Atomic Habits: Chapter 1 – The Surprising Power of Atomic Habits
James Clear’s book Atomic Habits has received an abundant amount of praise over the last couple of years, and the book is well worth the hype. The first chapter of the book outlines his philosophy on the power and development of habits. Clear writes a compelling argument of the power of what he coins as atomic habits. According to Clear, atomic habits are:
“They are little habits that are part of a more extensive system. Just like atoms are the building blocks of molecules, atomic habits are the building blocks of remarkable results.”
Atomic Habits | Page 27
The consistent practice of daily habits and minor improvements eventually builds up and leads to a snowball effect and produces more sustainable results than just focusing on a temporary goal. One of the most poignant passages in the book reads:
“Making a choice that is 1 percent better or 1 percent worse seems insignificant in the moment, but over the span of moments that make up a lifetime these choices determine the difference between who you are and who you could be. Success is the product of daily habits – not once-in-a-lifetime transformation.”
Atomic Habits | Page 18
Thus, there is an implied message that achieving greatness and success is achievable; it’s less of a matter of grand gestures and goals but instead boils down to daily, almost minute adjustments in daily life. It’s often hard not to feel overwhelmed with more significant changes we want to execute in life. However, Clear outlines a viable and straightforward approach, albeit not an easy one. Clear also cautions the reader that as easy it is to build better habits 1% at a time, it’s also easy to overindulge and slip into toxic results and problems.
Years ago, I watched the following video on youtube. I dismissed it as a rather dramatic and oversimplified video. However, now this video perfectly illustrates the concept of how daily habits compound to either produce an ideal or less than ideal life.
Atomic Habits’ opening chapter also sets to change the conventional approach to building habits by dismissing the role of goals and instead argues for focusing on systems. Clear outlines the problems with the conventional system of setting goals:
Problem #1: Winners and losers have the same goals
“If successful and unsuccessful people share the same goals, then the goal cannot be what differentiates the winners from the losers.
Atomic Habits | Page 25
Problem #2: Achieving a goal is only a momentary change
“Achieving a goal only changes your life for the moment…In order to improve for good, you need to solve problems at the system level. Fix the inputs and the outputs will fix themselves.”
Atomic Habits | Page 25
Problem #3 Goals Restrict your happiness.
“The problem with goals-first mentality is that you’re continually putting happiness off until the next milestone.”“For years happiness was always something for my future self to enjoy.”
Atomic Habits | Page 26
Problem #4: Goals are at odds with long-term progress
True long-term thinking is goal-less thinking.”Atomic Habits | Page 27
Theme:
“You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems.”
Atomic Habits | Page 28
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