My summary of Atomic Habits

Being a product manager, I have read many books and research articles on habits and behavior change. I started reading Atomic Habits with the goal of finding out an effective way to change the behavior of my product's userbase, but it focuses more on self-improvement. So I ended up getting inspired to teach some good habits for myself. Though Atomic Habits has not necessarily presented us with a new framework or information, but it has done an excellent job in condensing and presenting the most relevant information in a highly digestible and actionable series of steps. So let me try to explain it in sections I have understood.

The Fundamentals

1.??????What are Habits: Habits are essentially autopilot scripts your brain memorizes to decrease the cognitive load of solving recurring problems. Once we develop a habit, under the right circumstances, we draw on this memory and automatically apply the same solution.

Ex – the first time you learn to tie shoe-knot, you would struggle. But after a few repetitions, you develop a habit of tying know without even thinking even once about it. This is what we sometimes call muscle memory (oddly).

2.?????Why should we bother to develop habits: By offsetting cognitive load to the subconscious mind, our conscious mind is free to focus on other essential or new problems/stimuli. Also, good habits lead us to open up more time for ourselves, and our minds can focus on new challenges and experiences.

Example:

– Good financial habits would lead you to enjoy your life better and worry less.

- Good food and exercise habits lead you to be fit and thus free up your time to enjoy all the amazing things that life has to offer.

"In the long run, the quality of our lives often depends on the quality of our habits."

-James Clear

3. Habits are the compound interest of self-improvement: Which means that small incremental changes in our habits/lives can produce massive results/changes with time. A 1% better or worse choice seems insignificant at the moment, but they add up pretty quickly (the super-power of compounding)

"Success is the product of daily habits, not once-in-a-lifetime transformations."

- James Clear

4.??????Progress is not overnight: Breakthrough moments are the result of many previous actions. Habits often appear to make no difference until you cross a critical threshold. In order for the habit to show results, it has to survive past the valley of disappointment and cross the Plateau of Latent Potential.

My thoughts: the most challenging part for us is that it is challenging to identify whether we are making any progress or understand where we are in the whole journey. And when we don't know where we are, it is apparent that we would like to give up.

"Improvements are only temporary until they become part of who you are"

-James Clear

5.??????You fall to the level of systems: If we have trouble changing our habits, the problem is the system you have employed.

Goals are the results you want to achieve (Ex – Six-pack abs ?? )

Systems are the processes you have set in order to achieve that ( Ex – your diet, exercise schedule, meditation schedule etc.)

We generally fixate on goals, and the author says that it has some inherent problems, which are:

• Aiming/setting up a goal does not differentiate between achievers and losers. We have a survivorship bias that glorifies the winners' end result, not the journey/process. (Ex – I have an aim of owning a Bugatti Veyron, but I am yet not sure of the process)
• When you solve a problem to achieve a goal, it is just a temporary fix. In order to have a sustained improvement, we need to solve it at a process level.
• Goals restrict our happiness because we are conditioned to believe that only if we achieve huge success, we can be happy. (Ex – Have you heard the phrase from your parents – "Beta pass IIT and your life is set" ?? )
• Once we achieve our goal (with the help of some luck), we would fall back again to our old routine, and it would be difficult for us to repeat the success again and may lead to doubts in our capability.

Layers of Behavior Change

"You need to know who you want to be. Otherwise, your quest for change is like a boat without a rudder."

-James Clear

In order to create a habit, we need to understand how our current habits/behaviors are affected. As per the author, there are 3 layers that affect our behavior:

Outcome: This operates on a goal level. Ex – I want to lose weight

Process: Implementing a change in the process/activity in order to achieve a goal. Ex – Going to gym everyday

Identity: The person that you believe you are. Ex – I am an athletic person

We have to aim to inculcate habits where our ultimate gold should be to improve our personal identity, not to achieve success.

Example –

The goal should be to become a READER, not to Read a Book

The goal should be to become an excellent Product Manager, not to grow the app

The goal should be to become a person CAPABLE OF SELF-DEFENCE, not to earn a black belt in Karate.

How do I get my desired identity to stick

The more you repeat a behavior, the more you influence the identity associated with that behavior. Each activity and experience in your life modifies your self-image.

Example – Each time I hit the gym, it may not seem significant for a month or so. I would be demotivated. But somewhere down the line, I gain confidence that I am better at performing physical tasks or a bit healthier. This confidence in my capability is what would be changing my perception and self-identity.

But of course, it takes time. It's an evolution, and changes are minuscule even to notice for even a month sometimes. ?The most practical way to change who you are is to change what you do. Changing our identity is a two-step process as per the book:

STEP1: Decide the person we want to be: Ex – An intelligent and healthy person

STEP2: Prove it to yourself with small wins to reinforce that identity

?A prescription of forming/changing a habit:

Similar to Charles Duhigg in The Power of Habit, James Clear describes 4 steps to develop a habit:

I will discuss about the steps in detail in the next article. I will try to put my understanding of the 4 Laws, which connect to the above 4 steps.

Stay tuned !!!