Atomic Habits Summary
a·tom·ic əˈtämik
1. an extremely small amount of a thing; the single irreducible unit of a larger system.
2. the source of immense energy or power.
hab·it ˈhabət
1. a routine or practice performed regularly; an automatic response to a specific situation.
Ch-1 The Fundamentals
1% BETTER EVERY DAY
1% worse every day for one year. 0.99 365= 00.03
1% better every day for one year. 1.01 365= 37.78
Our Habits can Compound for us or Against us
The effects of small habits compound over
FORGET ABOUT GOALS, FOCUS ON SYSTEMS INSTEADProblems arise when you spend too much time thinking about your goals and not enough time designing your systems.
Problem #1: Winners and losers have the same goals.
Problem #2: Achieving a goal is only a momentary change.
Problem #3: Goals restrict your happiness.
Problem #4: Goals are at odds with long-term progress.
- Habits are the compound interest of self-improvement. Getting 1 percent better every day counts for a lot in the long-run.
- Habits are a double-edged sword. They can work for you or against you, which is why understanding the details is essential.
- Small changes often appear to make no difference until you cross a critical threshold. The most powerful outcomes of any compounding process are delayed. You need to be patient.
- An Atomic habit is a little habit that is part of a larger system. Just as atoms are the building blocks of molecules, atomic habits are the building blocks of remarkable results.
- If you want better results, then forget about setting goals. Focus on your system instead.
- You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems.
Ch-2 How Your Habits Shape Your Identity (and Vice Versa)
There are three layers of behavior change: a change in your outcomes, a change in your processes, or a change in your identity.
Outcomes are about what you get. Processes are about what you do. Identity is about what you believe
With outcome-based habits, the focus is on what you want to achieve. With identity-based habits, the focus is on who you wish to become.
The more pride you have in a particular aspect of your identity, the more motivated you will be to maintain the habits associated with it.
Progress requires unlearning. Becoming the best version of yourself requires you to continuously edit your beliefs and to upgrade and expand your identity.
THE TWO-STEP PROCESS TO CHANGING YOUR IDENTITY
Your identity emerges out of your habits
#1. Decide the type of person you want to be.
#2. Prove it to yourself with small wins.
Your identity emerges out of your habits. Every action is a vote for the type of person you wish to become.
Ch-3 How to Build Better Habits in 4 Simple Steps
A habit is a behavior that has been repeated enough times to become automatic
Habits are mental shortcuts learned from experience
Habits reduce cognitive load and free up mental capacity, so you can allocate your attention to other tasks.
Habits do not restrict freedom. They create it
This four-step pattern is the backbone of every habit
How to Create a Good Habit
The 1st law (Cue): Make it obvious.
The 2nd law (Craving): Make it attractive.
The 3rd law (Response): Make it easy.
The 4th law (Reward): Make it satisfying.
We can invert these laws to learn how to break a bad habit.
How to Break a Bad Habit
Inversion of the 1st law (Cue): Make it invisible.
Inversion of the 2nd law (Craving): Make it unattractive.
Inversion of the 3rd law (Response): Make it difficult.
Inversion of the 4th law (Reward): Make it unsatisfying.
THE 1ST LAW
Make It Obvious
Ch-4 The Man Who Didn’t Look Right
"Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life and you will call it fate.”
- With enough practice, your brain will pick up on the cues that predict certain outcomes without consciously thinking about it.
- Once our habits become automatic, we stop paying attention to what we are doing.
- The process of behavior change always starts with awareness. You need to be aware of your habits before you can change them.
- Pointing-and-Calling raises your level of awareness from a nonconscious habit to a more conscious level by verbalizing your actions.
- The Habits Scorecard is a simple exercise you can use to become more aware of your behavior.
Ch-5 The Best Way to Start a New Habit
Implementation Intention
“When situation X arises, I will perform response Y.”
Many people think they lack motivation when what they really lack is clarity
I will [BEHAVIOR] at [TIME] in [LOCATION]
HABIT STACKING
Habit stacking is pairing your new habit with a current habit
The Diderot Effect states that obtaining a new possession often creates a spiral of consumption that leads to additional purchases.
After [CURRENT HABIT], I will [NEW HABIT].
The two most common cues are time and location.
Ch-6 Motivation Is Overrated; Environment Often Matters More
The environment is the invisible hand that shapes human behavior.
- Small changes in context can lead to large changes in behavior over time.
- Every habit is initiated by a cue. We are more likely to notice cues that stand out.
- Make the cues of good habits obvious in your environment.
- Gradually, your habits become associated not with a single trigger but with the entire context surrounding the behavior. The context becomes the cue.
- It is easier to build new habits in a new environment because you are not fighting against old cues.
Ch-7 The Secret to Self-Control
- The inversion of the 1st Law of Behavior Change is make it invisible.
- Once a habit is formed, it is unlikely to be forgotten.
- People with high self-control tend to spend less time in tempting situations. It’s easier to avoid temptation than resist it.
- One of the most practical ways to eliminate a bad habit is to reduce exposure to the cue that causes it.
- Self-control is a short-term strategy, not a long-term one.
THE 2ND LAW
Make It Attractive
Ch-8 How to Make a Habit Irresistible
Dopamine is released not only when you experience pleasure, but also when you anticipate it.
The brain has far more neural circuitry allocated for wanting rewards than for liking them
Temptation Bundling
Temptation bundling works by linking an action you want to do with an action you need to do
The habit stacking + temptation bundling formula
1. After [CURRENT HABIT], I will [HABIT I NEED].
2. After [HABIT I NEED], I will [HABIT I WANT].
The 2nd Law of Behavior Change is make it attractive.
- The more attractive an opportunity is, the more likely it is to become habit-forming.
- Habits are a dopamine-driven feedback loop. When dopamine rises, so does our motivation to act.
- It is the anticipation of a reward—not the fulfillment of it—that gets us to take action. The greater the anticipation, the greater the dopamine spike.
Ch-9 The Role of Family and Friends in Shaping Your Habits
Whatever habits are normal in your culture are among the most attractive behaviors you’ll find.
We imitate the habits of three groups in particular:
1. The close.
2. The many.
3. The powerful.
1. Imitating the Close
We soak up the qualities and practices of those around us.
Surround yourself with people who have the habits you want to have yourself. You’ll rise together.
Join a culture where
(1) your desired behavior is the normal behavior and
(2) you already have something in common with the group
2. Imitating the Many
When changing your habits means challenging the tribe, change is unattractive. When changing your habits means fitting in with the tribe, change is very attractive.
3. Imitating the Powerful
High-status people enjoy the approval, respect, and praise of others and that means if a behavior can get us approval, respect, and praise, we find it attractive.
Ch-10 How to Find and Fix the Causes of Your Bad Habits
Our underlying motives
- Conserve energy
- Obtain food and water
- Find love and reproduce
- Connect and bond with others
- Win social acceptance and approval
- Reduce uncertainty
- Achieve status and prestige
A craving is just a specific manifestation of a deeper underlying motive
A craving is the sense that something is missing. It is the desire to change your internal state
Desire is the difference between where you are now and where you want to be in the future
Three deep breaths and smile
Every behavior has a surface level craving and a deeper underlying motive.
Your habits are modern-day solutions to ancient desires.
Habits are attractive when we associate them with positive feelings and unattractive when we associate them with negative feelings. Create a motivation ritual by doing something you enjoy immediately before a difficult habit.
THE 3RD LAW Make It Easy
Ch-11 Walk Slowly, but Never Backward
We are so focused on figuring out the best approach that we never get around to taking action
The best is the enemy of the good
Sometimes motion is useful, but it will never produce an outcome by itself.
When preparation becomes a form of procrastination, you need to change something
If you want to master a habit, the key is to start with repetition, not perfection
Each time you repeat an action, you are activating a particular neural circuit associated with that habit
Automaticity is the ability to perform a behavior without thinking about each step, which occurs when the nonconscious mind takes over.
The amount of time you have been performing a habit is not as important as the number of times you have performed it.
Ch-12 The Law of Least Effort
- Energy is precious, and the brain is wired to conserve it whenever possible
- When we remove the points of friction that sap our time and energy, we can achieve more with less effort.
- Finding ways to reduce the friction associated with our good habits and increase the friction associated with our bad ones
- Human behavior follows the Law of Least Effort. We will naturally gravitate toward the option that requires the least amount of work.
- Create an environment where doing the right thing is as easy as possible. Reduce the friction associated with good behaviors. When friction is low, habits are easy.
- Increase the friction associated with bad behaviors. When friction is high, habits are difficult. Prime your environment to make future actions easier.
Ch-13 How to Stop Procrastinating by Using the Two-Minute Rule
THE TWO-MINUTE RULE
When you start a new habit, it should take less than two minutes to do.
- The difference between a good day and a bad day is often a few productive and healthy choices made at decisive moments
- The point is to master the habit of showing up
- Habits can be completed in a few seconds but continue to impact your behavior for minutes or hours afterward.
- The more you ritualize the beginning of a process, the more likely it becomes that you can slip into the state of deep focus that is required to do great things.
- Standardize before you optimize. You can’t improve a habit that doesn’t exist.
Chapter 14: How to Make Good Habits Inevitable and Bad Habits Impossible
The inversion of the 3rd Law of Behavior Change is make it difficult.
A commitment device is a choice you make in the present that locks in better behavior in the future.
The ultimate way to lock in future behavior is to automate your habits.
Onetime choices—like buying a better mattress or enrolling in an automatic savings plan—are single actions that automate your future habits and deliver increasing returns over time.
When you automate as much of your life as possible, you can spend your effort on the tasks machines cannot do yet.
Using technology to automate your habits is the most reliable and effective way to guarantee the right behavior.
THE 4TH LAW
Make It Satisfying
Chapter 15: The Cardinal Rule of Behavior Change
The 4th Law of Behavior Change is make it satisfying.
We are more likely to repeat a behavior when the experience is satisfying.
The human brain evolved to prioritize immediate rewards over delayed rewards.
The Cardinal Rule of Behavior Change: What is immediately rewarded is repeated. What is immediately punished is avoided.
"The sweeter the first fruit of a habit, the more bitter are its later fruits."
"If you’re willing to wait for the rewards, you’ll face less competition and often get a bigger payoff."
The best way to do this is to add a little bit of immediate pleasure to the habits that pay off in the long-run and a little bit of immediate pain to ones that don’t.
To get a habit to stick you need to feel immediately successful—even if it’s in a small way.
The first three laws of behavior change—make it obvious, make it attractive, and make it easy—increase the odds that a behavior will be performed this time. The fourth law of behavior change—make it satisfying—increases the odds that a behavior will be repeated next time.
Ch-16: How to Stick with Good Habits Every Day
Named after the economist Charles Goodhart, Goodhart’s Law states, ‘When a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure.’
One of the most satisfying feelings is the feeling of making progress.
A habit tracker is a simple way to measure whether you did a habit—like marking an X on a calendar.
Habit Tracking
- Creates a visual cue that can remind you to act
- Is inherently motivating because you see the progress you are making and don’t want to lose it
- Feels satisfying whenever you record another successful instance of your habit.
If you start with $100, then a 50 percent gain will take you to $150. But you only need a 33 percent loss to take you back to $100.
Habit trackers and other visual forms of measurement can make your habits satisfying by providing clear evidence of your progress.
Don’t break the chain. Try to keep your habit streak alive.
Never miss twice. If you miss one day, try to get back on track as quickly as possible.
Just because you can measure something doesn’t mean it’s the most important thing.
Ch-17 How an Accountability Partner Changes Everything
The inversion of the 4th Law of Behavior Change is make it unsatisfying.
We are less likely to repeat a bad habit if it is painful or unsatisfying.
An accountability partner can create an immediate cost to inaction. We care deeply about what others think of us, and we do not want others to have a lesser opinion of us.
A habit contract can be used to add a social cost to any behavior. It makes the costs of violating your promises public and painful.
Knowing that someone else is watching you can be a powerful motivator.
ADVANCED TACTICS
How to Go from Being Merely Good to Being Truly Great
Ch-18 The Truth About Talent (When Genes Matter and When They Don’t)
The secret to maximizing your odds of success is to choose the right field of competition.
Pick the right habit and progress is easy. Pick the wrong habit and life is a struggle.
Genes cannot be easily changed, which means they provide a powerful advantage in favorable circumstances and a serious disadvantage in unfavorable circumstances.
Habits are easier when they align with your natural abilities. Choose the habits that best suit you.
Play a game that favors your strengths. If you can’t find a game that favors you, create one.
Genes do not eliminate the need for hard work. They clarify it. They tell us what to work hard on.
Ch-19 The Goldilocks Rule—How to Stay Motivated in Life and Work
The Goldilocks Rule states that humans experience peak motivation when working on tasks that are right on the edge of their current abilities.
The greatest threat to success is not failure but boredom.
Professionals stick to the schedule; amateurs let life get in the way. Professionals know what is important to them and work toward it with purpose; amateurs get pulled off course by the urgencies of life.
As habits become routine, they become less interesting and less satisfying. We get bored.
Anyone can work hard when they feel motivated. It’s the ability to keep going when work isn’t exciting that makes the difference.
Professionals stick to the schedule; amateurs let life get in the way.
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