Review of Atomic Habit

Atomic Habits written by James Clear is well-known for its actionable and useful tips and guidance on building good habits and eliminating bad habits. The author introduces a habit system, which includes cue, craving, response and reward. In the book, he introduces on the 4 laws to create a good habit and inversion of the 4 laws to remove a bad habit.

After reading the book, I found it very comprehensive and informative. The author provided good explaination with real examples and reliable sources of information that allowed me to get his idea easily. I liked the way he organized the whole habit system in simple steps. Arguments were not only convincing but also coherent since he used simple every activities that most people could relate as supposting ideas. I also liked his writing style a lot. The use of his wordchoice and organizational skill allowed me to read non stop without feeling bored or complicated.

What I liked most about this book was the habit system. It was both actionable and simple to implement. After finished reading, I knew how to build and maintain positive habits as well as how to remove a bad one. It inspired me to start to implement the habit system immediately. It also encouraged me with a mindset that I could eventually achieve my big dream as long as I do 1% improvement everyday. I could change my habits so that I could change my identity and then achieve my big dream.

In fact, there was almost nothing I did not like about the book. However, if i had to pick one thing, it would be the length of the book. The author could cut down on some unnecessary examples so that the book could be shorter.

Overall, I really recommend the book to anyone who is looking for changing their life and developing themselves. The book was a good fit to almost everyone ranging from highschool students to someone is in a senior position. If you feel like losing yourself and hope, this book is a must try for you.

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Summary of Atomic Habit

The 4 laws to create a positive habit and break a negative habit

1.1 The 1st Law= Cue= Make it Obvious

The goal of the habit system is to make our habits cue so automatic that our actions come naturally without us paying attention on what we are doing. However, in order for us to build a good habit system and get rid of bad ones, we need to be awared of our actions and behaviors so that we can change them. Using habit scoreboard can help us more aware of our behaviors and actions, and it makes us pay attention to what we are doing.

Another strategies to build better habits is that we can immediately pointing and calling our bad habits and the negative outcomes  that we do not want. It certainly raises our awaresness by verbalizing our actions. With enough practice of our desirable actions, our brain will pick up cue that can predict outcome without intentionally and consciously thinking about it, which what we refer as ” habits”.

The thrid way to achieve desirable habit is through habit stacking formula, which is

” After [ current habit], I will [ new habit]”.

It is to pair our new habits with our current habits. One way to make habit stacking happen is to brainstorm a list of our current habits. The author emphasizes that habit stacking should be clear and specific. Asking questions like “What are you going to do?” “when are you going to do it?” “where are you going to do it” would help us stay clear.

The last tip is to design our surrounding enviornment in a way to increase invisibility and predictibility of  the cues of desirable habits. Conversely, removing materials/ exposure to bad habit from our enviorment helps get rid of bad habits.

1.2. The 2nd Law= Craving= Make it Attractive

The second law of habit system is that we can make good habits attractive and bad habits unattractive in three ways. One is by using temptation bundling, which is when an wanted action is paired with a needed action. Another way is to join a community or a culture where the positive habit/ behavior is common and normal among the group. The last way is to do an easier/ enjoyable habit before a difficult habit. To removing bad habits as suggested in the habit system, we need to keep reminding the benefits of avoiding bad habits or highlighting the cost of repeating bad habits.

1.3. The 3rd Law= Response = Make it Easy

The third law of habit system is to make positive habits and behaviors easy. There are five ways to do so. The first suggestion is to reduce friction. It is helpful to create a shortcut to positive habits and get rid of friction between us and good habits. On the other hand, increasing frictions/ obstacles between us and the undesirable actions help us get rid of bad habits.

The second strategy is to maintain surrounding enviornment for us to take future actions easier. It is when we organize our space and stuffs to promote repeated positive future-actions easily.

The third way is to be good at decisive moment. Each day consists of many moments. In every moment, we have the power to make choice. Deciding to go to the bedroom and working room will result in two different outcomes. By staying in a bedroom, we are prone to lie on our bed and scroll the phone. Conversly, going to the working room will not have an option for us to lie on our bed, but we need to work as the enviornment is organized for working.

The fourth way is to use two minute rule. That is to minimize the scale of the work to just 2 minutes. It is a starting point of pushing us to show up and consistently do the easy things until the habits are built. Focusing on the small easy tasks that can get done in 2 minutes repeatedly before moving on to the next levels until the completed the end goals helps slowly build the habits we want.

The last technique is to invest in one-time action that automate our behavior in the future. However,  commitment device are used to limit all choices leading to negative habits. Therefore, using commitment device can shape our behavior in a positive way.

1.4. The Fourth Law: Reward: Make it Satisfying

Four techiques are provided to enforce the fourth law, which is to make good habits/ positive behaviors more satisfying while the bad one more disatisfying. The first technique is to give ourselves a reward everytime we have completed a positive habit. The second option is to make not repeating the negative habit more enjoyable and beneficial  so that we increase our instant gratification.  The third strategy is to use a habit tracker. The last one is to get back on track when we miss doing any habit as soon as possible. It is important to make sure that we do not miss it twice in row.

To break a bad habit, it is a good idea to have an accountability partner, who can remind and raise our awareness of  repeating a bad habit. Another way to avoid bad habit is to increase the cost of it and make it more painful and public.