Bad Habits
- The 3rd Law (Make It Easy)
- Walk Slowly, but Never Backward
- The Law of Least Effort
- How to Stop Procrastinating by Using the Two-Minute Rule
- How to Make Good Habits Inevitable and Bad Habits Impossible
- The 4th Law (Make It Satisfying)
- The Cardinal Rule of Behavior Change
- How to Stick with Good Habits Every Day
- How an Accountability Partner Can Change Everything
- Advanced Tactics (How to Go from Being Merely Good to Being Truly Great)
- The Truth About Talent (When Genes Matter and When They Don’t)
- The Goldilocks Rule: How to Stay Motivated in Life and Work
- The Downside of Creating Good Habits
- Conclusion: The Secret to Results That Last
So What Is Each Chapter About?
Introduction: My Story
- Read how the author’s face was hit with a baseball bat, the injuries that came with it and the recovery stages.
- Read how his life changed for the better when he attended the Denison University, the place where you started to focus and experimenting on cultivating habits
- Read how he started publishing articles on his site, how he grew his email subscribers and his articles appearing on Major Publications.
- He started the Habits Academy in 2017 and this book in 2018
- This book is written to share his step-by-step Plan, which evolved around Human Behavior, on Building Better Habits for a lifetime
The Surprising Power of Atomic Habits
- How the fate of British Cycling changed one day in 2003 with Dave Brailsford who used a strategy known as “the aggregation of Marginal Gains”
- You get to know about the math behind if you get One Percent Better or Worse each day for one year and that Habits are the compound interest of Self-Improvement.
- You should be concerned with your current Trajectory path toward success than with your Current Results
- Understand more about Positive Compounding in areas like Productivity, Knowledge and Relationships and Negative Compounding in areas like Stress, Negative Thoughts and Outrage.
- Understand what is the Plateau of Latent Potential, the Valley of Disappointment within and why you need to break through it
- You should focus more on designing and working through a right system than on setting goals (there are four problems associated with it)
How Your Habits Shape Your Identity (and Vice Versa)
- Changing our Habits is challenging for Two Reasons and there are 3 Layers to Behavior Change.
- All Levels of Change are useful in their own way but the problem is in the Direction of change – like how two people resisting a cigarette with a different behavior and mindset or how a person approach their desire of becoming skinny.
- Behind every system of actions are a system of beliefs.
- You need to fully align your (correct) Behavior and Identity to stop any Behavior Changes and for Habits to work well on you.
- The frequency of your (good and bad) habits shapes your current Identity.
How to Build Better Habits in 4 Simple Steps
- Read about how Edward Thorndike conducted experiments on cats which became the starting point for discussion on how Habits form in our lives.
- Learn how the Brain builds Habits via the Feedback Loop
- Learn why Habits are known as Reliable Solutions to Recurring Problems and Mental Shortcuts learned from Experiences.
- Learn why Habits create Freedom
- Learn about the Four Simple Steps to building a Habit and how these Four Steps form a Neurological Feedback loop and work in two Different Phases.
- Learn from the following chapters on this Framework known as the Four Laws of Behavior Change which is a set of simple rules for creating Good Habits and breaking Bad Ones.
The Man Who Didn’t Look Right
- Learn why the Human Brain is a Prediction Machine and how it can help anyone to pick up the cues that predict certain outcomes without consciously thinking about it.
- Understand why you do not need to be aware of the cue for a habit to begin and why that may be both useful and dangerous.
- Read up on this process known as Pointing-and-Calling and why we need this for our personal lives.
- Learn what is the Habits Scorecard and how to create your own.
The Best Way To Start A New Habit
- Understand the concept behind an Implementation Intention and how to create one
- Read what the Diderot Effect is all about and how Human Behavior follow this cycle.
- Learn what is the Habit Stacking Formula
- Learn how to use the Habits Scorecard from the previous chapter and create a list with two columns that you will then use to layer your new Habit.
Motivation Is Overrated; Environment Often Matters More
- Read how Anne Thorndike improved the Eating Habits of thousands of Hospital Staffs and Visitors without changing their Willpower or Motivation and without talking to them.
- Understand why Environment is the Invisible Hand that shapes Human Behavior and why you need it to be Stable and Predictable
- Understand what is this Phenomenon called the Suggestion Impulse Buying
- Understand why our Visual Cues are the greatest catalyst of our Behavior
- Check out some of the ways you can redesign your Environment and make the cues for your Preferred Habits more obvious
- Understand why our Behavior is defined by our Relationship (the entire Context) to the Objects in the Environment
- Learn why you need to avoid mixing the context of Habits
The Secret to Self-Control
- Learn to understand why a person with great self-control is no different to one who is struggling.
- Understand what is “Cue-Induced Wanting”.
- Understand why Behavior Change Techniques and Resisting Temptation are ineffective.
- Learn what is the most practical way to eliminate a Bad Habit
How to Make a Habit Irresistible
- Read about the Exaggerated Cues known as Supernormal Stimuli
- Understand why Habits are a Dopamine-Driven Feedback Loop and how Dopamine plays a Central Role in many of our Neurological Processes
- Learn about this strategy – Temptation Bundling and how it links to our Likes and Wants
- Learn how to combine the Temptation Bundling and Habit Stacking
The Role of Family and Friends in Shaping Your Habits
- Learn which are the Three Particular Groups of People that Humans like to imitate and how each Group help us to leverage on the 2nd Law of Behavior Change and make our Habits more attractive.
- Learn which kind of Culture you need to join to make your habits attractive and what you need to do to maintain the habits.
How to Find and Fix the Causes of Your Bad Habits
- If you are in the midst of quitting smoking or planning to, you can read on some of the strategies that might be helpful.
- Understand why Habits are all about Associations
- Why Reframing your Habits to highlight their Benefits is good
Walk Slowly, but Never Backward
- Start to understand the difference between Being In Motion and Taking Action
- Learn about the importance of Repetition in Establishing Habits
- Understand about the Process known as Automaticity
The Law of Least Effort
- Understand why every Habit is an Obstacle to getting what you want.
- Read about the strategy known as Addition By Subtraction.
- Understand how Reducing and Increasing Friction can help you to build Better Habits
- Learn why you need to prime your Environment for Good and Bad Habits
How to Stop Procrastinating by Using the Two-Minute Rule
- Understand why Habits are like an Entrance Ramp to the Highway
- Understand the impact behind Decisive Moments
- Get to know the “Two-Minute Rule” for starting new Habits
- Why you need to master the Art of Showing Up
- Learn how to combine the Two Minute Rule with the Habit Shaping Technique
How to Make Good Habits Inevitable and Bad Habits Impossible
- Read what is the Commitment Device about
- Check out the list of One-Time Actions you can do to lock in Good Habits
- Why you need Technology to automate your Habits
The Cardinal Rule of Behavior Change
- Read why Pleasure and Satisfaction are important
- How Immediate and Ultimate Outcome differs between Good and Bad Habits
How to Stick with Good Habits Every Day
- Read about the Paper Clip Strategy and why you may need a Habit Tracker to appreciate its many Benefits
- Learn how to use the Habit-Stacking Method and the Habit Tracker together
- Learn how to recover quickly on your Tracking when your Habits break down
- Understand what is the Goodhart’s Law.
How an Accountability Partner Can Change Everything
- Learn what is and how will a Habit Contract help with Bad Habits.
- Learn how an Accountability Partner can help with shaping Habits as well.
The Truth About Talent (When Genes Matter and When They Don’t)
- Read about the most Proven Scientific Analysis of Personality Traits known as the “Big Five” and why you need to build Habits that work for your Personality.
- Learn what is the Explore / Exploit Trade-Off
- Learn how to get the most of your Genes
The Goldilocks Rule: How to Stay Motivated in Life and Work
- Read about the little life history on how Steve Martin became one of the most successful comedians of his time and the perspective on what it takes to stick with Habits for the long run.
- Learn what it takes (the Goldilocks Rule) to maintain Motivation and Achieve Peak Levels of Desire.
- Learn what it is and how to achieve Flow State.
- Learn what is the greatest threat to success other than Failure and how to use Variable Rewards to counter it
The Downside of Creating Good Habits
- Learn what is the combination required to create the Foundation for Mastery.
- Read how the Coach of Los Angeles Lakers came out with a system Of Reflection and Review back in 1986 to track the performance of the players and how much they need to improve and adjust to avoid complacency.
- Read why you need to cling loosely to an Identity
Conclusion: The Secret to Results That Last
This book comes to a conclusion by reiterating:
- the benefits of adding gradual small changes to your good and bad habits
- the benefits of a System
- the Four Laws of Behavior Changes
- the secret to getting Results that last
If you like this review and would want to get his physical book:
>> Click Here To Get The Physical Book Of The Atomic Habits Book By James Clear