Atomic Habits
The groundbreaking success of Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones makes one thing clear: millions around the world accept that their habits are holding them back.
James Clear’s book has sold more than 25 million copies globally since its release in 2018. That’s rarified air. Also, more than ample evidence to suggest people want solutions to change habits they view as sabotaging their goals.
I have habits I want to break. Must break. But you’ll be surprised to hear that my main motivation for buying his book wasn’t me.
It was my daughter. I pitched it to my oldest as a path to help undo some of her habits. She’s young. A man in his fifties isn’t giving up lifetime habits easily.
A teenager. Well, there’s plenty of reason for hope.
Let me say here, and now, she wasn’t buying any of it.
Stop Planning and Goal Setting, and Starting Doing
In those first two chapters, Clear’s writing is like he’s speaking directly to me. I’ve been the guy who gets busy writing out goals and the steps needed to get there.
Literally, I’ve built Excel spreadsheets loaded with goals, steps, and plans. Then watched those plans collapse under their own weight.
It’s only in the last couple of years that I shifted to an action-oriented approach. I do and learn along the way. So, there’s something about Clear’s notion of working on reshaping your habits around the identity you want to assume that resonates with me.
Perhaps it will resonate with you as well. When I decided that I wanted to join the pack of content creators and become a YouTuber, I did two things:
- Upgraded from iPhone 12 to iPhone 16 Pro Max, and
- Signed up for an annual subscription to PictoryAI.
Then I started making videos. That’s it. No goals. No plans.
The concept of identity is real for me. Still, before sounding like a disciple of Clear, I believe pursuing the identity path requires sustained motivation.
And, we know sustained motivation simply isn’t sustainable. The moment life’s door opens, and stress walks in, old habits tend to stroll back in like long-lost friends.
Stress is Guaranteed: Reverting to Old Habits Doesn't Have to Be
There’s no avoiding stress. It finds a way into the lives of anyone above age seven, pops out when you least need it, and only death takes it away.
We’ve all heard the old saying, “Nothing is certain but death and taxes.”
Well, the time has come for a rewrite: “Nothing is certain but death, stress, and taxes.”
While Clear doesn’t tackle this certainty early in the book, he eventually speaks to it. When he talks late in the book about staying motivated in life and work, as life's urgencies arise, he explains that professionals will find a way to refocus on what’s important to them and work toward their purpose.
Amateurs will get pulled down into the weeds, and stress will not only dictate a return to old habits but also permanently derail their goals, plans, and purpose.
Read It Like a Menu, Not a Manual
Solution seekers will find one, two, or more valuable tips to break away from longstanding habits in Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones.
Still, it’s best to view Clear’s book as a menu from which you choose an approach that fits your personality and psychology.
Additionally, it’s probably best to begin, as Clear suggests, by first creating a list of your habits to heighten your awareness of what you’re actually doing.
Avoid the trap of simply labeling habits as good and bad, and identify which habits are moving you forward effectively and which are moving you in the opposite direction of your goals.
Now you’re better positioned to go through the various techniques and implement what you think will work best for you. There’s honestly no real need to understand the four-step pattern of cue, craving, response, and reward.
Truthfully, it isn’t that deep.
From Skeptics to Supporters: Surviving the Accountability Phase
Three particular approaches stood out to me. One of the three, in particular, has been used recently without using the full form suggested by Clear.
Which approaches?
- Habit contract
- Join a culture
- Reducing friction
The habit contract asks you to make a verbal or written statement in which you commit to a particular habit and the punishment that will occur if you don’t follow through. Then you find a couple of friends, possibly family members, who will serve as accountability partners and sign off on the contract with you.
Now you’re on the hook.
When I decided to verbalize my intentions to become a content creator and make at least 100 YouTube videos, I told three different friends. Between the time talking about it and doing it, several months went by, and they would bring it up when we talked.
Of course, they thought I was slipping. They didn’t know the delay tied back to me recording videos at home to practice and try to prepare.
Most of the time, I didn’t like them.
But once I started posting videos and taking action. The immediate reaction was subtle shock, then support and approval, before falling back because they realized I was really about it. Those accountability partners are now sending me tips for making better videos, ideas, and jumping ahead of me with learning how to monetize.
Monetization remains a faraway dream, but I’m deeply enjoying what I’m doing.
Worth the Read
For readers seeking a one-shot guide to break bad habits and build good habits, you’re not going to find that with Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones.
To put it straight, you’re not ever going to find that within one book.
However, for those seeking well-thought-out and sound approaches to go after several habits you know are undermining you – that you want to change, this book will offer help.
Join the 25 million plus who have purchased this book, and some who have even purchased the workbook, and get started.
When it comes to my daughter, well, she’s warming up to having a deeper conversation with me on the book, but she won’t agree to reading it. ■
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James Clear
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