Atomic Habits: An Easy and Proven Way to Build Good Habits and Break Bad Ones

by James Clear

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*The instant New York Times bestseller*
*Financial Times Book of the Month*

‘A supremely practical and useful book.’ Mark Manson, author of The Subtle Art of Not Giving A F*ck
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A revolutionary system to get 1 per cent better every day

People think when you want to change your life, you need to think big. But world-renowned habits expert James Clear has discovered another way. He knows that real change comes from the compound effect of hundreds of small decisions – doing two push-ups a day, waking up five minutes early, or holding a single short phone call.

He calls them atomic habits.

In this ground-breaking book, Clears reveals exactly how these minuscule changes can grow into such life-altering outcomes. He uncovers a handful of simple life hacks (the forgotten art of Habit Stacking, the unexpected power of the Two Minute Rule, or the trick to entering the Goldilocks Zone), and delves into cutting-edge psychology and neuroscience to explain why they matter. Along the way, he tells inspiring stories of Olympic gold medalists, leading CEOs, and distinguished scientists who have used the science of tiny habits to stay productive, motivated, and happy.

These small changes will have a revolutionary effect on your career, your relationships, and your life.
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‘James Clear has spent years honing the art and studying the science of habits. This engaging, hands-on book is the guide you need to break bad routines and make good ones.’ Adam Grant, author of Originals

‘A special book that will change how you approach your day and live your life.’ Ryan Holiday, author of The Obstacle is the Way

Genres: Self Help, Nonfiction, Psychology, Audiobook, Personal Development, Productivity, Business

277 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 18, 2018

About the author

James Clear is the author of "Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones"

He writes about habits, decision-making, and continuous improvement at jamesclear.com. His website receives millions of visitors each month and hundreds of thousands subscribe to his popular email newsletter.

His work has appeared in the New York Times, Entrepreneur, Time, and on CBS This Morning. He is a regular speaker at Fortune 500 companies and his work is used by teams in the NFL, NBA, and MLB.

Learn more at jamesclear.com

Reviews

[Lisa of Troy · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Book That Changed My Life

A book worth reading once a year.

In 2023, my goal is to consume less and create more. The stories in my heart and mind were finally going to meet paper. But I wasn’t actually writing anything.

When the day started, I knew that I had to write. I wasn’t feeling very well so I would write later. Then, dinner would happen, and I was behind on my reading and didn’t feel any better than earlier in the day.

Enter Atomic Habits. After reading the book, I took out my calendar and scheduled, “Writing,” from 1 pm to 1:20 pm. Now, I am actually writing.

How many of us have goals: to have better relationships, to lose weight, to learn a language? We have the best of intentions, but we don’t have a plan with manageable actionable steps.

Have you ever wondered how I got to be the #3 US Book Reviewer on GoodReads? Atomic Habits.

Before reading Atomic Habits, I had what I now realize as wishful thinking or dreams. At times, sometimes I made it on to the top 100 book reviewers, but it was always a complete mystery to me. When I made the list, I couldn't believe my luck! I wanted to rate higher, but I had no real plan.

Then, I read Atomic Habits. I sat down and had a clearly articulated goal. "I want to rate X on the best reviewer list." Okay. Sounds great. But what does that take? I looked at where I wanted to be on the weekly list and saw how many votes the reviewer received. I divided that number by 7 and knew that I needed to achieve that many votes per day to get to where I needed to be.

Sure enough. I met my goal and started to become consistently ranked. Atomic Habits is all about shifting your dreams and wishful thinking into knowing exactly where you want to be and making a plan to get there.

Also, it talks about lofty goals.

Almost everybody can relate. We make lofty goals: I’m going to run a marathon! I’m going to write a book! I’m going to lose weight! After a few weeks of intense effort (if we make it that far), we give up and go back to the way things were.

Did you know that I got back into reading by reading 6 books a year? That’s right. My goal was 6 books per year.

The only reason that I initially picked up this book was that someone was RAVING about it, and I was extremely skeptical. I honestly thought that this book was just going to be a bunch of rah rah feel good, you can do it, pep talk. However, it had an entire list of actionable steps you can take to help you make progress on your goals.

Little changes can make big differences over time. For example, when I lay out my sheet mask in the morning, I am much more likely to use it at night. This book made me want to write down goals for the year or at least start thinking of the things I wanted to make a priority.

This is my second reading of Atomic Habits, and I read it as a buddy read (which I highly recommend). It is interesting to hear about other systems.

During this read of Atomic Habits, I was struck by the idea of becoming 1% better.

Growing up, I really enjoyed playing basketball. The game is fast-paced, and it was one game where I could actually score. However, I can’t jump very high. I was so fixated on this weak area that I convinced myself that I couldn’t be a basketball player.

But you know what? I can sink three-pointers like nobody’s business. At Dave and Buster’s, I can easily achieve the high score. What if I didn’t give up? What if I spent my time trying to get better at running, aiming, teamwork, dribbling?

As an overachiever, I do tend to obsess over my weak areas. I spend so much time on the weak area that I ignore some of my other talents. What would I achieve if I just accepted that I am not great in a particular area but focused my time on other areas? Would I enjoy the journey more?

If you have tried losing weight or training, I would highly recommend this book. I can definitely see myself reading this once every year—it really is that good!

2025 Reading Schedule
Jan A Town Like Alice
Feb Birdsong
Mar Captain Corelli's Mandolin - Louis De Berniere
Apr War and Peace
May The Woman in White
Jun Atonement
Jul The Shadow of the Wind
Aug Jude the Obscure
Sep Ulysses
Oct Vanity Fair
Nov A Fine Balance
Dec Germinal

Connect With Me!
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[Acordul Fin · Rating 2 out of 5]

“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. If you’re proud of how your hair looks, you’ll develop all sorts of habits to care for and maintain it. If you’re proud of the size of your biceps, you’ll make sure you never skip an upper-body workout. If you’re proud of the scarves you knit, you’ll be more likely to spend hours knitting each week. Once your pride gets involved, you’ll fight tooth and nail to maintain your habits.”

What a doozy of a quote. I guess it pays to be a prideful guy.

Well, it seems luck isn't on my side when it comes to personal development reads, and "Atomic Habits" by James Clear is no exception. Despite the hype surrounding it, I find myself once again let down by a tired, regurgitated pop psychology book that fails to deliver.

The information presented feels like a rehash of what I've stumbled upon in the productivity blogosphere for the past decade. But it's not just the lack of freshness that bothers me—it's the execution. The writing feels robotic, the repetition grows tiresome, and the cherry-picked anecdotes conveniently support the author's points, often taken out of context. Even the scientific references feel shaky and questionable at times.

While the core ideas explored in "Atomic Habits" aren't inherently bad, they've already been covered by other authors with more depth and skill. Writers like Kelly McGonigal and George Leonard come to mind, offering a richer exploration of the subject matter. Frankly, I can't help but feel that the material in this book could have easily been condensed into a blog post or article. Instead, what I encounter is a bloated book filled with unnecessary fluff, making it feel like an extended infomercial for the author's blog. It's evident that this is just another platform to boost his personal brand and generate 'passive income'.

I guess the world really needed another privileged marketer with an A-type personality telling people they can become like him if they follow his 'secret formula.' It seems tailor-made for a specific group of individuals—those who aspire to be the lifestyle-hacker extraordinaire, like Tim Ferris, and his devoted followers.

P.S.
I should note that despite my disappointment, I've come across individuals who found value in this book, claiming it transformed their lives. However, in most of those cases, they failed to sustain the new habits they initially adopted and years later it's like they never read the book.

While "Atomic Habits" didn't meet my personal expectations, it may still hold potential for people who are new to the subject or resonate with the author's approach. And hey, if it floats your boat and makes you feel like the captain of your own destiny, who am I to rain on your parade? Happy reading!

[Simon · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book does a great job of laying down the framework of how habits are formed, and shares insightful strategies for building good habits and breaking bad ones. Even though I was already familiar with research behind habit formation, reading through this book helped me approach habits I’m trying to adopt or break in my own life from different angles.

But the book suffers from the same problems that seem to plague all self-help books. In the chapter about tracking habits, the author shares an anecdote about Benjamin Franklin’s habit of carrying a journal everywhere to track thirteen virtues. If you care to know more about that story, Franklin tried to make a habit of his thirteen virtues by turning it into a thirteen week course where he would work on a different virtue every week and track his progress. The author conveniently leaves out the fact that Franklin quickly found this method impractical and abandoned the project before getting through all thirteen virtues. There’s a lot of irony in including this anecdote in a chapter that talks about the importance of not “breaking the chain”. So while the author isn’t entirely wrong, I found it off-putting that he would retell this story in a manner that fit his narrative. This is a vice that is found all too commonly in self-help and pop science books that make you question the author’s intellectual rigour.

Another criticism I have of this book is that it could have been even shorter. The last few chapters under “Advanced Tactics” that deal with the topic of mastery were the weakest in the book. While there is an obvious connection between habits and mastery, trying to tie in a topic as complex as mastery was perhaps too ambitious.

The three star rating I am giving this book doesn’t reflect how important I consider habits to be. I completely agree with the author that habits are the cornerstone of your life. If you want to change your life in any meaningful way, the only dependable way I know is to build good habits. If you need convincing that habits are important, I would strongly recommend this book. If you are already convinced but struggling to adopt or break habits, racing through this book will give you some good ideas about how you can make changes stick.

[Hampus Jakobsson · Rating 5 out of 5]

TLDR;
- "You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems."
- The best way of building a habit is making it part of your identity.
- Make it easy to start: Habits are the entry point - not the goal. "Read 30 books" ⇒ "Read before bed every night" ⇒ "Read one page". Reduce a habit into a 2-minute first step.
- Stick to the plan: "Professionals stick to the schedule, amateurs let life get in the way." Don't be a "fair weather runner" if you want to run a lot.
- Make it hard to do the things you want to avoid.

Most modern "American self-help books for engineers or entrepreneurs" (it is a category for me) are too repetitive and too long. Atomic Habits is not! It does have the category-required set of stories of American (mostly men) who built a great habit and got to the top - but just the right amount.

----- NOTES -----

*Identity*
The three levels of change - the lower the more "fundamental":
3. Outcomes = Your goals
2. Processes = Your system
1. Identity = Who you perceive yourself to be

Make every action is a vote for what kind of person you want to become. Building habits is becoming the version of yourself you want to be. Habits help you to trust yourself.
- Realize that "You don't _have to_ do anything, you _get to_."
- Ask "What would a healthy person do?".
- Ask "What feel like fun to you, but is work to others?"


*Engineer it so that:*
Things you want to achieve vs Things you want to avoid
Obvious —————————————— Invisible
Attractive ————————————Unattractive
Easy ————————————————— Hard
Satisfying ————————————- Satisfying
For example: if you want to watch less TV - keep it unplugged - only plugin if you can say out loud the name of the show you want to watch.

[Alex Duncan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book and The New Emotional Intelligence by Travis Bradberry are my two favorite self-improvement books. Atomic Habits teaches you how small habits (many of which you aren't even aware of) compound over time to make a huge difference in your life. When you work to form good habits they accumulate and build upon each other and you see major changes with very small actions. The book has some suggested habits, but I wish there were many more (specific recommendations for good habits to adopt). That's why I love The New Emotional Intelligence so much. It has 60 in depth super strategies that are filled with different habits and micro behaviors targeting everything from happiness, to self-control, confidence, likeability, relationships, leadership, productivity, dealing with toxic people, you name it. It's an incredible book and these two go great together.

[Victoria · Rating 1 out of 5]

Why do I keep doing this to myself? All I want is a productive little audiobook to listen to while I work, helpfully filled with tips to improve my life. All I get is priviledged white people recycling the same old advice over and over. This book is especially grating as it's filled with cute little platitudes like "the same boiling water will soften a potato and harden an egg". I already know how boiling water works, thanks, can we get to the part where you tell me something I haven't heard from seven other productivity books already?

At one point Clear writes, "I get my assistant to do this for me every week, but if you don't have an assistant..."

I love how some of these productivity authors neglect to mention all the outside help they hire. It's like that other woman who suggested hiring an au pair for when your primary nanny is taking her vacation days. He also suggests doing things like paying for grocery delivery instead of going to the store to save time. He tells the story of one guy who paid his personal trainer $500 every time he forgot to log his food for the day.

The real productivity hack seems to be to hire someone to do all the little day-to-day tasks for you so you can focus on other things. This is great if you're fabulously rich, but, if you're like me and don't currently have a full time assistant, and people to do your housework and your meal prep for you, then you may have to look elsewhere for more practical advice.

[Greg Swierad · Rating 5 out of 5]

The first great book about habits was the Power of Habit. That book was quite theoretical and difficult to apply. This book, Atomic Habits, has a completely different approach. James Clear focused on writing a book that goes deep into every single step of habit creation from a practical point of view. At the end of the day, who we are and what we will achieve depends so much on these small habits that we do every day. James Clear argues, that focusing only on improving those habits will lead to much bigger changes and accomplishments.

My top 3 takeaways from this book are:

* Forget about goals, focus on the system instead.
* Change your identity to change your habits.
* Motivation is overrated. Design the environment to support your habits.

From this book, I distilled 21 strategies and principles on habit creation, and also I wrote a detailed book summary that you can read here: https://www.mentorist.app/books/atomi...

[Matias Andina · Rating 1 out of 5]

Reading this book feels like reading a homework assignment. James Clear wanted to read a lot of books and make a summary of the concepts he would implement for self-improvement. He also made a point in improve himself in the most hacky way possible. Instead of keeping the summary as personal notes, he published it. The fact that the author boasts about being a writer only makes it worse. You can actually smell the cheap tools he uses to put words into text and build chapters out of thin air. I wanted this book to get better, but it doesn't, up to the very end the author repeats the same choice pattern:

* Tell them what you are going to tell them, tell them, tell them what you told them.
* Simplify science to the border of being wrong.
* Abuse of "as such person said ___INSERT QUOTE HERE____"
* Build each chapter out of unacknowledged (stolen/refurbished) concepts, coming from other writings that predate this book.

The last point is particularly annoying and the book is plagued by them. He even uses the same graphics and plots as the originals! He includes verbatim whole poems by Lao Tse or writings by Seneca. At least these are attributed and not refurbished.
If you are somewhat familiar with the literature, avoid this book.
If you are thinking about reading this book, think about the books the author got the content from. Go and read those, you will get the original content without the coarse editing by James Clear. You will also get better foundations for growing a mindset instead of implementing hacks.

Start with Why - Simon Sinek
Mastery - George Leonard
Outliers - Malcom Gladwell
The Tipping Point - Malcom Gladwell
Getting Things Done - David Allen
The Element - Ken Robinson
Behave - Robert Sapolsky [Science communication written by experts in the field]
Thinking Fast and Slow - Daniel Kahneman [Science communication written by experts in the field]

[Rowan MacDonald · Rating 3 out of 5]

“Changes that seem small and unimportant at first will compound into remarkable results if you’re willing to stick with them for years. We all deal with setbacks but in the long run, the quality of our lives often depends on the quality of our habits."

Did not live up to the hype. There’s good material here, and easy-to-follow strategies to improve our habits, but I found it a chore to wade through. My interest ebbed and flowed and ironically, I felt it could be the book to undo my healthy reading habits and routine.

Atomic Habits succeeded in bringing awareness to my daily habits and making me more 'present'. The likes of “habit stacking” and “habit tracking” are things that I have started implementing since reading this. But while it’s great to be self-aware and regularly analyse our behaviours, I found it tiresome after a while.

“Daily habits are powerful because of how they compound, but worrying too much about every daily choice is like looking at yourself in the mirror from an inch away. You can see every imperfection and lose sight of the bigger picture.”

Tedious.

James Clear gives many examples of famous people who achieved success via their approach to habits. I enjoyed reading some of those, but far too often, content felt like it was being regurgitated from other books and work in the field of habits and human psychology. Sometimes it felt like he had simply thrown catchy new titles on pre-existing ideas and methods. Other times, it just seemed like common sense.

The book is not just about developing good habits and sticking to them, but about eliminating bad ones. I was pleased to see reference to Allen Carr’s Easy Way to Stop Smoking – a book that already made a huge difference to my life! The importance of patience, the difference between 'motion'/'action' and the two-minute rule (when starting a new habit, it should take less than two minutes to do) were all takeaways that resonated with me.

The chapter summaries were helpful to remember key points, but also made it clear there was substantial filler surrounding a couple of main ideas. These ideas are solid guidelines though, and no doubt helpful for building a better life - I guess time will tell.

It's perhaps worth noting that my grievances with Atomic Habits are in the minority - many find this book amazing, so don't let my words prevent you reading this if you think it could be helpful. After all, I'm left wanting to eat healthier, improve my bedtime routines and embrace minimalism - so all this has to be good.

“Your actions reveal how badly you want something. If you keep saying something is a priority but you never act on it, then you don’t really want it. It’s time to have an honest conversation with yourself. Your actions reveal your true motivations.”

[Emily (Books with Emily Fox on Youtube) · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was prepared to dislike this book but I really enjoyed it!

I've seen it on so many list of "life-changing non fiction" next to deeply misogynistic authors and it's popular with people promoting hustle culture so I didn't expect it to work for me.

While I can't say that the information in it is that different from other books I've read on the topic, it's definitely the best breakdown of said info that I've seen.

Super accessible, bitesize chapters... absolutely go with the audiobook if you enjoy them. I didn't want to sit while reading it because I was too busy reorganizing my space while listening to it!

Worth it

[Ali Goodwin · Rating 4 out of 5]

The best self help book I've read so far! I love that it has so many actionable things to apply to your life. I've been trying to add a few habits to my life, the biggest one being running and I applied so many of James Clear's tips to make running easier, more rewarding, and more consistent in my life.

My favorite thing I learned in this book is the 1% rule. Basically, even if you only get, say, 1% better a week, in 1 year you'll be over 50% better. Very motivating mindset shift for days when you feel like skipping your habit or get frustrated when you don't see quick results.

[Mario the lone bookwolf · Rating 4 out of 5]

The nuclear option for pimping, rebranding, fine-tuning, and perfecting grey cells.
Atomic also in one regard: As long as it works, it´s perfect down to the smallest part, each atom. If it fails, it´s radioactive and self cannibalizing, -destructing- and demotivating.

To exaggerate, we can develop great working, social. and creative habits or destroy ourselves with neuroticism going haywire, find great ways to optimate oneself or madness, just read anecdotal filled pop psychology/science/philosophy books one can read without the danger of the hard work of really changing something or choose the difficult way and this book.

The 1st Law Make it obvious
Repetition and consequence, as if it wasn´t so shamefully obvious, is one of the key elements to everything, a skill, foreign language, school, degrees,… and the funny thing is that successful people use learning, creativity, memo-, techniques to perfect their skills, but forget the motivational, critical thinking, analytic retrospection, optimization, meditation-,… techniques, and, most importantly, to recapitulate, criticize oneself, let others criticize oneself, reflect, and develop. There is always some space left toward top performance but without modifying or even changing habits, they won´t be possible and nothing is more painful than stopping a working, well known, perfected, but ineffective habit, using an oldfashioned program, modify a schedule, use knowledge and expertise in a new, complicated, unknown way, etc. The brain is a bit bitchy, nagging, and one´s worst enemy, because it´s a lazy manipulator, not wanting one to do something that means real work for it, trying to make it feel as uncomfortable as possible, wanting easy stagnation instead of sweaty evolution.

The 2nd Law and 3rd Law Make it attractive and easy
As if this wasn´t already painful and difficult enough, the self experimental subject now has to implement unused, and thereby for the crying, sobbing, angry brain very painful, new neuronal integrated circuits because, as one knows, reptile stem brain and monkeys social anxiety wants one to run far away from everything new, different, possibly dangerous. Here the inner demons have to been disguised as angels to make the whole agony as attractive as possible, a kind of hopeful masochism. Detecting the deficits has already wasted vast resources of willpower and now one doesn´t even have the legitimation to kill and destroy positive change with anger and negative emotions, but the new mind baby has to be raised next to the rascals one has to be tolerant and sympathetic towards.

The 4th Law Make it satisfying
Reaching this point is tricky, as one needs the stamina, perseverance, and resilience not to resign. As the old behaviors often aren´t directly harmful, just unproductive and used, they will come whispering and trying to get a hold of the subconscious mind to develop back towards the beginning. Humans are creatures of habit and whenever one just loses track and motivation for a second, their siren calls will try to lure you into old behaviors whose reminiscences are still lurking behind each screen, interaction, or working process.

And as if all of this wasn´t torture enough, it should come with personal development and vivisecting one´s personality, thoughts, memories, all these things that seemingly aren´t directly related to work, too. Because hidden in the chasms of each simulated reality lies the key to boosting the occupational performance even more by eliminating all the mental corpses of complexes, childhood traumas, anxieties, phobias,… As long they are not overcome, they keep holding one down, interrupting the workflow, reducing concentration, focus, the quality of sleep,… even changing the obvious problems won´t unleash the full potential.

A tip, after I´ve read a few of the most highly recommended DIY self brainwashing mind penetrating behavioral modification endeavor books for dummies, I´ve come to the conclusion that most of the theory, techniques, and schedules can easily be found during a longer google search, a Wikipedia or special wiki and Reddit, Quora walk, just using the essential keywords, bookmarking a few dozens to hundreds of pages of interest, copying the subjectively most essential and useful elements and still begin with the 1st law. But it would at least have cost you nothing.

It´s getting a bit anecdotally and subjective now, even personal (cause people seem to like that stuff for whatever reason) and, of course, misanthropic, so don´t be shy to stop reading here and saving time and eye power that could be focused on reading something profound. Seriously, I´ve warned you.

One of my main advantages is that I am naturally neurotic, a bit of still under control and productive, not negative elements of perfectionism, some might say soft OCD, but who listens to people, pedantic; a bit antisocial, and cold, rational, things very helpful when implementing new behavioral patterns because one doesn´t care about whatever other people think.

I am a bit biased here, because I have the, depending on the standpoint, positive or negative tendency to overachieve and excessively focus on one thing for weeks and months up to 12 or 14 hours a day, obsessive might be an understatement, let´s call it possession instead. Afterward, it´s often difficult to say how the final results, ideas, solutions paths developed, but conditioning oneself to combine focus and flow to hard fun and gamification, optional collaborative learning, yuck, might be a good alternative to just partying hard.

This leads me to the extroverts that might face massive deficits in this regard, as they have the unfortunate tendency to spent much unproductive time with other people, leading to excessive, exponentially growth of sympathy, friendship, contact, dangerous pheromones, endorphins, territorial alpha behavior,… manipulating logical thinking, in the worst case not just resulting in friendships, but love, relationships, and kids bringing the distraction in your home, permanently, reproducing and multiplying it and giving it names, all things that make one ineffective, cost time. So start avoiding people, feel cold, sad, and dead inside; and whenever you are doubting, compare what the introvert vs extrovert forever achieving score lists brings in comparison, all science and technical evolution that is human history vs all BS, war, extremism, tradition, all evil isms. Doesn´t an empty, lonely life seem a small price for helping primate progress? Don´t forget thanking me for ruining your socialization with these stupid tips, lol.

But seriously, social life is another prime example of habit, one becomes the people she/ he is in regular contact with and attracts more of these people, a dynamic one should not underestimate, and they all feed on you lifetime by craving for your attention, just compare how much one can get from articles and books in comparison to real life drivel filled with small talk, redundancies, errors,..., heck even the better memorization and internalization of content by social contact can be achieved with sophisticated learning techniques. To continue the isolationist standpoint (joke), it´s of course meanwhile absolutely unnecessary to make anything face to face and not in home office, VR, AR, psi transfer remote perception,... the technological singularity in general makes it more and more useless to leave the home castle.

A wiki walk can be as refreshing to the mind as a walk through nature in this completely overrated real life outside books:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Positiv...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motivation
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Behavio...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classic...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persona...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mindful...

[Reading_ Tamishly · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book just climbed to the top as my most favourite self-help non-fiction of the year!

Totally engaging and quite convincing in how the book makes you want to change your bad habits and adopt good ones, this book doesn't talk in a way to make you feel overwhelmed or make you feel like everything you do is wrong or inadequate.

The book doesn't give you impractical tips yet it tells stories and what to learn in how to gradually maintain habits that would benefit you in the long run as well as how to start maintaining habits that you have been wanting to in small practical steps.

This book is life-changing for me.

I have already adopted some of these tips yet the book makes me realise that there are many things that we do that we consider harmless yet taking up most of our time which make us frustrated in real.

The tips are easy to understand and follow. The writing is amazing. I would highly recommend this book.

This one is already changing my year and the rest of everything else that's going to happen in how I make my future a better and a fulfilling one.


Too good to be true. Literally life changing 🍂

[Renee Gillette · Rating 1 out of 5]

The book was overwhelmingly male-centric. Most of the examples (other than ballet dancer Twyla Tharp and doctor Anne Thorndike), were about male stockbrokers, scientists, businessmen, sports figures (Michael Phelps, Magic Johnson) and comedians (Steve Martin, Chris Rock). Where are the successful women? Also, it was more about using habits to be "successful" in a traditional sense, by making your way to the top of the corporate ladder or excelling in whatever you do, being fit or elite or whatever, instead of improving relationships, decision making, work/life balance, or overall, just being a good person.

Funny, I was highlighting a bunch of material (a signal that I was full of hope!) in the first chapter, then it abruptly stopped, and I never highlighted another item in the whole book. The last thing I noted was on page 33, where some guy/entrepreneur says, "I asked my wife to schedule my first-ever manicure. My thought was that if I started paying to maintain my nails, I wouldn't chew them. And it worked, but not for the monetary reason. What happened was the manicure made my fingers look really nice for the first time.... Suddenly, I was so proud of my fingernails." Here, I wrote, "WTF?" Sorry, but a statement like this reeks of privilege and frankly, makes me want to puke. I am concerned about his wife, and I can't believe it got past the editors. Was this written in 2018 or 1988? In retrospect, this was the moment I should have abandoned the book and opted for something more relevant to my life.

Another problem I have with this book.... he talks much, in the beginning of the book, about identity change. "The goal isn't to read the book, it's to become a reader." Or "The goal is not to run a marathon, it's to become a runner..." Then in the last chapter, in his "downsides to habit change" he discusses how identity can hold you back. The key is to "keep your identity small," (some investor guy says) because your identity will change as your role changes (or with age). So, "I'm an athlete" becomes "I'm a person who is mentally tough and loves a challenge." "I'm a soldier" becomes "I'm the type of person who is disciplined, reliable and great on a team." "I'm the CEO" translates to "I'm the type of person who builds and creates things." So, the message is to have a flexible identity. I actually think this is key information that provides a healthy balance in life, and belongs right up there in chapter 1 with all the other information about identity. Rather, it's an afterthought at the very end of the book. And it's contradictory. Also, where is the "I'm a good listener. I'm there for my kids. I make time to help others. I'm a good friend." Are all habits so.... macho and self-centered? Maybe I missed the point, or maybe it was just the wrong book for me.

That said, I did pull some good information from chapter 13, the two-minute rule/habit shaping. When I opened it to this chapter in the book store where I bought it, I was intrigued. I thought this type of information could help me with my 2021 goals (which have been blown to bits). But I found it the most helpful chapter in the book, overall. I can use the "art of showing up" and the concept of not being consumed by the end goal in my life.

I learned: If you're a woman and you're looking for a book on habit change, pick up a book written by a woman; preferably one who has done her research and with whom you have something in common.

[J. (Better Off Read) · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF at 45% I don't even want to waste any more time on this book with a full review. Here's a quick rundown of why I hated it:
Ableism throughout
Bootstrap mentality
Fatphobia throughout
Condescending, patronizing tone from the author (even, or maybe especially, on the audio version.)
I could go on...

This book had some valid, common sense points, but its flaws far overshadowed any redeeming qualities. Just...nope.

[Lily (LilyCReads) · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the only book on 'habits' you should read.
It lays out all the rules of changing/developing habits in a simple, straightforward way and gets right to the point without a bunch of rambling and seemingly unrelated filler chapters like some other self development books i've read.

[Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Can you get rid of your bad habits?
Or maybe more importantly, establish good habits?



This had some useful tips in it that may help some people improve their quality of life by slowly (but steadily) forging good habits.
One thing I felt would really work was the make it easy mentality. That's a big one. We're all lazy creatures at our core, but some of us are better at streamlining things we don't like to do to make them easier to accomplish.
What are you talking about, Anne?



Ok, so I noticed that my upstairs was a lot dirtier than my downstairs. If there was a pile of hair and fuzz on my bathroom floor, it would likely sit there until it became sentient. Why? Because my broom, mop, and cleaners were all downstairs. So, I went out and got the exact same stuff and set up a mini cleaning closet in my linen cabinet. And now that everything is within easy reach, my upstairs bathrooms look far less terrifying. Ta-da!
I'm keeping things clean using the power of laziness!



But the basic gist of what he talks about is really just not giving up. If you didn't go on a walk today, that doesn't mean that you are incapable of getting healthy. The plan is to just put on your shoes. If you can get up and put on your walking shoes, you're halfway there. Yes. Even if you just take your shoes right back off.
The goal is to begin the habit with (pun intended) baby steps.



As far as self-help books go, this one seems reasonable. There's no weird go-go-go mentality and you don't have to do anything differently, other than to make very small positive changes that will set you up for success. You don't measure your success daily, you look at how far you've come over the course of a year. And with the mindset that doing anything positive to work towards getting better will get more results than if you had done nothing at all.
In other words:



Some of his tricks and tips require a bit more structure (like getting someone to hold you accountable) but most of the things he tells you to do are pretty painless. And I've always found that sticking to simple, small, easy changes is the best way to get long-term results.
Going on some crazy diet that cuts out all {insert food I love here}, never lasts past a year. But cutting down on processed sugar, eating more veg, and going on walks is a long-term doable way to achieve better overall health in the long run. Those types of habits don't necessarily get any sort of flashy results right away but you'll be more likely to keep the results that you do get.

Recommended.

[Dr. Appu Sasidharan (Dasfill) · Rating 4 out of 5]

There are many self-help books discussing the topics of habit. Some of them are written by famous authors like Stephen R. Covey, Charles Duhigg, and Timothy Ferris.

I read this book after reading the books by the above authors and was sure that I won't get any new information. Despite discussing a similar topic, James Clear managed to pull a convincing book discussing these familiar ideas in a new way that will help us view our daily routine and life differently and will be a good choice if you are interested in the topic of productivity.


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[Mica Santos ⇢ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hope everyone can read this review until the end. 💕

Pick up this book thanks to a Tik-Tok video of a guy who showed different books recommended for personal development. I really wanted to start this year changing habits, incorporating ‘the good new’ and eliminating the bad ones.
From the first chapters I began to follow the steps and marveled with the achievements.
I really recommend it to all who want to evolve and transform into any field of their lives. Or simply feel better with yourself.
Based on this, I'll be less active on GR. Although from time to time I'll appear again here to see which readings you all enjoyed and read your great reviews.
All my love to this community that shares so much kindness. My deepest gratitude for making me smiled so many times.

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Espero que puedan leer esta reseña hasta el final. 💕

Llego a este libro gracias a un video en Tik-Tok de un chico que mostraba diferentes libros recomendables para el desarrollo personal. Realmente quería arrancar este año cambiando hábitos, incorporando ‘nuevos buenos’ y eliminando los malos.
Ya desde los primeros capítulos empecé a seguir los pasos y me maravillé con los logros.
Realmente lo super recomiendo a todos quienes quieran evolucionar y transformarse en cualquier ámbito de sus vidas. O simplemente sentirse mejor con ustedes mismos.
En base a esto, voy a estar menos activa en GR aunque de vez en cuando volveré a aparecer por aquí para ver cuáles lecturas disfrutaron y leer sus geniales reseñas.
Todo mi amor a esta comunidad que tanta amabilidad comparte. Un profundo agradecimiento por haberme hecho sonreír tantas veces.

[Kaytlin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received this book as a Goodreads giveaway yesterday and immediately settled down to read it. I am always very skeptical of self help books because they often do no get to the root of issues. This one did. James Clear's main arguments are that habits are the compound interest of self improvement and that your identify emerges out of your habits. So, you must expereince a shift in identity for your habits to hold. This made a lot of sense to me, but I do think that Clear should have addresses deeper emotional issues and gave readers resources so as not to mislead them into believing that they can change their identity by action (repeating new habits) alone.

[Martin Smrek · Rating 1 out of 5]

You can read 250 pages of this book in no time, because there is mostly nothing of substance in it. It could have been a nice short article, but it was bloated with fluff instead and made into a book. One might even say, that it feels like reading a Coelho of pop-psychology. The relevant parts could be really summed up in a couple of pages and it would be a nice blogpost worth of maybe even 3 stars. As a book, it is a collection of oversimplified scientific knowledege, wild misinterpretations and parallels, and plenty of anecdotes combined with some dubious sources (sourcing from Twitter, Reddit, Youtube and even investment blogs). Author works most of the time with relevant sources for the scientific statements, but they usually don't play any significant role in what he is proposing in the book and the facts are usually out of context and serve mostly the role of fun facts with no relevance for the points being made. What you end up with is some trivial tips for creating new habits, with regular advertising notes sending you to author's website, and plenty of unnecessary information, including some very dubious life coaching tips. My bottom line is, that this book is heavilly overrated motivational/self-help book and I wish I would have received an apropriate warning before I purchased it. So hopefully, my review will save you some time and money.

[Steven Medina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Una verdadera joya.

La procrastinación es uno de mis peores defectos. Llevo años luchando en su contra y sigo sin poder vencerla. Me frustra que se entrometa en mi vida. Me fastidia. Sin embargo, no me voy a rendir. Pase lo que pase seguiré luchando contra este enemigo invisible hasta que lo venza o hasta que me muera. Espero que suceda lo primero y no lo segundo...

La razón por la que leí este libro hace dos años fue porque estaba cansado de sentirme improductivo. Tal vez la falta de motivación, cansancio, estrés o la auto exigencia me estaban consumiendo en aquel entonces. O tal vez eran todas las anteriores que me atacaban por turnos para desesperarme y confundirme cada día más. Curiosidad, expectativa y desesperación fueron mis acompañantes en esta lectura en la que anhelaba encontrar las soluciones definitivas para mis problemas. ¿Encontré lo que buscaba? Sí, pero no. Me explico.

El contenido es excelente. A día de hoy no he encontrado un libro mejor que Hábitos atómicos que explique cómo crear hábitos desde cero. El libro contiene imágenes, tablas, historias de la vida real que nos inspiran, y un sinfín de información valiosa y fácil de usar que nos ayudan a creer que de verdad podemos tomar el control de nuestra vida. Además, el autor también nos enseña a destruir los hábitos que catalogamos como innecesarios, lo que resulta ser una información muy valiosa para cualquier lector. Si tenemos la creencia de que cambiar es imposible, este libro erradicará esa idea de nuestra mente para siempre porque comprenderemos que un hábito se puede crear o destruir de forma sencilla en cualquier momento. Sobre el contenido del libro no puedo quejarme para nada. El problema, es que no fue una buena decisión, leer en ese momento de mi vida, esta obra creada por James Clear.

Todos tenemos un camino por transitar muy diferente. Tal vez nos encontremos con otras personas en alguna intersección o una vereda, pero eso solo es temporal. El comienzo y el final del camino es completamente diferente para cada persona. En el momento en que leí este libro yo no necesitaba aprender sobre hábitos; lo que necesitaba era trabajar en mi mentalidad. No lo sabía en ese entonces, pero en mi interior se estaba formando, granito a granito, una crisis de ansiedad grandísima que después me fue imposible ignorar. En vez de valorar y agradecer la información que el autor nos suministra en su obra, lo que resulté haciendo fue criticándome muy fuerte a mí mismo por no ser capaz de instaurar hábitos en mi vida después de finalizar esta lectura. No seguí los consejos de este libro, me apresuré demasiado, e intenté realizar todo tipo de modificaciones en mi vida en muy poco tiempo. El resultado fue catastrófico: aumentaron mis malos hábitos y los buenos desaparecieron por completo. En ese momento responsabilicé internamente a este libro como el causante de mis desgracias, pero obviamente el libro no tenía la culpa; el culpable fui yo por tomar malas decisiones y usar de forma errónea la información de esta obra. Pasaron las semanas, continué intentando instaurar hábitos siguiendo los consejos de James, pero nunca lo logré completamente. A día de hoy, sigo sin poder usar dicha información de forma correcta.

No obstante, después de un año o más tiempo, descubrí por medio de la meditación, que es bueno cultivar buenos hábitos pero también puede convertirse en una obsesión. Al principio todo parece genial. Quieres un nuevo hábito. Creas el plan perfecto. Utilizas la fórmula de James para la creación de hábitos (Señal-Anhelo-Respuesta-Recompensa) y empiezas con motivación a seguir tu plan. Pero luego quieres más, por lo que usando los consejos del autor empiezas a enlazar tus hábitos existentes con los nuevos para aprovechar el tiempo. Y luego más, cada vez más. Adicional a ello, empiezas inconscientemente a estar más pendiente de todos tus hábitos en general, buscando más hábitos negativos y pensando en cómo puedes seguir aprovechando tu tiempo. Pero claro, todo tiene un límite y los excesos siempre son el problema. Sí, es genial crear hábitos beneficiosos que nos ayuden a ser más productivos, pero es una metodología que promueve la rigidez de la rutina. Mantenernos en un ciclo interminable de hábitos productivos nos desgasta por completo porque nos roba la oportunidad de descansar, hacer pausas y reducir la velocidad de nuestro obsesivo ritmo de vida. Aunque valoro muchísimo los consejos del libro siento que planear en exceso es enfermizo. Nuestra vida necesita del factor sorpresa y de la incertidumbre para que sigamos evolucionando. Si todo lo planeamos permaneceremos voluntariamente en nuestra zona de confort, y eso es un error. Debemos salir de nuestra zona de confort para descubrir de qué somos capaces realmente. Además, nuestro cerebro también necesita silencio y desconexión porque no somos máquinas. Seguir ese ritmo de vida tan organizado estará bien por un tiempo, pero mantenerlo por años puede llegar a ser agobiante. Sí, es verdad, siguiendo las instrucciones al pie de la letra formaremos un hábito obvio, anhelante, sencillo y gratificante de realizar; pero, normalmente, cuando realizamos lo mismo durante mucho tiempo deja de ser anhelante y gratificante hacerlo porque nos aburrimos de lo rutinario por su falta de novedad. Nuestro cerebro está diseñado para disfrutar de lo nuevo: así es nuestra naturaleza.

Tal vez, la forma correcta de usar la información de este libro, es utilizar las estrategias de James para crear hábitos a largo plazo de forma muy, pero muy lenta. Digamos, uno o dos hábitos máximo en un periodo de seis meses. En muchos sitios recomiendan hacer una actividad por 21 días consecutivamente para que se convierta en un hábito, pero yo pienso que eso es un mito. Considero que esa afirmación es utilizada solo para que las personas crean que en poco tiempo van a conseguir los resultados que desean. Pero eso es falso. Porque si eso fuera verdad, ¿por qué después de llevar varios meses en el gimnasio dejas de ir de un día para otro sin razón alguna? ¿por qué no estudiamos cuando salimos de vacaciones? ¿por qué dejamos de consumir comida saludable después de llevar una dieta estricta causada por una cirugía? Incluso hay hábitos que hemos realizado por años, y de repente dejamos de hacer como visitar a un familiar que vive lejos, jugar un videojuego clásico que nos encanta, ver un canal de televisión, escuchar una canción... Es por ello que considero que los consejos de este libro podrían funcionar sí, y solo sí, a largo plazo; aunque podríamos volverlos a perder en cualquier momento: Es muy importante tenerlo en cuenta.

Tal vez, el contenido del libro pueda servirnos más para destruir malos hábitos y no para construirlos. Si tienes un vicio o una adicción que te está consumiendo, este libro puede ayudarte a que ese comportamiento se vuelva invisible, poco atractivo, difícil de realizar y muy insatisfactorio para ti. Sin embargo, aunque este libro puede ayudarte a liberarte momentáneamente de tus problemas, no te los solucionará. ¿Por qué? Porque siguiendo los pasos de James tus adicciones se volverán invisibles, pero seguirán existiendo, por lo que seguir estos pasos son solo una parte de la solución. Si tus adicciones vuelven a ser visibles, atractivas, fáciles de realizar o satisfactorias puedes volver a recaer en cualquier momento. El contenido sobre la eliminación de hábitos puede compararse con un calmante que te quita el dolor parcialmente, pero no te sana la enfermedad. Si quieres erradicar completamente tus adicciones deberás realizar un trabajo adicional. Ya sea visitando a un psicólogo confiable, dedicando tiempo a buscar tú mismo, en tu interior, las verdaderas razones de tu adicción, hablando con algún familiar o amigo, etc. Repito, este libro es buenísimo para destruir hábitos destructivos, pero no es la solución completa del problema. También ténganlo muy en cuenta.

La calificación de cinco estrellas que he decidido otorgarle a este libro es debido a la calidad del contenido de la obra. He decidido apartar mi experiencia personal y los malos usos que el lector pueda darle a su vida con esta información. El objetivo de Hábitos Atómicos es ayudar al lector a crear y destruir hábitos, y ese exactamente es el contenido que se encuentra en estas páginas. El autor tiene gran dicción, emplea ejemplos y herramientas fáciles de entender para que sus ideas sean bien comprendidas, su lenguaje y forma de tratar al lector es más como un amigo y no como una enciclopedia, su intención es muy buena, la información te motiva a practicar lo aprendido, realmente la calidad de la obra es muy buena.

¿Lo volvería a leer? Es posible. El libro tiene consejos muy interesantes, técnicas y ejemplos fáciles de llevar a cabo, y teniendo en cuenta que lo leí en un momento inadecuado, puede que una segunda lectura me ayude a ver el libro con una perspectiva diferente. Si aprendí tanto sobre los hábitos cuando no debía, ¿cuánto aprenderé en otra circunstancia? ¿Por qué no darle otra oportunidad? Vale la pena volver a intentarlo. Tal vez mi experiencia con este libro tenga segunda parte, quién sabe. Libro recomendado.

[Sara Kamjou · Rating 5 out of 5]

یکی از بهترین کتاب‌های خودیاری که خوندم!
واقعیت اینه که خودم رو لابه‌لای قانون‌های کتاب پیدا می‌کردم و می‌گفتم چه جالب منم دقیقا همین کارا رو انجام می‌دم! از این به بعد اگر کسی ازم بپرسه چطوریه که تو این‌قدر به همه‌ی کارات می‌رسی و پشتکار داری، به جای نمی‌دونم، می‌تونم این کتابو معرفی کنم.
کتاب در مورد اینه که چطوری با قوانینی ساده، زندگیمونو بهتر کنیم و روزهامونو بهینه‌تر بسازیم تا بتونیم به کارهایی که دوست داریم انجام بدیم برسیم و جزء جدایی‌ناپذیر روزهامون بشن.
--------------------
یادگاری از کتاب:
کیفیت زندگی ما غالبا به کیفیت عادت‌هایمان بستگی دارد.
...
عادت‌ها غالبا هیچ تفاوتی ایجاد نمی‌کنند، تا اینکه از یک مرزی عبور کنیم و سطح جدیدی از عملکرد گشوده شود.
...
تمام نتایج بزرگ از شروع‌های کوچک حاصل می‌شوند.
...
هر قدر یک رفتار را بیشتر تکرار کنید، بیشتر هویت مربوط به آن رفتار را تقویت می‌کنید‌
...
موثرترین راه برای تغییر عادت‌ها، این است که نه بر روی دستاوردهای مدنظرتان، بلکه روی شخصیتی که دوست دارید تمرکز کنید.
...
چگونه یک عادت خوب بسازیم: اولین قانون (سرنخ): آن را شفاف و آشکار کنید. دومین قانون (تمایل): آن را جذاب کنید. سومین قانون (پاسخ): آن را ساده کنید. چهارمین قانون (پاداش): آن را رضایت‌بخش کنید.
...
_
چگونه یک عادت بد را از بین ببریم: اولین قانون (سرنخ): آن را مخفی (پنهان) کنید. دومین قانون (تمایل): آن را لوس و غیرجذاب کنید. سومین قانون (پاسخ): آن را دشوار کنید. چهارمین قانون (پاداش): آن را عامل نارضایتی کنید.
...
عادت‌های شما راهکارهای مدرن برای تمایلات دیرین هستند.
...
هر قدر یک ع��دت به انرژی کمتری نیاز داشته باشد، احتمال وقوع آن بیشتر است.
...
بهترین راه این است که همواره در اوج و زمانی که عملکردتان خوب است، متوقف شوید.
...
مغز انسان چالش را دوست دارد، اما چالشی که میزان دشواری آن در یک حد بهینه و معقول باشد.
...
بالاترین تهدید برای موفقیت، نه شکست بلکه بی‌حوصلگی است. از عادت‌هایمان خسته می‌شویم، زیرا دیگر ما را مجذوب نمی‌کنند.

[Odai Al-Saeed · Rating 4 out of 5]

يرتبط الكتاب بتجربة صاخبة ومن ثم صقلها لتكون له أسلوب حياة وعندما يعنونها بالذرية فهو يقصد المقدار التراكمي للذرة الصغيرة لتصبح كتلة , عندما يكون التوق لدينا في انجاز هدف معين ( انقاص وزن, تأليف كتاب , لياقة بدنية عالية ) يجب علينا حسب الكاتب أن تنشئ عادة متراكمة لهذا الفعل لأن الهدف قد يحقق ومن السهولة فقدانه متى ما أنهينا العادة ورجعنا لنفس الأسلوب , بمعنى قد تستطيع تحقيق هدفك بانزال وزنك في فترة وجيزة ولكن بمجرد عن تخليك عن هذه العادات الصحية فسرعان ما يعود الوزن الى عهده السابق
يتطرق الكتاب الى استراتيجيات مقرونة بقصص وبراهين كتبت بأسلوب شيق ونقاط محددة وواضحة لتغيير اتجاهات وعادات خاطئة اعتدنا عليها ويشرح بطريقة مبسطة استراتيجيات مبسطة للاقلاع عنها وهو من أجمل كتب تطوير الذات التي مرت علي

[Sean Barrs · Rating 4 out of 5]

“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’ve been trying so hard lately to break out of a funk and every self-help book I read recommends starting at the most basic level. We must sort out our daily habits before we can begin to feel better and more fulfilled in our lives. But how do we do this?

Gradual change is the answer. If we improve each day by just 1% by the end of the year we will be dramatically and unrecognizably better. Winning tiny battles will determine our future self. Identifying bad habits that are ruining our potential is the key to change. We must eradicate them, slowly, if need be, and replace them with habits that allow us to grow each day. We must set goals and work towards them in a sensible and patient fashion.

“You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems.”

We also need to design a system to achieve our goals. Simply having goals is not enough. We need to have an actionable framework on how we can move towards these otherwise we will never reach them. We must have a process to follow and daily habits that allow us to achieve them. Our level of commitment to the process will determine our level of progress. Sticking to healthy proactive habits with our end goals in mind is the key.

So, here’s a little bit about me and my goals for this year: I want to complete a 100-mile ultra-marathon and I also want to have written up a full draft of my PhD. How will I achieve these goals? Habitually running and writing each day, habitually working towards them and remaining committed to the process of daily improvement. I will also read everyday and review on Goodreads more frequently because it helps me remain focused on the process. Daily writing is so important for me as is learning and discovering more literature.

I quite enjoyed this. It proposes a very straightforward approach to being successful and one I am very keen to implement into my own life. So let’s do this 2023!

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You can connect with me on social media via My Linktree.
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[Amir Tesla · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well, there’s almost no single shred of original content here. It could be a fine book if it’s the first self-improvement book you have started to read.

The science is also flawed. He presents the following elements for habit:
1. Cue
2. Craving
3. Action
4. Reward
Not to mention that its a skewed copy of principles presented in Power of Habits (to authors credit, he mentions it), craving starts to appear strongly only when your brain has learned to associate the cue, action, reward which happens with repetition.

Two star is a good score. It was merely okay. Given the earth-shattering noise it had made, I simply expected more.

[Liong · Rating 5 out of 5]

I gave this non-fiction book 5 stars when I read it during the COVID-19 period in 2020.

It's a book I highly recommend to you and my friends. 🤩

I learned a lot from it, and it inspired me to read more books and adopt better habits to improve my life.

One of the best sentences that motivated me to build good habits is: "The Power of 1% Improvements: Tiny changes, when done consistently, can lead to remarkable results over time. Improving by just 1% each day adds up to a 37x improvement by the end of the year."

You will also discover The Four Laws of Behavior Change in this book.

These principles empower people to make lasting, sustainable changes by focusing on small, manageable actions rather than relying on sheer willpower or drastic transformations.

It’s never too late to write a review for this book, even 4 years later, after I've compounded improvements over time.

I'm truly grateful that I discovered and read this book. 🙏🤩

[Hamad · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am in the mood for more non fiction lately, so I decided to read the books of Ali's book club. I wanted to read a book on habits for a long time now and Atomic Habits met all those criteria.

I am not gonna elaborate a lot since it is a well known book and there are a lot of YouTube videos that summed it up better than I can ever do including Abdaal's video here:

Check Video

Like all non-fiction books, I found most of the information in the book to be logical but the way it was written and ordered was pretty good. I found it engaging, easy to read and scientific. I enjoy it when authors provide data through real life stories and there was a lot of that here.

The book mostly discusses 4 laws to get into a habit or get out of one. These are: Make it Obvious, Make it Attractive, Make it Easy, Make it Satisfying. And if you inverse those you get a way to lose bad habits. A very intriguing read!

[Clace · Rating 3 out of 5]

I sent a picture of me holding an axe to my friends to which they said 'Seek help' leading to me reading this book. It did help!

[Swati Tanu · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Success is the product of daily habits—not once-in-a-lifetime transformations."

Goals are useful for charting a course, but systems are the most effective in moving forward. When you spend too much time thinking about your goals and not enough time creating your systems, you'll run into a few issues. The antidote is a systems-first mentality. When you fall in love with the process rather than the product, you don’t have to wait to permit yourself to be happy. You can be satisfied anytime your system is running.

My 3 major takeaways from this  book are:

1. An atomic habit is a regular practice or routine that is small and easy to do and is also the source of incredible power; a component of the system of compound growth.
2. Bad habits repeat themselves again and again not because you don’t want to change, but because you have the wrong system for change.
3. Changes that seem small and unimportant at first will compound into remarkable results if you’re willing to stick with them for years.

Highly recommended to understand the science behind habit building and practically implement those baby steps to build or break a habit.

You might like to wander through a few artistic journals — they’re full of sparks and surprises.