Book Review: Atomic Habits, by James Clear
The best-selling self-help book really only has one idea, but it's not a bad one.
Avery, 2018, 306 pages
Tiny Changes, Remarkable Results
No matter your goals, Atomic Habits offers a proven framework for improving--every day. James Clear, one of the world's leading experts on habit formation, reveals practical strategies that will teach you exactly how to form good habits, break bad ones, and master the tiny behaviors that lead to remarkable results.
If you're having trouble changing your habits, the problem isn't you. The problem is your system. Bad habits repeat themselves again and again not because you don't want to change, but because you have the wrong system for change. You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems. Here, you'll get a proven system that can take you to new heights.
Clear is known for his ability to distill complex topics into simple behaviors that can be easily applied to daily life and work. Here, he draws on the most proven ideas from biology, psychology, and neuroscience to create an easy-to-understand guide for making good habits inevitable and bad habits impossible. Along the way, readers will be inspired and entertained with true stories from Olympic gold medalists, award-winning artists, business leaders, life-saving physicians, and star comedians who have used the science of small habits to master their craft and vault to the top of their field.
Learn how to:
- make time for new habits (even when life gets crazy);
- overcome a lack of motivation and willpower;
- design your environment to make success easier;
- get back on track when you fall off course;
...and much more.
Atomic Habits will reshape the way you think about progress and success, and give you the tools and strategies you need to transform your habits--whether you are a team looking to win a championship, an organization hoping to redefine an industry, or simply an individual who wishes to quit smoking, lose weight, reduce stress, or achieve any other goal.
This book has been phenomenally successful, hitting bestseller lists everywhere. James Clear started with an email list, which gained traction until famous and influential people, business executives, professional athletes, and millions of other people were following him. It's not clear to me what exactly made him a hit, but apparently his productivity and motivation tips resonated.
I am skeptical of the self-help industry and people who write books about One Weird Trick to improve your life. However, the specific problem he is addressing also resonated with me. How do you make your time productive and useful, instead of doomscrolling or playing stupid phone app games? I've been looking for self-improvement tips lately to make better use of the time I have left on the planet.
"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."
His One Weird Trick is try to improve 1% each day. Instead of saying "I'm going to write a book," say "I'm going to spend 15 minutes writing this evening." Instead of saying "I'm going to lose weight," say "I'm going to take a 30 minute walk every day." And so on. As you make this a habit, something that you do over and over, you can slowly increase the level of effort.
I found Atomic Habits to be more motivational than inspirational, but the basic premise is solid: start small, in bite-sized chunks. Develop habits that you repeat over and over, and set up your environment such that it encourages good habits and discourages bad habits. He advocates things like the "two-minute rule" (if you can do it in two minutes, do it, now, and make it a routine).
Breaking it down further, he sets forth "Four Laws":
And do the reverse for bad habits.
"You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems."
None of this is mind-blowing or original, right? Like most pop self-improvement books, it's basically a bunch of common sense wrapped in pseudo-scientific motivational chapters. Which does not mean it's not good advice. I appreciated the basic ideas, more because it motivated me to try to implement some of them than because he introduced me to ideas I'd never had before. Sometimes you just need someone to spell out the things you already know you need to do and lay them down in an orderly plan. You know you should work out, and anyone can just go to the gym and start lifting weights, but having someone explain where you are at and then provide a specific list of exercises to do, how much weight and how many reps and in what order, is more helpful than "Just lift, bro."
This is where I felt like Atomic Habits could have been more helpful. The "Four Laws" and the "Two-minute rule" and "Get 1% better each day" are all fine, but most people struggling to form good habits and break bad ones need actionable plans. Hell, some people need life coaches. There is only so much a book can do, of course, but I'd have liked more practical ideas and less motivational glurge about Olympic athletes and famous inventors. (Every chapter is padded with anecdotes about famous people, or people who have written to James Clear, talking about their amazing achievements following his self-improvement plan.)
"Habits are the compound interest of self-improvement."
Some of the anecdotes were indeed pseudo-scientific. For example, he says if you improve 1% each day, then after a year you will have improved over one hundred percent. (Actually, 1.01 ^ 100 = 2.73, so you should have improved by 273%.) Depending on what you're doing, that's probably not possible, but okay, you get the idea. His stories about how making tiny changes in bicycles and clothing and training methods turned the loser British bicycling team into international champions are inspirational but not entirely convincing. A lot of the stories seem a little too pat. But again, the idea that starting small can get you rolling towards bigger changes is plausible.
This book gave me a few tools to try out, but like many books in this genre, felt like a series of blog posts padded out to book length. Atomic Habits is now a franchise, and on James Clear's website he will sell you habit trackers, workbooks, journals, subscriptions, and everything else you need to join the Atomic Habits lifestyle. I don't think this is such a game-changing lifestyle, but the book is at least worth reading for the perennial procrastinator or the unproductive person stuck in a rut who needs a little help pushing himself out.
My complete list of book reviews.
Avery, 2018, 306 pages
Tiny Changes, Remarkable Results
No matter your goals, Atomic Habits offers a proven framework for improving--every day. James Clear, one of the world's leading experts on habit formation, reveals practical strategies that will teach you exactly how to form good habits, break bad ones, and master the tiny behaviors that lead to remarkable results.
If you're having trouble changing your habits, the problem isn't you. The problem is your system. Bad habits repeat themselves again and again not because you don't want to change, but because you have the wrong system for change. You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems. Here, you'll get a proven system that can take you to new heights.
Clear is known for his ability to distill complex topics into simple behaviors that can be easily applied to daily life and work. Here, he draws on the most proven ideas from biology, psychology, and neuroscience to create an easy-to-understand guide for making good habits inevitable and bad habits impossible. Along the way, readers will be inspired and entertained with true stories from Olympic gold medalists, award-winning artists, business leaders, life-saving physicians, and star comedians who have used the science of small habits to master their craft and vault to the top of their field.
Learn how to:
- make time for new habits (even when life gets crazy);
- overcome a lack of motivation and willpower;
- design your environment to make success easier;
- get back on track when you fall off course;
...and much more.
Atomic Habits will reshape the way you think about progress and success, and give you the tools and strategies you need to transform your habits--whether you are a team looking to win a championship, an organization hoping to redefine an industry, or simply an individual who wishes to quit smoking, lose weight, reduce stress, or achieve any other goal.
This book has been phenomenally successful, hitting bestseller lists everywhere. James Clear started with an email list, which gained traction until famous and influential people, business executives, professional athletes, and millions of other people were following him. It's not clear to me what exactly made him a hit, but apparently his productivity and motivation tips resonated.
I am skeptical of the self-help industry and people who write books about One Weird Trick to improve your life. However, the specific problem he is addressing also resonated with me. How do you make your time productive and useful, instead of doomscrolling or playing stupid phone app games? I've been looking for self-improvement tips lately to make better use of the time I have left on the planet.
"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."
His One Weird Trick is try to improve 1% each day. Instead of saying "I'm going to write a book," say "I'm going to spend 15 minutes writing this evening." Instead of saying "I'm going to lose weight," say "I'm going to take a 30 minute walk every day." And so on. As you make this a habit, something that you do over and over, you can slowly increase the level of effort.
I found Atomic Habits to be more motivational than inspirational, but the basic premise is solid: start small, in bite-sized chunks. Develop habits that you repeat over and over, and set up your environment such that it encourages good habits and discourages bad habits. He advocates things like the "two-minute rule" (if you can do it in two minutes, do it, now, and make it a routine).
Breaking it down further, he sets forth "Four Laws":
- Make it obvious.
- Make it attractive.
- Make it easy.
- Make it satisfying.
And do the reverse for bad habits.
"You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems."
None of this is mind-blowing or original, right? Like most pop self-improvement books, it's basically a bunch of common sense wrapped in pseudo-scientific motivational chapters. Which does not mean it's not good advice. I appreciated the basic ideas, more because it motivated me to try to implement some of them than because he introduced me to ideas I'd never had before. Sometimes you just need someone to spell out the things you already know you need to do and lay them down in an orderly plan. You know you should work out, and anyone can just go to the gym and start lifting weights, but having someone explain where you are at and then provide a specific list of exercises to do, how much weight and how many reps and in what order, is more helpful than "Just lift, bro."
This is where I felt like Atomic Habits could have been more helpful. The "Four Laws" and the "Two-minute rule" and "Get 1% better each day" are all fine, but most people struggling to form good habits and break bad ones need actionable plans. Hell, some people need life coaches. There is only so much a book can do, of course, but I'd have liked more practical ideas and less motivational glurge about Olympic athletes and famous inventors. (Every chapter is padded with anecdotes about famous people, or people who have written to James Clear, talking about their amazing achievements following his self-improvement plan.)
"Habits are the compound interest of self-improvement."
Some of the anecdotes were indeed pseudo-scientific. For example, he says if you improve 1% each day, then after a year you will have improved over one hundred percent. (Actually, 1.01 ^ 100 = 2.73, so you should have improved by 273%.) Depending on what you're doing, that's probably not possible, but okay, you get the idea. His stories about how making tiny changes in bicycles and clothing and training methods turned the loser British bicycling team into international champions are inspirational but not entirely convincing. A lot of the stories seem a little too pat. But again, the idea that starting small can get you rolling towards bigger changes is plausible.
This book gave me a few tools to try out, but like many books in this genre, felt like a series of blog posts padded out to book length. Atomic Habits is now a franchise, and on James Clear's website he will sell you habit trackers, workbooks, journals, subscriptions, and everything else you need to join the Atomic Habits lifestyle. I don't think this is such a game-changing lifestyle, but the book is at least worth reading for the perennial procrastinator or the unproductive person stuck in a rut who needs a little help pushing himself out.
My complete list of book reviews.