The Results are just Atomic...
Chinmayi Krishnan
Economics Honours Graduate (HELP University) | MSc Economics (GIPE, Pune) | Exploring International Business, Economics, and Finance
I'd rate myself a decent reader. I enjoy sitting back with a good book but over the past few months, I have been lying to myself, stating that I barely have enough time with me balancing an internship, university-related revision over the semester break as well as hobbies like painting and dance (basically things that a wide majority of individuals my age are doing!).
But all that changed when my commute to the firm at which I'm interning at turned out to be about 45 minutes long. In other words, long enough to get in a chapter or two. I'd like to sneak in a moment of gratitude here, too, to Rohan Gurav, PMP? for being the one to pass me the book I've been spending ages on.
Atomic Habits by James Clear . You see it in every bookstore. You hear about celebrities and influencers reading it and finally, you get your hands on it. I started reading it on the train on my second day as an intern and was surprisingly hooked. Don't get me wrong, I love the book but I am definitely not the kind of person to enjoy self-care, habits and psychology related books (even though I'd say my ridiculously bad time management and organization skills desperately need them).
Why "Atomic"?
An atomic habit is a tiny habit that is part of a greater system. Just as we know atoms to be the building blocks of life in Chemistry, atomic habits are the building blocks of the results we aim to achieve. In other words, Clear emphasizes the concept of 1% improvement every day. Let us put it this way: If you were to improve by 1% in something every day, you would end up being 37 times better than you originally were!
Habits or Goals? That is the question.
Normally, when one says "habits", we tend to immediately think of big changes to make in our lives. For example, "I will drink more water."
Very vague goal. How much is more? How much are you already drinking? How do you intend on achieving this goal? So on and so forth. Take it from another reader of Atomic Habits, Heather. She had this exact goal in mind but was unsure how to go forth. Hence, she started with filling water in a bottle that was her favorite color and placed it by her nightstand to ensure that she never missed it every morning.
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When I first read about this, I found it rather silly, to be honest. How can such a small change make that big a difference in an instant? It only occurred to me then that it was happening in my life as well. You see, over the past 3-4 days, my father ( Venkata Ramakrishnan ) and I have started doing at least 15 minutes of yoga in the morning before leaving for work. On the first two days, I was grumpy, irritable and desperately wanted to go back to the warmth of my bed but as of today, I have started to realize the benefits that it's had later on in the day. I no longer get random headaches and bouts of drowsiness and instead, have a verve to finish tasks. All because of those 15 minutes.
Within the book, Clear speaks about how we always look at "goals" as a turning point but in reality, this perspective should be changed to the habit-approach. Why? Goals are momentary changes. For example, my goal is to pass all of my finals by the end of the upcoming semester. Fast forward three months, my semester is over, I passed all my subjects, now what? Whereas if that same goal were rewritten as a habit, it would go along the lines of, "I intend on spending at least 1 hour of revision time on all of my subjects". There is a specific aim and the statement does not have a specified end. Continuously keeping the habit approach in mind is what allows us to reap benefits from the Compound Effect.
Compound Interest?
The Compound Effect is what we have been talking about all along. Manyatimes, people prefer goals over habits as you end up seeing the results in a shorter span of time. Let me pull out a page from my own life's book as an example. Let's say that my habit-approach statement is "I will practice writing in a foreign language for 45 minutes everyday". I am currently studying two foreign languages (Spanish and Malayalam [not quite foreign considering that it is my mother tongue]) so this example is quite apt in my case. What happens, more often than not is I will drill this statement into my mind, do it for the first 2 days, notice that I am not seeing any immediate results and give up, going back to my comfortable and lackadaisical attitude. What many, including myself, fail to see is that the continuous commitment exerted every day is what allows us to reach a tipping point where results are finally visible.
Another common example, that probably all of us can relate to, is going to the gym. You wake up and walk to the mirror. When you see your reflection, you realize you have let yourself go, perhaps due to office stress or you not taking enough time for yourself. So on Day 1 of "changing yourself for the better", you search up the most bizarre detox recipes, have a glass of hot lemon water for breakfast, eat some lettuce and tomatoes (making yourself wonder for a split-second whether you signed up for a cow's diet) and burn yourself out at the gym for 1.5 hours. By Day 2, your "everywhere" hurts and you give up and grab some sugary cereal and a Venti frappe from Starbucks, saying you'll make up for it tomorrow (knowing fully well you most definitely will not).
The Layers of Behavioral Change
As the wise green ogre Shrek once said, "??o?g?r?e?s? behavioural changes are like onions." They have layers, three to be exact.
The Laws of Behavioral Change
While "The Four Laws of Behavioural Change" sounds daunting and confusing, the laws are merely a simple set of rules that we can use to enhance our habits and can be summarized as follows:
Make yourself accountable with a calendar or any alternative (visible) tool that allows you to cross tasks off.
We all love rewards, This is why your brain gets that hit of dopamine every time you clear a level in that video game or get another like on your Facebook post. Similarly, make use of incentives when working on your habits. For example, tell yourself that you can only log on to Netflix once you've finished checking through all your emails.
Small changes are small but not insignificant. Coming back to my earlier example of learning a foreign language, while writing 5 sentences a day is barely anything, it is definitely better than not doing anything at all!
When you set a habit and start seeing or hearing progress (e.g. "Hey! Have you been hitting the gym lately? You look great!), you get instant feedback about how your habit is coming together and making a difference.
Closure
I do hope that I've not bored anyone with this entire book summary. I'd like to close by saying that boredom is inevitable in the habit approach. Everyone reaches that annoying point of boredom but it is the manner in which you deal with the boredom that draws the line between a committed individual and an amateurs. Commitment is seen when you stick to a schedule and overcome everything hurled at you. Amateurs gladly get pulled off schedule by distractions.
I'm confident enough to say that I am still an amateur but hopefully the inner alarm clock kicks in one day and helps me achieve greater things. What about you? Share your thoughts.