Atomic Habits Book Review

Do you want to make the changes that you have been thinking of? Here is a practical and easy way to build good habits and break the habits that you want to get rid of. This Atomic habits book review identifies the key lessons from the book. The book Atomic Habits written by James Clear, has been highly recommended as a book which can create lasting change in people. The changes ,the Author says, are tiny consistent ones which compound over time. If we focus on changing 1% every day that would add up to more than a whopping 400% over a full year.

The success to changing thinking and forming good habits most of the time is by putting to practice something small each day. Atomic Habits can be considered a best seller for the number of copies that it has managed to sell over the period of time since its launch.

The tone used in the book is rather an informal one with little by means of an academic leaning. But it is evident that the writer, James Clear, is well founded in what he writes and manages to center it around his readers too.

A practical guide

After having read the book in full, it came across that there is nothing new that the writer has put forth. Most of what has been dealt with in the book has already been known to people and avid readers. But what is noteworthy is the manner in which James Clear takes the effort to lay out doable points and themes for people to try out.

The two most powerful messages that came out of reading the book can be condensed as below.

• Rather than focus on Boolean goals, it is important to think more in terms of the processes and paths to the goals.
• Incremental changes done over an extended period of time does produce great results. Never underestimate the power of compounding.

Coming to think of it, neither of the above two points are exactly new to people. The first is the basis of the agile thinking and has been extensively used in managing the development of computer software. The second is the running principle behind compounding of interest amounts in the banking systems.

So, what James Clear has done essentially is to take some rather common thoughts and brought out some pressing points that can make a difference to people wanting wholesome changes in their lives.

What does the book boil down to?

It must be noted that the philosophies in the book boils down to some very actionable points that have been noted in the below. They do not fully represent what has been taken care of in the book by James Clear but lays out some of the most pressing themes that the book introduces.

• Over a long period of time, the quality of people’s lives depends on the habits that they have managed to form.
• Never underestimate the importance of the one defining moment. It could be just the place to start over again or to introduce some changes to our habits.
• Not completely understanding the importance of small changes can be what sets apart the achiever from the laggard. The tiniest changes if done over a sustained period of time is bound to bring far greater progress than something done in fits and starts.
• Self-improvement compounded over a long period of time brings forth lasting habits.
• It is far important to understand the current process that a person is going through than the spot that the person is presently occupying.
• Habits it might seem does not amount to much. Till the time a threshold point is reached and life takes on new meaning.
• Patience is key to making habits stick.
• Goals are the end result that a person wishes to see for himself. The process is the system that is being implemented to achieve the goals.
• By focusing on the path, it is possible to have good habits but it takes persistence and time.
• The main defect of goal setting is that it tends to enforce survival. That is people who do have strong process and cannot produce results eventually are not taken into consideration.
• Often people think of producing results. But it is the process or systems that have been implemented that should be the center of focus most of the time.
• Focus on the inputs to a system and the output would take care of itself.
• With a goal mentality, often happiness is had only when the goal has been achieved and most of the time people are moving from one goal to another without actually thinking of the process used for achieving it.
• When the focus is on a process rather than the goal, people then can find satisfaction even if the person fails in the final goal. It tends to lead to a more satisfied set of people.  
• Goal setting is to finish off a game. When the focus is on systems in use, then it is possible to be refining the system continuously to produce better and faster results. It is thus, a program that can be run for long period of time with continual improvement done to the processes.
• A smaller and insignificant habit is part of a larger practice and so is never insignificant.
• Every action is carried forward with progressive thinking and should not be seen as a stand-alone part of the whole.

Conclusion

Thus, the book Atomic Habits written by James Clear can be broken down into its constituents as detailed above. It must be stressed that the points are not exclusive to the ones laid out in the above but there are more to the book than what has been out lined.

James Clear stresses that it is important to focus on the processes or paths to a goal rather than be fixated on the final aim. This would create a system that can be continuously improved and which is more satisfying to the follower as it is possible to see progress even without the target being achieved.  

The power of positive habits and the need to work on improving oneself little at a time each day has been dealt with completely in the book, Atomic Habits.

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