ENTERTAINMENT
Book Review on “Atomic Habits” by James Clear
By: Syeda Malaika Saeed | 2nd Year | Success Education System
Atomic Habits, written by James Clear, is an actionable book to build good habits. It has surprising powers to adopt good habits and break bad ones. His whole book is based on the idea of making small changes which bring a big difference. Adopting small habits with consistency can lead to a perfect and successful life, while bad habits can lead to a destroyed and worse life. The quality of our lives depends on the quality of our habits.
He discusses four (4) laws of behaviour change we can use to build better habits.
- Make it Obvious:
Make your habits obvious and visible. The process of behaviour change always starts with awareness. We need to be aware of our habits before changing them. We have to use implementation intentions and habit-stacking strategies to pair a new habit with a specific time and location. For implementation intentions the formula is ‘I will (behaviour) at (time) in (location).’ E.g., I will read before I go to sleep in my bed. For habit stacking the formula is ‘after (current habit) I will (new habit)’. E.g.: After waking up I will brush my teeth.
We have to make cues for our positive habits obvious and visible. Our habits become associated not with a single cause but with the whole context surrounding the behaviour. The contexts become cues. It is easier to build new habits in a new environment because you are not fighting against old cues.
- Make it attractive:
The second law is all about how to convince ourselves to follow good habits. A temptation bundle is the way to make our habits attractive; this strategy is based on pairing an action you want to do with an action you need to do. One of the most effective things we can do to build better habits is to join a culture where your desired behaviour is normal and expected. Habits are attractive when we associate them with positive feelings or unattractive when we associate them with negative feelings.
- Make it Easy:
The third law is based on making it easy to accomplish our desired behaviour. Habit formation is the process by which a behaviour becomes progressively more automatic through repetition. We have to focus on taking actions, not being in motion. We also have to prime our environment to make future action easier. Human behaviour follows the law of less effort. We naturally select the option that requires a lesser amount of work. Habits can be completed in a few seconds but continue to impact your behaviour for minutes or hours afterward. The two-minute rule states, “When we start a new habit, it should take less than two minutes to do.
- Make it Satisfying:
The last law is about making a habit exciting and fulfilling to accomplish. We are more likely to repeat a behaviour when the experience is satisfying. To get a habit to stick with you, we need to feel immediately successful – even if it is a small win. We have to give ourselves immediate reward when we complete a task. Keep track of our habits to make it satisfying, and we don’t have to break a chain. Never miss twice – if we forgot to do a habit, try to get back on track as soon as possible.