Book - Atomic Habits by James Clear

As of today (Jun'2020) - If someone asks me if there is ONE book I could recommend - without a second thought - it would be this book. Irrespective of profession or title - this book will definitely ring a bell.

The book covers what could be considered as ideas of common sense, but presents these ideas in a well-organized, clear, practical and logical way in developing good habits.

One of the first questions in the book was - “Write down your current habits". I tried and honestly there was NONE - except for the trivial ones like brush/sleep.. It was a good ice breaker for me to start thinking.

Key Takeaways:

“Habits do not restrict freedom. They create it. Building habits in the present allows you to do more of what you want in the future.”

Habit stacking:

If you have an existing habit - which is working well. Add the new habit along/right before or after the existing one. So that the environment is already set - and you don’t need additional motivation. In my case, “writing Journal as I have tea”. Tea is a must have for me, I can never skip it - so why not add a habit while I drink it 😄. Previously I always lacked the motivation to write/continue a Journal.

Habit Cues:

Setting up the environment for doing the habits. The environment should be both enabling and welcoming you to do your habits. In my case, before I sleep, I ensure - I keep the Journal book on the dining table - where I have my tea. And Kindle on my pillow, so I see it when I go to bed.

On bad habits - one of the practical way is to reduce exposure - like hide the TV remote so its hard to find 😉

“it is easier to avoid temptation than resist it.”

Compound Effect:

Very small change overtime will have a great impact. I have started realizing that as my reading time and consistency has improved.

One month after I completed this book, as I am writing this blog. I have a list of things … Start of Day:

• Wakeup, Clean the dust bin at home
• 5 min workout (it isn’t much, but makes a difference for me)
• Freshen up, Make Tea
• Write Journal Book - Plan for the day (as I have tea)
• Read a technical book ( Kindle)
• Off to work

End of the day:

• Update the Journal, review the day
• Keep the Journal at the dining table (where, I have my tea)
• Pray/Gratitude
• Read a non-tech/non-fiction book (Kindle)
• Sleep

There isn’t much - but still I feel a change - I have something that I could call as a habit - be it writing a journal or having a planned reading time. Thanks to this book - which gave me both the framework (practical ways of implementing a system) and the motivation in building habits.

“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.”

I addition to having a Kindle copy - I am planning to order a hard copy - I hope it shall be a visible reminder - to add a new Good habit and get rid of the bad habit. I believe - even if the book it doesn’t completely change your behavior, it will make you more aware of yourself.

Highly Recommended!!