Atomic Habits

by James Clear

I liked this book for several reasons.

First, the author, James Clear, is an extremely succinct and clear writer so it’s easy to read this book and understand everything he’s saying.

Secondly, he had plenty of quoted sources to back up all the things he said, and he made many good points.

This isn’t just a book about habits and how to overcome them, it’s about how we acquire these habits in the first place.

It also explains simple and practical ways to overcome habits whether it’s something you want to start doing, like going to the gym regularly, or something you want to stop doing, like giving up smoking or stop eating junk food.

All of our habits have a trigger, or a cue, and when it happens, we automatically indulge in our bad habit without even thinking about it, like if you always eat junk food after work every day, it’s finishing work that is the unconscious cue to eat badly.

The problem with trying to quit a bad habit is that it’s usually a long-term fix with no immediate gratification, such as eating just one salad won’t make you slimmer. You need to eat healthy for weeks, months, or sometimes years, depending on how overweight you are.

The author suggests creating your own instant gratification by putting a cross on the calendar every day that you don’t overeat, or every day you go to the gym after work. That way you can see your daily/weekly/monthly progress to help you to keep improving.

I gained a lot of insights from this book in both why I do what I do, and how to stop it.

And best of all, I followed the advice and it’s working.

I’ve also got more crosses on my calendar every month than blank spaces, so that’s another way I know it’s working.

Atomic Habits by James Clear

You can read more about Atomic Habits at Amazon.com

Atomic Habits

This review was written on 30th January 2022

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