Atomic habits by James Clear
Book Review
Non fiction self help book genre
No spoilers
Audible version
Rating- 5/5 for the beginning, 3/5 for dragging in the middle and 5/5 for the nice summary in the endo of each chapter
The book starts with a similar tone as the book Predictably irrational by Dan Ariely which I had reviewed earlier. Like that the book starts with a personal tragedy faced by the author in which he met with a sports accident and was in coma with little hope for some days. Even after recovery he had to undergo multiple sessions of surgery and Physiotherapy and could not play for a while and when he did join it was as a junior. But he made some changes to his life and later on went on to become an ace player and etched a name in the sports!
With that personal victory of sorts the book starts with a good propulsion of sorts! He was also a good student!
The reason for his success he attributes to small or atomic changes he made on his day to day activity and life which in addition and persistence made for huge changes and success!
The whole book is then a summary of these atomic habits!
The first chapter is on making the habits obvious! One of the first things to do is to make a score card on your current habits and classify them as good, bad or neutral! All these terms are of course self explanatory!
The reason why I gave 3/5 for the middle is the fact that the whole book the author narrates his website for further information such as charts, media or even more examples! Of course you cannot put everything in a book but this repeated telling of the website address felt as if the book is only a preview of the Website and not the complete package! So I have a nagging feeling that maybe some points are missing in the book and if that’s the important point then I felt cheated!
So anyway he has told to set your goal and do not think only of the goal but think about your system since when the goal is too far and the success is delayed then you may lose interest in maintaining your goal. Like if you want to run a marathon then start small but think of yourself as a marathon runner in the beginning itself and that will make you achieve your goal easier.
Then some things are useful as calling out your goal and then making sure you stick to it like if you are planning to reduce weight then when you see a cookie then call out that you are trying to lose weight and then maybe you may not be tempted to eat the cookie!
That is a form of negative reinforcement and you can give yourself small wins as positive reinforcements so that you do not feel that you are not wining or near your goal!
He has also mentioned that even the people with the strongest will power can only stick to their goals when they do not have any distractions so the environment plays a major part in your achievements! Like if you are again trying to lose weight and your office is usually full of tasty treats then you must stay away from the office meal room! He also mentioned how addicts become sober when the stimulation and stress which made them take to smoking is removed!
Many books especially self help ones give examples of either Thinking fast and slow by Daniel Kahneman or Guns, germs and Steel by Jared Diamond! It is as if you must read these books first to move on to books like this one! Here James talks about Jared Diamond’s observation how the way continents are shaped influenced the farming again giving emphasis on environment and ease of access!
So if a bad habit say watching TV is a simple task then you can make it difficult or a task which will reduce your craving for the habit! Like how the author’s assistant used to change his Netflix password on weekdays and mail him on weekend!
One of the endearing things about these self help books is that the authors aren’t that different or perfect! They have just made minor good modifications in their behaviour and stuck to it!
Many people think they lack motivation when what they really lack is clarity was one of the comments! He also states that don’t be bogged by the slow pace of improvement! Go slow but don’t go back!
He also speaks about two minutes rule as how good habits must take less then two minutes to follow like keeping the dress ready before a walk! Or the Goldilocks rule where you will do task which is just enough to challenge you but not too easy or too hard!
There are four basic effect and response to any habit and if you want to change your habit then you must modify those. The first is Craving which makes the habit attractive so try to make the habit unattractive! Second is when the habit is obvious so your cue is to make it hidden, the third is that bad habits are easy to learn or get so try to make it difficult! Finally bad habits arer satisfying and rewarding so you can try to make them unsatisfying or unrewarding! How is left to you though many such examples are given in the book!
Another thing is place for a habit! Like bedroom is for reading and stuff so no cross over! If you demarcate zones for habit then they become automatic!
He also mentions how genes matter to a certain extent and most importantly consistency is the key!
The best part of the book is the summary at the end of the book which is like a refresher course of the whole chapter!
Any self help book is like that key which is looking for that particular lock of the person who is looking for a particular type of key to open his or her mind! Some work, some don’t but like how James tells, don’t look back!
One of the first books recommended by the author is the 7 habits of highly effective people which incidentally was the book I finished before this!
So with just 4 hours or so, this is a smooth audible ride! Give it a go at least in a small way! Maybe Atomic!?
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