“Every action you take is a vote for the type of person you wish to become. No single instance will transform your beliefs, but as the votes build up, so does the evidence of your new identity.”
We all want to be the best version of ourselves. By looking at our habits and trying to build up good ones and stop bad ones, we can do just that. Atomic Habits is not just about what habits to have and not have, it’s about how to start small and make it easy to do the things you set your mind to do. For example, going to the gym can start with the habit of getting the right clothes and shoes on for a few days, then getting to the gym for a few days, then working out for just 5-10 minutes for a few days until you build up to the workouts you really want to have.
I have heard a lot of people mention Atomic Habits on their podcasts and have seen it mentioned in a lot of self-help books. I waited several weeks for the book to become available from my local library as an ebook. I was able to read it in just a few days.
The book is written with the goal in mind of using a habits scorecard. You list what habits you have and whether they’re good or bad and whether you want to keep them or not. Then, you apply the 4 laws to start/keep a good habit and the inversion of the laws to stop bad habits.
The laws are: Make it Obvious, Make it Attractive, Make it Easy and Make it Satisfying. The inversion to those laws are: Make it Invisible, Make it Unattractive, Make it Difficult, Make it Unsatisfying. He also encourages using a habit tracker as people don’t like to break streaks.
I think Atomic Habits is a very good, encouraging book for anyone who wants to change his or her habits. I saw suggestions from several different books I’ve read on habits, but Clear does a good job bringing them all together in one package. I would recommend this book to any high school reader or older to learn how to create the life he or she wants to have.
What is the most recent habit you’ve started? I’m using Duolingo daily to learn French!