Skip to main content

Key insights from "Atomic Habits" by James clear

[PLACEHOLDER]
Image

I recently finished reading "Atomic Habits" by James Clear. The book was incredibly insightful. If you are looking to improve your habits, and achieve results while you are at it, then this book is for you. It may help you form new habits, and break bad one.

Without further due, here are my top three takeaways.

Atomic-habits-book-next-to-blank-page-and-pencil
Photo by Nataliya Vaitkevich via Pexel, adapted by Beolle


Takeaway 1:  The habit-forming loop: James outlines that the habit-forming loop consists of four stages

  1. Cue. The cue triggers the brain to expect a reward and is crucial for building automatic habits. It is typically associated with time, place, or feeling. For example, feeling bored could be a cue to the habit of using social media.
  2. Craving. This is the urge resulting from the cue. Using the above example, opening the social media app is the craving initiated by the cue of boredom.
  3. Response. An example of a response is the action of opening the social media app and using it.
  4. Reward. An example of reward is the feeling of novelty and stimulation that social media provides.

James framework is similar to the Hook's model used to develop habit forming apps. You can learn more about Hook's model in our earlier article on designing habit forming mobile. 

Takeaway 2: The 4 Laws to build good habits

  1. The 1st Law. Make the cue obvious. James suggests associating a habit with a specific time of the day or location. For instance, if you want to build the habit of meditating, find a fixed time and location for it. Habit stacking is another framework to leverage the associations of an existing habit. 
  2. The 2nd Law. Make the craving attractive. James recommends temptation bundling, such as listening to podcasts while exercising, to make the activity more appealing.
  3. The 3rd Law. Make the response easy. James introduces the 2-minute rule, suggesting breaking down the response into smaller tasks that can be performed in 2 minutes. For example, meditate for just 2 minutes and gradually increase the time.
  4. The 4th Law. Make the reward satisfying. James proposes tracking habits as the best way to make habits satisfying. For instance, tracking the number of consecutive days of meditation to measure success.

Takeaway 3: Breaking bad habits: James advises inverting the 4 laws of habit forming to break bad habits

  1. Make the cue invisible. For example, uninstall social media apps from your phone to avoid seeing notifications and checking your social media feeds.
  2. Make the craving unattractive. Understanding the benefits of breaking a bad habit can make the craving unattractive.
  3. Make the response difficult. Create barriers to the bad habit, such as cutting off internet access after dinner to limit usage.
  4. Make the reward unsatisfying. Penalize yourself for not following through with the habit, such as joining a gym that charges for missed workout sessions.

On a final thoughts

The book highlights the importance of making small changes that amalgamate over time, and if so, you will experience those improvements that will change you for the better as you continue moving forward in life. 

I hope this summary is easy to follow and captures the key points from "Atomic Habits" for you!


Trending posts

Democratizing AI

Democratizing AI is all about empowering others to use it, by making it available to them. Audiences, such as marketers in a company, will be able to access AI capabilities as part of their MarTech solutions, without the need of being technical. It could also be schools, where the younger generations are learning how to use it in responsible, secure, innovative, and creative ways. This is the year where companies, after discovery phases and teams experimenting, are looking to activate and take advantage of the AI advances. Generated with Microsoft Designer   And so, questions emerge, such as “What to democratize when leveraging AI?” There are common scenarios, as well as specific ones, that will depend on the company, and the industry they belong to. A common scenario, seen in many industries, when democratizing data is the data visualization and reporting . In digital marketing, as an example, data scientists and data analysts can automate reporting, making them available to the c...
Read more

The value of listening

 Have you ever been in a conversation that you feel at best is just a waste of time; at worst, that the other person does not care? Have you been the messenger in some of them, the recipient in another? We’ve all been there; at times with family, with friends, at work. When at work, has this ever happened to you in a group meeting, at a one-on-one; when giving or receiving feedback?   Photo by Christina Morillo via Pexels   I knew the type of manager I wanted to be from the start of my mentorship. As I continued to navigate the waters, it became increasingly clear that the path I had chosen was appropriate, and therefore, the type of future colleagues I wanted to be surrounded by, and the type of mentors I wanted to continue seeking guidance from.  For me, the path has always been of being a leader over a manager. I believe I can attribute that, first and foremost, to my family’s values and  principles, and the way my parents raised us. Secondly, my path in the ...
Read more

SLA-SLO-SLI and DevOps metrics

Companies are in need of the metrics that will allow them to stay in business by making sure they meet the expectations of their customers. The name of the game is higher customer satisfaction by winning their trust and loyalty. To do so, you want to provide good products and services. Therefore you need to find ways to monitor performance, drive continuous improvements and deliver the quality expected by the consumer in this highly competitive market. Photos from AlphaTradeZone via Pexel and Spacejoy via Unsplash SLAs, SLOs and SLIs are a good way to achieve the above. They allow clients and vendors to be on the same page when it comes to expected system performance. If we go one level deeper, vendors/providers work on NFRs (Non-Functional Requirements) when working on their solutions. NFRs define the quality attributes of a system. I bring them up because the relationship between them and the SLAs is that they provide, in a way, foundational aspects for the SLA-SLO-SL...
Read more

Take a break on zero emission day 2024

 Do you know how much you contribute to the daily emissions in your city? How much does the city you live in contribute within your country? How much does your country contribute to the emissions on our planet? Do you know its impact? Do you know why we have a zero emission day? Photo by Pixabay via Pexels Let us start by getting our acronyms right, shall we? You may have heard the term GHG emissions, wondering what that means. GHG stands for Green House Gas. These gases are part of the cause of the rising temperature on Earth. What is interesting about them  is that they absorb infrared radiation resulting in the greenhouse effect. Within the greenhouse gases you find carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, ozone, water vapour. The vast majority of carbon dioxide emissions by humans come from the burning of fossil fuels. Key sectors to consider for GHG Fuel Exploitation Power Industry Transport Waste Agriculture Buildings Industry combustion and processes Top GHG emissions...
Read more

This blog uses cookies to improve your browsing experience. Simple analytics might be in place for pageviews purposes. They are harmless and never personally identify you.

Agreed