Atomic Habits - James Clear

Everyone has goals / aspirations / dreams!

Why some achieve success and while others seem to falter and fall in the wayside?


All successes that I have enjoyed in life boils down to two key foundational drivers. They are - (a) Why I want What I want, and (b) Identity driven / aligned habitual Action done with Integrity. Of course, being super clear (SMART) about What I want.

  • I desire to be financially free (Dream). Financial freedom to me means - funding my lifestyle entirely with passive/semi-active income (Note: I have removed the "SMART" from this just to avoid people from focusing on numbers, and focus on the learning, but be assured, this is tracked as Super-Systemized-SMART goal).

  • To spend my time exploring, learning, growing, experimenting, crafting, investing, and working with likeminded people is possible with having my lifestyle fully funded. I am bound by restrictions I set and whole-heartedly embody. (Why).

  • I am a saver (Identity).

  • Each $1 income I earn, 20% must automatically go into saving (Habit-Action done with Integrity). Based on what I want, why I want it, leveraging my natural genetic / psychology of saving - my happy habit! Integrity to me is doing what I say irrespective to who is / isn't watching, and emotional attachment. Life happens, and when it does, I forgive the "incident" and double down on the habit until I have caught up again.

The Compound Effect teaches focus on "becoming" rather than just "achieving" a goal. It is the habits and behaviors that are repeated consciously (better still unconsciously) that eases the path to target, without over burdening will power and discipline. A goal without habit / behavior change is nothing with a fancy wish list item. To get something different we need ways to take seemingly small tiny insignificant actions, that compound over time.

"If I don't change, I will keep getting what I have got before".

How does one go about installing these small tiny insignificant actions? Are there ways we can trick the mind to do B, instead of A? Where do we get the drive and motivation to begin? Is inspiration from external sources even needed? Atomic Habits shows us the way to - (a) understand our habits, and (b) how to leverage the habit loop to get to our desires effectively and efficiently. This article shows some of my learnings, Aha's and examples from my own life where it has impacted and what I am currently planning as next step. Please follow James Clear for the book, course and learnings. I am filled with gratitude towards James Clear for making an impact on my life and enabling me to show up even more powerfully for each one who reads this article.

"We do not rise to the level of our goals. We fall to the level of our systems" - James Clear

Habit Feedback Loop

The Problem:
All Habits are initiated by triggers (Cue). Cues are time-based, location-based, people-based, some other trigger-based, or just because emotional state. Sometimes a combination of these together can form a trigger.

These cues set off a deep desire (Craving). Superficially, we justify it with any number of reasons and excuses, however it is a deep craving of belonging, being-loved, appreciation, acknowledgement, and celebrated within the tribe.

The Solution:
Once triggered our craving, we set out on the quest (Response) to obtain that reward, more likely it is setting out acquire that feeling.

With the quest complete, we receive the gifts and boons (Reward).

Something very interesting happens with above process, the brains go to work!

Brain goes "Wow! I have got to file that future" and "when this is triggered, I crave that, and if I respond like this, I get that". Over several repetitions of this Cue-Crave-Response-Reward, the brain hands it off to the unconscious saying "You got this! We love it". And, Lo Behold! a habit is born.

Working in my favor or towards my goal: "When I get my income from passive stream, it feels awesome and I desire more, I set out to research and invest a little more, my reward is increased more passive income". Over time repeat this enough number of times, saving for investments becomes the norm. Do it for long enough and investment income compounds!

Working not so much in my favor: "It is end of a rough week, I am tired and need to feel better, I get myself a good bottle of wine, I feel great". Over time repeat this enough number of times, and even a slightest challenging week, leads to opening a bottle of wine. Do it for long enough and pounds on the body compounds!

Habits can hurt or help in achieving our goals. I don't know about you, but I want to root out those that hurt and only have those that help. I know of two ways to do this - (a) Ease In - make a small change at a time, or (b) Plunge in - dive in stop the hurting habits completely cold, and start the new habits. Each has its virtue, place and situation where it will work. How about going about it more scientifically - this book delivers just that!

Score Card

Awareness! Getting to know our own habits - what we do, when we do them, how we do them and why we do them. Just get to know them objectively sans any judgement. Say "hello" and List them out as you become aware of them. Now sprinkle a splash of radically honest evaluation of whether that habit is helping / positive (+) or hurting / negative (-) in the short / long run of our lives. Remembering that one person's positive may be a negative for another.

Some from my list:

  • Wake up and make bed straightaway (+)

  • Make coffee and as it is brewing do dumbbell workout (+)

  • In the study room, start up computer, focus on productive work on most valuable priorities (+)

  • Meet neighbors for tea (+)

  • Work with no break - dealing with demanding situations, stressed out & unhappy, eat salty snacks and drink wine (-)

  • Success and celebrations, eat salty crunchy snacks, prepared foods, and drink wine (-)

  • Change clothes and toss them on the bed (-)

  • Grocery shop with no list, random "deserving" snacks, prepared foods in cart (-)

  • and on... and on... and on...

"When I first heard about this, I claimed I had No Negative Habits!.....

.....All my habits were great and positive! (how deluded was I!!)" - Kirti C.

Yes, they all feel absolutely perfect in the moment they are indulged in (Justifying) or done completely unconsciously ("I don't do that" syndrome). However, take stock and I went through the week to list them out, it was startling to see how many automatic things I do. Some were just amazing, awesome, spectacular.... like make the bed as soon as I am out of it - small thing, but sets the tone for success right from the first step of the day, put car key back in the same place - so I can find it later exactly at that place, without having to scramble around. Some downright conflicting, destructive, abrasive and eroding..... like going on social media, and feeling outright miserable, because I don't have what the Jones's have (conflicting and destructive, because my goal is to create a bar of excellence for my life and not compare to Jones's - who knows the truth? - perhaps I am their Jones!). Just this step of taking stock and making an objective list, allowed for an revelation followed with understanding with empathy, forgiveness. Above all, showed me unbiased view of my actions all through the week! Seeing it in black & white meant, I have a choice - keep it as it is or do something about this!

Great! Now we talking.... lets get to welcoming the positive, reinforcing, exponentially exploding Habits and at the same time root out anything that stands against it. James Clear! Thank you for this framework.

Welcome the Positive

Install a new supportive, reinforcing, our naturally inclined and genetic predisposition habit, start small, do it consistently, and then magnify and improve.

Obvious / Extreme Visibility / "I see you"

    • Declare to the world I will do this, at this Time, in this Location.

    • After I do this (already awesome habit), I will immediately do that (new habit).

    • Clear the clutter and crap that surrounds the things that assist.

Attractive / Lucrative / "Shiny "

  • Dangle the carrot and build in the motivation! I want to do this, I need to do that. Bundle the two together into a contract. Do the "need" before doing the "want".

  • We are the average of the closest five people that we most commonly associate! Find a commonality that puts ourselves into the group with the commonality and desired habits. Desired habits become natural and lucrative to "fit" in.

Super Easy-peasy / "In the time talking about it, I am done with it"

  • Find out how many smaller steps it takes to do the desired habit, and make it more efficient, fast, and effortless.

  • Always have environment in readiness for next success action

  • Make it teeny-tiny and so miniscule that it takes longer to justify doing / not doing, than actually doing.

  • It takes less than a few fraction of seconds to decide - toss out perfection, and ideal, just do the best that is possible.

  • Leverage technology / systems that automate it.

Satisfaction / Accomplishment / "I did it!"

  • Feed the craving-crackhead brain with immediate (and very aligned) reward. Keep the momentum towards long term goals.

  • Doing nothing is better than engaging in negative.

  • Select a good measure that is uplifting, encouraging, and track progress at the point of completion of habit. Review and revisit progress, as fuel for future success.

Handle the Negative

While our journey begins with awareness of those unsupportive habits, banishing the strong biases towards is harder than what we imagine. The main reason being - our brains are tend deeply desire immediate rewards, and flee from pain / difficulty or hardships (eons of human nature at work!) The best plans are ruined by the shinny new distraction. All is not lost, small changes now make a huge and compounded effect down the road.

Make it Invisible / non-existent / banish the exposure

  • Remove all cues that lead to negative. Track and review so that it is objective assessment.

  • Hide it, give it to a neighbor to hold, or better still toss it. Out of sight out of mind

Unattractive / frightening / disheartening

  • Dangle the stick and build in the penalty. if I don't do this, then I will do that.

  • Hard look at the people I associate with most often

Increase Difficulty

  • Setup the environment to make is really difficult, or require many hoops to jump to do the negative.

Unsatisfying / Be Accountable to someone else

  • Setup a contract / commitment and have (unbiased, objective, trustworthy) people around you hold you to the same.

  • Make the costs of engaging in the negative public and painful and that which have consequences on other established positive habits.

Interesting....eh!?

Odds in my favor! Leverage the natural inclinations and talents towards the new habits. Stack the odds in favor of the habit being installed and improved over time.

Be Bored and Show up anyways! Divorce the thing you must do, with the emotions towards it. Make it just the thing that you do, and become the person who does that thing. Leverage "boring" things as "fun" things. Professionals show up and do the thing! Amateurs let emotions run their lives.

Optimal zone of Difficulty and Time! Make it too easy, and it become really boring really fast. Make it too difficult and it becomes disheartening. Make it too short a time, and it is easy to not do. Make it too long a time, and it become a burden. The result of this is it never ever gets started, or if it does not persist over time. Make it just at the edge of comfort zone - say 96% is easy and just the right amount of time, and 4% pushes it out of feasibility. Now it is perfectly poised for do it easily and push the envelop with just the correct amount of challenge.

Climb the ladder - one step at a time! To achieve something the habit towards that needs to be installed and made automatic. However, to become a master it needs to build upon previous automatic habit by adding layers one over the other. Start wherever at whatever baseline, and create those steps that need to conquer that Everest size goal.

Objective and Periodic Review! Progress tracked and measured is a motivation pipeline that is fueled by one's own habits. Save $1 per day is good, however, save a $1 per day and have a visual tracker that shows gauge moving by a dollar addition towards the goal of some $x in the account - encourages the persistence and consistency in act. Periodic review - on what went well? what didn't - and what lessons can be learned? - keeps the focus on whether the goal is still viable or has morphed.

Where has it worked before? What's next?

Atomic Habits have influenced me all my life, even if I didn't name them as clearly as the book does! As I look back at my life successes, I can attribute most of them to the persistent positive strategies (Obvious, Attractive, Simplified, and high Satisfaction)

I started this article with the dream of being financially free (my definition: Lifestyle fully funded by passive/chosen semi-active income). Leveraging my natural inclination of being a saver the automatic habit to save 20% of all incoming money)

  • (Obvious, Super Easy) Each received income at the bank it is automatically moved to account fondly named as FFA - Financial Freedom Account. Money not in checking is monies not available to spend. In the beginning I used to keep this in a separate bank (Invisible), so it was away from my lifestyle expense chart. I also set this other bank such that there was no debit cards, no checkbooks, and reserve transfer back to my expense accounts was manual and had to physically go to the bank, get a cashier check, go to my other bank and deposit (Increase Difficulty to reverse)

  • Somewhere along the way an idea took root! (possibly of the books I read) - "Want something - either work for it, or make money work for it". I gravitated towards - "Lets make money work for it". Learn and must do investments before spending on the thing I really want (Attractive). As I saw success in this in small ways, I began to increase the expense coverage these investments did.

  • Above two strategies allowed for delaying gratification, yet at the same time had this weird impactful immediate gratification that I was delaying gratification (if that made sense!) I was moved to investment more than spend for something superfluous and shiny (Satisfaction). There was also a secondary driver that kept my focus - the penalty - having to tell my parents I failed at my goal (Unacceptable)!

Am I there yet!? No. But the belief is strong, path is cast and the habit will compound over time to achieve its targets.

This book has strengthened the framework of understanding why some of my dreams (goals) were wildly successful, and some became the disheartening mess.

What Now? I wrote this article geared towards myself. To reinforce the learning and adaption with proof of past success, and to pave the way for future.

  • Tackling one "messed up" goal - Health (awareness).

  • Listed all habits that have (+) and (-) impact (score card).

  • Handle the negative with good strategies! Start small and anywhere, bottom line get started.

  • Make space, time, location for the positive! Leverage my natural inclination to track progress.

  • Get accountability partners and supporters that help me get where I want to be!

Some of you have reached out to me and asked - boil it down top 1-3 defining strategies that I have utilized over and over again. These are:

(a) my accountability success partners - these have been my family, friends, bosses, and mentors. Each and every day, I thank these unbiased, objective, "call on my bullshit", no-nonsense, and yet forgiving, understanding, compassionate, non-judging people. These people encouraged me to be better each and every day, and when that is possible then at least do the best I can to keep the string of success-actions going.

(b) working with and leveraging that what I am predisposed, naturally to do. I love to organize, measure and track (I might not succeed 100% of the time and all the time), but I naturally gravitate to finding better measurement ways to track progress and fuel next steps towards them. I love to read and write the "Aha!" moments - I might as well share these with you in hopes it makes for joyful reading and inspiration

"What is easy to do, is also easy not to do" - Jim Rohn

So, where do you find yourself? Adrift? Unsure? Sort-of-Kind-of know? What strategies will you incorporate to change direction of your life for the better? What strategies will you employ to succeed?

Where will you find yourself 2-3-5-10 years from now?

Will you be thrilled that you took that miniscule step today?

Or hang your head in shame and wished that you did it?

We have several programs to choose from, Accountability (you know your SMART goals and you want someone to hold you to them), Results & Beyond (Help in defining SMART goals, unearth your natural strengths and weaknesses, and craft a plan), or any of our focused themed workshops.

No matter what - get started on something, one thing, anything!