Atomic Habits Summary

10 Key Ideas from Atomic Habits by James Clear

"The outcome in your life is the lagging measure of your habits- there are no high-performance people just high-performance habits."

1.      1% Improvement

Getting 1% better every day is for the long run. You will be able to see the results after a while. If you wait for a year, you will be 37% better than the previous year.

Just remember one thing, there will be one time during this long run when you don't be able to see any progress, but then also you must carry on.

2.      Identity Change = Habit Change 

To create a good new habit or destroy an old bad one you just need to change your identity to yourself and others.

If you want to quit smoking, then whenever anyone offers you a cigarette, say "I'm not a Smoker."

If you want to build a good reading habit, tell others that you are a good reader.

When you start saying that your subconscious takes it as an order and tries to act according to that.

3.      The Habit Loop 

 Any habit can be broken down into a feedback loop that involves four steps: 

1.       Cue: is that thing (mainly visual) that reminds you about the thing you are about to do.

2.       Craving: Then you wanted (thinking) to do that thing.

3.       Response: You do that thing.

4.       Reward: You get a reward after completing that thing.

If the cycle is completed successfully then you have created a habit of doing that particular thing.

4.      Building Good Habits

1.       Make the CUE visible.

2.       Make it attractive (more CRAVING).

3.       Make your RESPONSE easy.

4.       Give yourself a satisfying REWARD. 

5.      Breaking Bad Habits

1.       Make the CUE invisible.

2.       Make it unattractive (less CRAVING).

3.       Make your RESPONSE very hard.

4.       Give yourself an unsatisfying REWARD.

6.      Focus on System; not on Goals

Winners and Losers have the same Goal but the difference is in their System. Achieving a goal is a monetary thing and goals also restrict our happiness.

Goals are just important for setting up the direction.

But System is important for moving along that direction and accomplishing the goal. 

Set Goals at first, then focus on the system. 

7.      Habit Stacking

Install a new habit after an old habit. Here the old habit will act as the CUE or the trigger for the new habit.

When you complete the old habit, you can use that momentum of that habit to start a new habit and that extra momentum will help to overcome the initial friction of a new habit. 

8.      Rearrange the Environment

 'The environment is the invisible hand that shapes human behavior.'

Habits become easy to perform when you do that thing in a particular place every day. Create your environment in such a way that the CUE will be better visible to you. 

Gradually, the habits become associated not with a single trigger but with the entire context surrounding the behavior. The context becomes the cue. 

And, it is easier to build new habits in a new environment because you are not fighting against old cues.

9.      Accountability Partner

We tend to imitate the habits of three social groups: the close (family and friends), the many (the tribe), and the powerful (those with status and prestige).

An accountability partner can create an immediate cost to inaction. We care deeply about what others think of us, and we do not want others to have a lesser opinion of us.

When you know someone is watching, that can be a powerful motivator! 

10. 2 Minute Rule

The Two-Minute Rule states, ‘When you start a new habit, it should take less than two minutes to do.'

The more the beginning of a process is ritualized, the more likely it becomes that you can slip into the state of deep focus that is required to do great things.

So for new habits just try to do it for only for minutes but every day. If someday it feels like you can't do that day, then just do it for 2 minutes.