After more time than i'd care to admit, i've finally finished reading Atomic Habits by James Clear. It is chock full of good advice in digestible chunks. I've still got some notes to add that I took here I thought i'd highlight my favourite bits.
The aggregation of marginal gains
James is a proponent of making many small incremental changes and bearing the fruit of their combined benefit over large disruptive changes.
By making many 1% improvements, we can see that they quickly start to compound. This is great because improving by 1% is a lot easier than 20% in one go. The trick is to continue making small improvements to our habits.
The example given of the rise to greatness of the British Cycling team whom implemented the aggregation of marginal gains is one of my favourites.
Habits and Identity
James speaks a lot about identifying with the habit you are trying to build. For example, if you want to become a better writer, think of yourself as already being a writer. It is a simple psychological trick to get yourself in the right mindset.
Habits are shortcuts, we like shortcuts
James places some of our fondness of habits doe to the fact that in many cases they make our life easier. Why do we drive the same way to work everyday? probably because it is the fastest and most efficient route. We are hardwired to find and favour the path of least resistance so any new habit needs to make things easier or at least not be too arduous or inconvenient.
The four laws of behavioural change
There are a few laws that James believes govern the degree of success with which we have changing our behaviour. He goes into detail about each and how they can be used.
- Make it obvious
- Make it attractive
- Make it easy
- Make it satisfying
Diderot Effect
Obtaining a new possession, can create a spiral of consumption that leads to additional purchases. i.e. Buying a new suit may encourage you to buy a new tie, then perhaps some new shoes or a belt.
Habit stacking
Perhaps my favourite tip that James mentions is habit stacking. That is, scheduling and associating a new habit with an existing one. For example, there are habits we already do every day such as brushing our teeth or getting dressed. James suggests that you could try for example doing 10 press ups after getting dressed. Then once you've developed that habit, getting dressed, doing 10 press ups, then doing 10 sit ups etc.
Carl Jung quote
I quite liked this quote from psychologist Carl Jung
"Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life and you will call it fate"
Summary
There really are a lot more points and detail in the actual book that those I have mentioned and I recommend it very much.
I found the start of the book very strong but found the latter half a bit of a slog to be honest but I say that about a lot of books, so that may just be me.
In any case, I need to update my 2020 reading goal list, place it on my all time favourite book list and get through The Unicorn Project by Gene Kim next which is my next book to tackle.
-- Lee
