Master your habits, transform your life
I originally wrote this for a publication on Medium but decided to share on my personal blog too.
We all have good intentions when it comes to setting new goals but how many of us really follow through?
The best-selling book Atomic Habits written by James Clear breaks down why most of us fail at the first step and how we can create lasting change in our daily lives by simplifying our habits.
Before I get stuck into sharing my favourite learnings from this book, I need to tell you how effortless it is to read. I love reading, mostly non-fiction - self-improvement, productivity or autobiographies and let me tell you, not all books have been this easy to glide through. James Clear has done an exceptional job in providing deep insights but without losing you, or the point he is making.
I can assure you that if you decide to read this book (which I highly recommend), you too will find yourself flying through it with ease, highlighting all the wonderful insights accompanied by moments of ‘ah, that makes so much sense’ followed by ‘I need to try this.’
Of course, there are many learnings to be taken away from this book but here are 8 key ones that resonated with me.
1. “It is so easy to overestimate the importance of one defining moment and underestimate the value of making small improvements on a daily basis.”
Without a doubt, this is something I believe many of us can learn from. There’s nothing wrong with setting our eyes on achieving huge goals but to get there, it’s the small steps that really matter. They help us to actually get started and stay on track to make progress. If we strive to improve by 1% every day, the overall impact in the long term is exponential.
Glancing at this chart every now and then alone should be instant motivation to keep you going!
2. “The punch line is clear: people who make a specific plan for when and where they will perform a new habit are more likely to follow through.”
Building a concrete plan of action has helped me at work and outside of work. In 2016, I made a decision to start my day with an early morning workout, 5.30am to be precise. Every day the intention was there but when my alarm clock sounded, I did what most people would do at this early hour — hit snooze and abandon the workout! The days I did make it, I felt like I was slowly guessing my way through my workout and of course this didn’t lead to much productivity. It felt like a waste giving up my precious sleep for half-hearted exercising.
Being motivated to get these early morning workouts in, I created two simple 30-min work out plans inspired from different exercise videos I’d saved on various online platforms. I chose simple but effective exercises with enough variation to prevent me from getting bored.
It worked! Not having to make exercise decisions first thing in the morning and knowing exactly what I needed to do, made it a whole lot easier to just get up and go! Removing the guess-work by having a specific plan can really make all the difference.
3. “One of the best ways to build a new habit is to identify a current habit you already do each day and then stack your new behaviour on top.”
Habit stacking is where you pair your new habit with a current habit rather than just associating it with a time and place.
I think that most of us probably do this already. I realised that I did this with my daily vitamins by placing the bottles next to my skincare products so I remember to take them each morning once I’ve completed my skincare routine. Quick, simple and one less thing I need to remember before starting my day!
4. “Habits are easier to build when they fit into the flow of your life.”
It’s all well and good if you want to take up a new hobby or reach an exciting new goal but it’s important to be realistic. It can be difficult to start something fresh but when it fits naturally into your lifestyle, then at least you’re giving yourself a more realistic chance of sticking with it.
We’ve all been there when we have to travel out of our way to go somewhere, it’s not as motivating or attractive compared to the time the decision was first made. Chances are, even if you make the first few gym classes for example, you might not stick with them in the long run. Set yourself up to succeed by making things flow more effortlessly in your lifestyle.
5. “Instead of trying to engineer a perfect habit from the start, do the easy thing on a more consistent basis.“
This one was genius. It’s a lot easier to convince yourself to read for five minutes a day or jog for ten minutes before you aim for more. Once you can settle in to the habit, you can improve it over time.
For example, cutting out coffee from your diet when you’re used to having at least three cups a day will be challenging and if you really want to give up coffee for the long-term, it might be easier to limit yourself to two cups a day first and then gradually get this down to one and then zero.
“You have to standardise before you can optimise. You can’t improve a habit that doesn’t exist.”
6.“Most of us have a distorted view of our own behaviour. We think we act better than we do.”
Sometimes we’re so proud of starting a new habit that we forget to track our progress and make improvements — also known as habit tracking. There’s a reason why athletes time their runs and keep a record. Boxers and footballers go back and observe their games to analyse their performance and skills so they know what to improve on next time.
“Measurement offers one way to overcome our blindness to our own behaviour and notice what’s really going on each day.”
When we assess our habits, we can see where we’ve failed and get back on track. This can be as simple as ticking off a weekly checklist of your habits and measuring them where applicable. I use Notion to organise my personal work and they have a pre-designed habit tracker template with check-boxes for each day of the week.
(On a separate note, Notion is an excellent organisational and productivity too and it’s free for personal use. Check it out!)
7. “The only way to become excellent is to be endlessly fascinated by doing the same thing over and over. You have to fall in love with boredom.”
You have to put the effort in and keep persisting to get better. More time invested equals more opportunities to improve (and fewer excuses!)
Running, lifting weights, boxing or playing piano — all the professionals stick to their timetable, repeating the same move over and over again, even if there are other exciting things going on in their lives. It can be so easy to miss one session but then it becomes easier each time and soon you will give up the new habit completely. If you accept from the beginning that you will be repeating the same thing multiple times to achieve perfection, you won’t feel attacked by the thought every session you go to — it will stop you from end up despising it!
8. “When are you enjoying yourself while other people are complaining? The work that hurts you less than it hurts others, is the work you were made to do.”
I would say this is one of the most important lessons regarding your day-to-day work from this book. Identifying what you’re good at and what comes easily to you than others is how you can find your purpose. This is how I knew I was ready to change direction in my career.
During my marketing secondment, I was sharing all the fun projects I was working on with some colleagues and even though they were kind enough to have some interest, I could tell that they were pleased it was me doing the marketing work and not them. Marketing allowed me to align my passion for both creativity and data analysis together in the corporate world.
Working hard on something that comes easy and is a part of your personality will allow long-term habits to stick.
Conclusion
One small change on its own might not have a huge impact in you achieving your goals but small incremental changes over a certain period of time can transform your life. The more persistent you are with your positive habits, the easier they will become. If you start to lose motivation, think back to why you started. Or you can save this final quote from James Clear which I’m sure will put things into perspective and help you get back on track:
“The costs of your good habits are in the present. The costs of your bad habits are in the future.”
If you made it this far, thank you for taking the time to read my take aways from Atomic Habits. If you enjoyed reading this blog, or if you have any feedback or questions regarding any other of my articles or experiences, I would love to hear from you. You can get in touch with me by commenting on my articles or on my socials provided below.
Looking forward to connecting with you!
Jenika