Atomic Habits by James Clear

Title: Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones
Author: James Clear
Media Type Consumed: Audio Book
Link to Book: Atomic Habits
My Rating: 5/5

Synopsis (from Goodreads)

If you're having trouble changing your habits, the problem isn't you. The problem is your system. Bad habits repeat themselves again and again not because you don't want to change, but because you have the wrong system for change. You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems. Here, you'll get a proven system that can take you to new heights.

My Review

This book covers plenty of ideas that we like to cover here on this site - building habits is the key to success both in life and parenting. While there’s not a strong emphasis on parenting in this book, there are plenty of takeaways for applying the ideas covered to parenting. I listened to the audiobook version of the book, which was read by the author. This is one of those books that deserves to be read physically though as there are graphs and other pieces of information that you’ll want to refer back to.

Below are a few of the key takeaways from the book that really correspond well with many of the ideas that we cover on this site - we’ll continue to write about building habits and being consistent, because as the book discusses it’s the easiest way to be successful in life.

Changing habits is hard, and takes time. You’re not going to suddenly be working out every single day because you’ve done it one day. You have to take every single day one at a time, you have to push yourself to be better, and you have to do things even when you don’t want to. Whatever habit you’re trying to build, you often won’t see the results of those changes for days or even months. That means that you have to continue to stick to your new habit even when you can’t clearly see any results right now.

Set yourself up for success by changing your triggers. To help with building your habits, you need to change the things around you as well. For example, if you’re trying to change your diet to eat more healthy, having a lot of unhealthy food around you is not going to make it any easier. Going to the store hungry will make it hard as well. Go to the grocery store after you’ve eaten. Don’t buy junk food. Whatever the habit is that you’re trying to build, you can set up both negative and positive triggers to help you. Negative triggers are consequences, whereas positive triggers are things to help you remember and encourage you to keep at it.

Success is built on basic habits. Meeting a goal requires that you break that goal down into the actual steps that you need to get there - the habits you need to put in place in your life to actually be successful to meet that goal. If you want to read a certain number of books every year, simply setting that goal isn’t going to get you there. You need to break it down to what you need to do every day in order to get there - how many minutes per day do you need to read? When are you going to read? Whatever goal you’ve set for yourself, you’ll be far more likely to succeed if you build the habits to get there.

This book is a great resource for those that are looking to make changes in their lives and to be more successful. If you’re looking to make positive changes in your life, then you should get a copy of this book. It will help you put in perspective what you need to do, and hopefully motivate you to get there. Get the book now.