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Atomic Habits

Atomic Habits by James Clear states an interesting premise. We all feel that we are what we do. And what we do is mostly the result of habits that we keep. Everyones routine is a little different, but we all have a lot in common. Most people get up, wash up, eat breakfast, lunch, dinner, go to bed. Rinse, repeat. The space between those activities fills the rest of the day. These activities have their own structure to them. Take the kids to school, go to work, exercise and so on. 7 billion people, 7 billion variations. But more alike than different.

Get better

Clear’s insight is that habits make up the vast majority of what we do. You’ll meet people who find it unsettling if their routine is broken. Life throws curveballs, routines are always broken.

But what if you want to become “better”? Many people will implement entirely new routines hoping that they will become habits that will make them better. Many people that jump from diet to diet are like this. If they fail, others say that their will power was insufficient or that they lack self control.

Clear doesn’t think this is true. People need to learn to make new habits, or break old ones. Habits are a skill which you can learn. Starting new habits completely from scratch is difficult.

Instead, think about the problem in another way. The main idea is that if you can improve at a small increment, say 1% a day, the improvement will compound. Much like compounding interest on a savings account. The changes are so small you won’t really notice them. Who doesn’t want to get better a little bit each day?

Consistency

My main take away is something that I already know works. Write down your progress, and things that you want to change to help hold yourself accountable. Make a pledge to yourself the first thing in the morning saying what you are setting out to accomplish.

An easy way to do this is to setup a list with the items that you want to accomplish today. Start out with 2 or 3, work your way up to 7-10. Here’s my insight: Use a small notebook, each day you are going to create a new list. Each time you accomplish the goal item, cross it off the list. At the end of the day, you need to have all of the items finished. If you have leftovers, finish them. If you can’t, you need to become better at the process.

Another point, use a notebook. Why? Because you leverage your hands! To me, a compelling theory is that one of the reasons that human brains are more developed than other animals is that we have opposable thumbs. A large amount of processing in the brain (and memory) dedicates itself to using your hands. Take advantage of that.

Some people will maintain the list on their computer. Doesn’t tie together nearly as well. Doesn’t hold in the memory circuits as well. Plus, it’s a primal act to cross something off a list!

Why is this exercise valuable? For most busy people, there are so many tasks that “need” finishing on any given day that it’s easy to miss what’s important and what’s not. Time passes, and things are not getting done. Prioritizing what’s important makes the task selection easier. It’s harder to get thrown off the scent.

Unrelated to the book, but a glimpse of the principle in action is this video from Peter McKinnon:

I find this idea very appealing. I am always able to sense my progress on any given time frame. This is especially useful when working on a project.

Stop procrastinating

One habit a lot of people have is procrastinating tasks. Clear is a vocal supporter of the “Two-Minute Rule”. If you can do it in two minutes or less, get it out of the way. If it will take longer than that, then write it down and prioritize it. It’s worth trying it out to see if it fits your style.

Final thoughts

If you’re a technical person, Atomic Habits will make a whole lot of sense to you. The underlying ideas are basically system engineering of how every day life works. By hacking the habit mechanism, you can change your life quite a bit. It will be mostly painless, because the changes you are making are gradual changes.

With that said, some people need major life overhauls. In that case, they’ll have to do a lot more work building new habits.

Jim’s value assessment? The book is a little more than 250 standard size pages in hardback. There are lots of stories backing up the points. Clear is a good story teller. Because of the stories, the book is a quick read. A good investment in time, something that you will easily make back if you follow the books advice.

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