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. Real changes comes from the compound effect of hundreds of small decisions – doing two push-ups a day, waking up five minutes earlier, or reading just one more page.
If we’re someone who has tried and failed to get new habits to stick, then Atomic Habits by James Clear is the book for you.
It’s contains a simple framework for how to actually implement habits and reach goals, with lots of insightful tips and tricks along the way.
Let’s take a closer look at that framework. Bear in mind this is just a summary – if something resonates I’d highly recommend diving into the whole book.
The core message of Atomic Habits by James Clear
Often when it comes to planning our new habits, goals, or resolutions, we focus on big changes. We want to run a marathon, become fluent in French, journal every day — and then we wonder why we fail each time.
The reality is that we don’t change overnight, and that making new habits (and breaking old habits) takes time. It’s a long game and it takes patience.
In Atomic Habits, James Clear talks of the ‘compounding effect’ and the idea that getting 1% better every day leads to large changes over time, even if we don’t notice that change day-to-day.
The first part starts to outline the process of building habits, which the rest of the book will then delve into. He defines a habit as ‘a behaviour which is done so many times it becomes automatic’.
The four steps to ensure that we keep repeating the behaviour to make the habit stick, are:
- Make it obvious
- Make it attractive
- Make it easy
- Make it satisfying
Step 1: Make it obvious
The first step in making a new habit, according to James Clear, is to observe your existing habit.
These existing habits also serve to prove the point that if we repeat something enough times, our brain picks up on it and predicts the outcome without any conscious thought i.e. the action becomes automatic.
For most of us it just doesn’t feel right to get into bed without brushing our teeth, for instance.
This section also covers the importance of environment in making habits stick. It’s partly about making that new cue stand out, such as placing bottle of vitamins on the kitchen counter each night so that we see them in the morning and are reminded to take them.
And what about breaking habits?
Essentially, it’s the reverse: make it invisible. It’s easier to avoid temptation than to resist it, so we could try putting your video game controller away, out of sight, in a cupboard.
Step 2: Make it attractive
The more attractive something seems to us, the more likely we want to repeat that behaviour regularly.
So, if we can make a new habit seem attractive, we’re more likely to keep doing it.
Part of making it attractive is realising that as humans we are social beings, and we tend to imitate the actions of those around us which are seen as positive. This could be people close to us, family and friends, the wider crowd or society we identify with, or people with status and prestige.
So, we could join a community or group where our desired behaviour is common, to give ourself further incentive to do that action. We thrive on approval, praise, and respect, and we want to fit in with our tribe — so exploit these things to help build the new habit. To develop a creative writing habit, join a local writing group. To become fitter, start with a gym class or running group.
Step 3: Make it easy
We humans are simple creatures, and we tend to follow the ‘law of least effort’, taking the option which is easiest or requires the least work.
So, to make a behaviour stick, we want to make it as easy as possible to complete. We can do this by reducing the friction with behaviours we want to adopt.
If we want to increase fitness levels, lay out workout clothes the night before we plan to go to the gym.
The reverse is true with behaviours we don’t want to keep: increase the friction and make them difficult. Hide the chocolate at the back of kitchen cupboard if we don’t want to eat it, for instance.
In this section James Clear also sets out the two minute rule: when we start a new habit it should take less than 2 minutes to complete.
Planning habits is easy, but ultimately we need to take action to build habits. So start breaking down goals and habits into small steps, starting with the two minute starting action. If you want to run a marathon, start running for 2 minutes each day. Then, repeat that single 2 minute action for long enough to become automatic. Once it feels automatic, like part of your day-to-day routine, add to it to build up the habit. That might be increasing the amount of time we do the behaviour for, or the frequency we do it.
We can also make it easier by automating our future behaviour to fit in with the type of person we want to be. If we want to travel more but don’t have the money, set up a direct debit every month after your pay comes in, transferring a small amount into a savings pot. If we want to build a yoga habit, pay for a month’s worth of weekly evening classes upfront and put them in your diary.
Step 4: Make it satisfying
The previous sections have been about ensuring that a behaviour happens in the first instance (make it obvious, attractive, easy).
Making it satisfying is about making sure that we repeat that behaviour again the next time and the time after that — making it a habit rather than a one-off.
If a behaviour feels satisfying, we’re more likely to repeat that action. Our brains have evolved to prioritise immediate reward over delayed reward. So, for instance, we are more likely to prioritise the quick reward of the pleasurable taste gained from eating a chocolate bar, rather than the long-term reward of feeling healthier if we stop eating chocolate bars so often.
The feeling of making progress is something that tends to motivate most of us. It’s simple to put this into place by starting to track our habit. There are apps to do this for most common habits, such as tracking how much water you’re drinking in a day. Or, you could go traditional and just start marking an ‘x’ on your calendar each time the action is completed.
The cardinal rule of building a habit successfully is never miss twice.
It’s okay to miss habit once, but if we do make it our first priority to ensure we don’t miss it a second time.
Extra tips from James Clear on how to build habits successfully
The role of genetics in habit building
Genes have an influence on our habits.
If we want to be truly successful at something, then we should pick a habit which fits with our natural abilities, and avoid those which don’t. If we do this, genes have the power to accelerate our process and give us an advantage. But, don’t rely on genes entirely.
“Genes do not eliminate the need for hard work. They clarify it. They tell us what to work on.”
Get out of your comfort zone to make habits stick
We should also push yourself to the edge of our comfort zone. Humans experience peak motivation on tasks that are right at the edge of our current abilities. As our habits become routine and automatic they also become less challenging, and therefore often less satisfying (as we know, something that’s key to keeping a habit going).
This means that we should be continually reflecting and reviewing our habits and routines, building on habits and adding new desired behaviours into the mix to keep growing and improving our selves.
Knowing our goals and priorities, and then prioritise them above all else, stick to routine and habit regardless of what life throws in the way.