Important Points from Book "Atomic Habits" By James Clear
These are just the things that I think are important.
The only way to truly win is to get better every day. If you want better results, forget your goals. Instead, focus on your system.
What does James Clear mean? Are targets completely useless? Of course not. Advice is good for setting direction, but systems are best for gaining progress. A number of problems arise when you spend too much time thinking about goals and not enough time designing systems.
Problem 1: Winners and losers have the same goals
Problem 2: Reaching goals is just an occasional change
Problem 3: Goals limit your happiness
Problem 4: Goals don't match long-term progress
The system is called Atomic Habits
If you find it difficult to change habits, the problem lies not with you. The problem is with your system. Bad habits repeat over and over again not because you don't want to change, but because you have the wrong system to make changes.
Habits are like atoms in our life. Each habit is a fundamental unit that contributes to overall improvement. At first, these small routines seem meaningless, but over time they build on each other and become the fuel for bigger wins that multiply to a degree far greater than the cost of the initial investment.
Habits are compound interest in the process of self-improvement. Getting 1% better every day goes a long way toward big long-term progress
Habits are like a sword with two sides. Habits can be beneficial, they can be friends or enemies; that is why we must understand the intricacies of it
Small changes often seem to make no difference until you break the critical threshold. The most powerful results in the compound interest process do not occur immediately. You need to be careful.
If you want better results, don't sweat the target first. Instead, focus on your system.
Two step process to change identity
Your identity comes from your habits. You are not born with innate beliefs. Every belief, including about oneself, is learned and conditioned through experience.
More precisely, your habits depend on how you manifest your identity. When you make your bed every day, you embody the identity of an organized person. When you write every day, you embody the identity of a creative person. When you exercise daily, you embody the identity of an athletic person.
How to create good habits?
First law (Hint) → Making it visible
Second law (Passion) → Make it interesting
Third law (Response) → Making it easy
Fourth law (Reward) → Make it satisfying
How to break bad habits?
First law (Hint) → Make it invisible
Second law (Passion) → Making it unattractive
Third law (Response) → Making it hard
Fourth law (Reward) → Make it a disappointment
The two minute rule for building a habit
When it comes to mastering the art of starting things, the first two minutes are basically the ritual at the start of a larger routine. For some people, the Two Minute Rule can seem like a trick. You know the real goal is to do more than just two minutes, so it might feel like you're trying to kid yourself. The truth is no one wants to just read one page, do one push-up, or just open a notebook. And if you knew it was just a mental trick, could you repeat it?
If the Two Minute Rule feels like a push, try the following: do it for two minutes and then stop. Try to keep running, but you should stop after two minutes. Learn a foreign language, but you have to stop after two minutes. This rule isn't a strategy to begin with, it's for the whole. Your custom can only expire after 120 seconds.
Filling out a diary provides another example. Almost anyone can benefit from getting their thoughts down to paper, but most people either give up after a few days or avoid it altogether because keeping a diary feels like an obligation. The secret is to always get under the stage before an activity feels like an obligation or a burden.
The fourth rule of Behavior Change is to make it satisfying
We are more likely to repeat a behavior when the experience is satisfying
The human brain evolved to prioritize immediate rewards over delayed rewards
The Ultimate Rule of Behavior Change: What gets immediate rewards tends to be repeated. Those that result in direct punishment tend to be avoided
For the habit to stick, you need to experience success first-hand—even if it's a small one
The first three laws of behavior change-Making it real, making it interesting, and making it easy-increase the chances that the behavior will be carried out now. The fourth law of behavior change-making it satisfying-increases the chances of the behavior being repeated in the future
How to monitor habits
Habit tracker is a simple way to measure whether you are engaging in a habit. The most basic format is to provide a calendar and cross out the dates each time you maintain a routine. For example, if you meditate on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, each of those days gets a cross. In line with time, the calendar is like a record for your habitual journey.
How to recover quickly when your habit chain is broken
No matter how consistent you are with your habits, life will inevitably interrupt you at some point. You can't be perfect. After some time, an emergency situation may arise-you suddenly get sick or have to go on a long business trip or your family needs more of your time.
Each time this happens, try to remind yourself of a simple rule: never skip school twice.
The first mistake never breaks you. It's the spiral of error repetition that can lead to it. Skipping one time was just an accident. Absent twice equals the beginning of a new habit.
This is where the difference between winners and losers lies. Anyone can make a one-off mistake, an accident in sports, or bad luck at work. However, when successful people fail, they recover quickly. Breaking the habit is not a problem if the habit is immediately carried on again.
One of the most satisfying feelings is the feeling that we are far away
Habit tracker is a simple way to measure whether you are doing a habit-For example crossing a calendar
Habit trackers and other forms of visual measurement can make your habits satisfying by providing clear evidence of your progress
Don't break the chain. Try to keep the habit chain going
Never skip classes or skip classes twice. If you are absent one day, try to get back on track as quickly as possible
Just because you can measure something doesn't mean size is all that matters
You don't have to build on habits that other people suggest. Choose the habit that best suits you, not the most popular habit. There is a version for every habit that can bring you joy and fulfillment. Seek. Habits must be enjoyed in order to last.
How to find arenas where you have a chance to win
Finding an arena in which you have a chance to win is essential to maintaining motivation and making you feel successful. In theory, you can enjoy almost anything. In practice, you are more likely to enjoy things that make things easier for you.
What feels good to me, but successful to others? The sign of whether you are fit for a task is not whether you like it but whether you are able to handle the sacrifices for the task more easily than most other people. When do you enjoy the job while most other people complain? Jobs that are not too burdensome for you but burdensome for others are suitable jobs for you.
What makes me lose track of time? Flow is the mental state you enter when you are so focused on the task at hand that you forget about other matters.
Where do I benefit more than most people? We constantly compare ourselves to those around us, and the behavior that is more likely to be satisfying when compared is appropriate for us.
What comes naturally to me? For a moment, ignore what you have been taught. Ignore what people around say to you. “What feels natural to me? when do i feel alive? When did I feel like the real me?” Do not judge yourself or to please others. No second guessing or self-criticism. Just a feeling of interest and pleasure. Whenever you feel authentic and genuine, you are in the right direction.
The secret to maximizing your chances of success is choosing the right competition arena.
Pick up the right habits, and progress becomes easy. Take the wrong habits and life becomes difficult
Genes cannot be changed easily, which means they provide a huge advantage in a favorable environment and a serious drawback in an unfavorable one
Habits become easier when they are aligned with natural abilities. Choose the habit that best suits you
Play in the arena that maximizes your strengths. If arenas don't exist, create them
Genes do not negate the need to work hard. Genes make that clear. Genes show us what we should do to the fullest