Atomic Habits

“It is so easy to overestimate the importance of one defining moment and underestimate the value of making small improvements on a daily basis.” (Clear, p.15) I think this may be even more prevalent in this current culture. We value the moments that we think are so much more important. We are looking at ourselves as well as those leaders around us for those moments that define importance, success, and change. We think the defining moments are what is going to make or break us. Now don’t get me wrong, there are certain moments in our lives that can be defining and they are important. I am not taking away from those as much as agreeing with Clear when he says here we overestimate those and we underestimate the amount of importance, success, and change that can happen when we look closely at our daily small improvements. The refinements of our life day by day through the habits we have developed can make all the difference in the world.

“That said, it doesn’t matter how successful or unsuccessful you are right now. What matters is whether your habits are putting you on the path toward success.” (Clear, p.18) This is a great starting point for us all to examine our habits. Are the habits in our life helping to lead more towards success? Are we seeing the dividends of those habits in our life in a positive manner? We are going to see the dividends in our habits one way or another. We are going to see the habits in our life creating something so the real question comes down to looking at what is being created? Are we leading towards a path of success or do we find ourselves with downfalls all the time? No one can really answer that for you as much as something you need to answer for yourself.

“Goals are about the results you want to achieve. Systems are about the processes that lead to those results.” (Clear, p.23) This is a key difference Clear makes for us that is crucial. Goals are those results and we all have those in some way in our life. What we don’t have and what we don’t always do is think about the systems that are leading to those goals. Do we have alignment between the goals we are working to achieve and the systems that are supposed to get us there? If we are wanting to achieve goals we should make sure to have systems and therefore habits that align to those goals. I think too many times we create and have goals without thinking of changing anything to get to those goals. We are such creatures of habit so we have issues with change in terms of achieving any goals if we don’t focus on those habits. “We think we need to change our results, but the results are not the problem. What we really need to change are the systems that cause those results.” (Clear, p.25) Our goals don’t need to change but the habits that are supposed to lead to those goals. Think about it similar to that of a supply chain within creating a product. If we want to have the right product at the end we must have systems putting the correct pieces together to lead to that product. “When you fall in love with the process rather than the product, you don’t have to wait to give yourself permission to be happy. You can be satisfied anytime your system is running.” (Clear, p.26) This is where the rubber meets the road in our goals. We should work on changing our goals and look more into the systems and processes. We should think more not in terms of new year’s resolutions as much as new year’s systems change. To make the processes and systems change we have to fall in love with those processes. This is where clear starts to define how to do just that and start getting to those goals through a change in our processes.

“Every action you take is a vote for the type of person you want to become. No single instance will transform your beliefs, but as the votes build up, so does the evidence of your new identity.” (Clear, p.38) This is where we don’t value the forming and creation and consistency of habits enough. Our habits are what helps to create the type of person we want to become. We are talking about the forming of our identity as a person. What type of person do you want to become? This is the question we can ask ourselves instead of what we want to do? “Habits can help you achieve all of these things, but fundamentally they are not about having something. They are about becoming something.” (Clear, p.41) If we work from a foundation of thinking about what we want to become we can then shift on focusing more on the processes because those are the habits and those are what last. Focusing on doing something is possibly just doing it once without thinking through how to get to that goal or that something. Habits can help us to achieve as Clear puts it here, but as he states they are more about becoming which is ultimately what we are talking about when we talk about our goals. We are talking about achieving things and doing things differently in our life and those are the habits we are really talking about.

“Habit stacking is a special form of an implementation integration. Rather than pairing your new habit with a particular time and location, you pair it with a current habit.” (Clear, p.74) I have tried implementing this more into my life and it is a fantastic way of approaching habits. Think about those things you are already doing and then thinking about those things you want to work on becoming. For example I am wanting to exercise more often and also want to listen more to the podcasts episodes I miss out on. Well with habit stacking I can do both of these. Another example is wanting to read more books throughout the year so I download audible books and stack that on top of driving to work each day which is taking two habits and stacking them. The same could be done in your life and working to integrate a couple (or more) habits and stacking them for more integration. This I can speak from experience makes it easier to become more of what you want to become through those habits.

“Stop thinking about your environment as fill with objects, Start thinking about it as filled with relationships. Think in terms of how you interact with the spaces around you.” (Clear, p.67) It matters the environment and circumstances that you have and create all around you. It means more than what we probably even realize. Where we are and how we interact with the things all around us play a major role in how we will respond and the habits that we have in our lives. I think of this like making sure you are setting up the board for success. If you want to make sure to drink water each morning start with setting it up and having water next to your bed for the morning. If you want to make sure you exercise more start by making sure you have that space to do that and it isn’t difficult to get to the machine or the place in which you exercise. Thinking ahead of time in what you surround yourself with is important to think about if you want to develop more habits leading to those goals of becoming more of what you want.

“When it comes to habits, the key takeaway is this: dopamine is released not only when you experience pleasure, but also when you anticipate it.” (Clear, p.106) This is why Clear says it is so important for us to make habits attractive. We need to make the habit something we get excited about doing. For me it is about starting small and getting that momentum in those habits. You start small and you build up the confidence and the excitement of that achievement. This excitement leads to more release of dopamine which is where it builds on itself. It is important to note what Clear says here in terms of the dopamine release when we are in anticipation. This we can relate to when you think about those plans you get excited about. The plans for that exciting event and the event itself is what releases the dopamine and leads to happiness.?

“We pick up habits from the people around us.” (Clear, p.116) In my position as an educational leader I cannot tell you enough how many times I have sat across from a student or a group of students and told them how it matters who they associate themselves with. I think this is such a huge lesson that some of us fail to realize soon enough. I think some of the people who we have known at some point in our life we have seen get involved with people they shouldn’t get involved with and it leads to their demise in some way. We should always be thinking about who we surround ourselves with. This I think can be in terms of not only the physical people we come into contact with but also who we are ‘surrounding’ ourselves with on social media. There are studies that have come out noting the importance of these connections as well and the impact it can have on a person. The more we see, hear, and talk about something the more we are inclined to have that as part of who we are and what we do.

“Whether we are approaching behavior change as an individual, a parent, a coach, or a leader, we should ask ourselves the same question: ‘How can we design a world where it’s easy to do what’s right?’ Redesign your life so the actions that matter most are also the actions that are easiest to do.” (Clear, p.158) When you are working on developing or just taking stock of your habits and find something you want to start or change it is important to think of ease of development. This goes back to the habit stacking formation. If you can stack a habit on top of something you already do it will be easier to accomplish. We develop goals and then when we try and work on the habits to get to that goal many times we make it too difficult to maintain. If we are wanting to maintain habits we need to make them easy enough to do just that. If our habits are too difficult to get to and actually do we won’t end up doing them for very long. We make that easy so they are achievable. “Researchers estimate that 40 to 50 percent of our actions on any given day are done out of habit.” (Clear, p.160) Think about how much of an opportunity we have to do some habit stacking. We have the opportunity to take much of our everyday life and stack some habits and start becoming more of who we want to become. “‘Don’t break the chain’ is a powerful mantra. Don’t break the chain of sales calls and you’ll build a successful book of business. Don’t break the chain of workouts and you’ll get fit faster than you’d expect.” (Clear, p.197) This is something that can help to keep the momentum going in your habits you start to develop. The more you keep track of the streak and don’t break that chain the more you will keep hold of those habits. There are many ways that you can keep track of habits but finding a way that works for you is important so you can keep that streak going.

“The human brain loves a challenge, but only if it is within an optimal zone of difficulty.” (Clear, p.231) This is not only known but we talk about this in education all the time when we talk about challenging students within their zone of proximal development. We work on developing tasks, activities, and assignments to get students to think and be challenged, but not so much that they want to give up on what they are doing. The work of Carol Dweck along with Jo Boaler in relation to math instruction and perspectives tell us the science of brain growth when students are challenged but not to the point of giving up. Mistakes help us to learn and the scans of brains show us this very thing. If we want to learn and in particular if we want to develop habits that are positive we need to be pushing ourselves to be challenged, but not so much to quit.

“When a habit is important to you, you have to be willing to stick to it in any mood.” (Clear, p.236) This is something that is so crucial to keeping habits going. We will have ups and downs in how we feel but you need to be willing to stick to habits even if your mood changes. I think you can make some adjustments to those habits when you are feeling ill which is a bit different than just your mood. We all have those times we may not feel the greatest or are not in the greatest of moods but we still do some of those habits we feel are important. We still find ourselves brushing our teeth, bathing, going to work, getting onto social media, etc. We can’t be so up and down in our mood to steer us away from our habits that are important. If we truly are wanting to make a change and stick to that habit we must push through those mood swings we are prone to having.

“Improvement is not just about learning habits, it’s also about fine-tuning them.” (Clear, p.245) When done well this is what the best of teachers work on in their craft. They work on this with their students and they want them to be able to fine-tune the habits they are creating as learners. They also work on this in their craft when they reflect on how a lesson went for them and they make adjustments for that particular class in that year, but also for future years’ classes and how they learn. Making adjustments in the lesson and after the lesson for all the learners we come into contact with is the mark of a great educator. The habits we form are no different. If we are modeling and pursuing to become our best we should be on a somewhat constant outlook on how we fine-tune the habits we have so slowly but surely we can be like the tortoise and we can win the race. There typically isn’t a race happening but we will see the spoils of those habits as we fine-tune them and stretch ourselves little by little. “Success is not a goal to reach or a finish line to cross. It is a system to improve, an endless process to refine.” (Clear, p.252) Going back to what Clear said early on in this work it is about refining our systems. We should have this approach in our work life and our personal life. We should be reviewing our systems in work and in our life. We can take a look at this in both our individual perspective as well as within our organization.

Reference

Clear, J. (2021). Atomic habits: Tiny changes, remarkable results: An easy & proven way to build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones. CELA.?