Book Surgeon No. 2

Atomic Habits by James Clear is a roadmap with practical advice for building–and maintaining–small habits in your life. Much like compounding interest, over time, the effects of our habits, both good and bad, multiply rapidly. Consider the world’s best athletes, artists, musicians, or chefs. They were not instantly the best in their respective field; rather, they built small habits that allowed them to practice and improve every day for years on end. Journalist Jacob Riis succinctly illustrates this sentiment: “when nothing seems to help, I go and look at a stonecutter hammering away at his rock, perhaps a hundred times without as much as a crack showing in it. Yet at the hundred and first blow it will split in two, and I know it was not that last blow that did it–but all that had gone before.” In order for you to truly appreciate the compounding effects of habits, you must be patient and pay attention to your trajectory, not your current results. 

When choosing which habits to build, consider the type of person you perceive yourself to be. As Clear writes, “behavior that is incongruent with the self will not last … The ultimate form of intrinsic motivation is when a habit becomes part of your identity.” So if you want to read more, your goal should not be to read a book, it should be to become a reader. Ultimately, as you take action, you become the type of person you sought to be–making the habit easier. Clear puts forth a simple two-step process for building an identity: “decide the type of person you want to be … [and then] prove it to yourself with small wins.”

Put simply, habits are just repeated behaviors, and according to Clear, behaviors can be defined by four distinct phases: the cue (your phone buzzes), the craving (you want to see who messaged you), the response (you grab your phone to read the message), and the reward (you feel satisfied knowing the contents of the message). With these cyclical stages in mind, Clear establishes four laws for developing and maintaining a habit, each law targeting a specific stage of the behavior cycle. 

The first law of behavior change targets the cue and says to “make it obvious.” One powerful mechanism for achieving this goal is to stack habits. We already have many habits built into our day, and we can use these routine behaviors, which are obvious to us, to develop new beneficial habits: for instance, “after I sit down to dinner, I will say one thing I am grateful for that happened today.” Stacking habits creates a natural reminder to initiate action. Years ago, I read elsewhere about habit stacking and began stacking a push-ups habit with my daily shower. Since this decision, barring any prohibiting circumstances, I do a set of push-ups after every shower I take. By keeping the behavior easy (less than a minute each day), I can remain consistent, which makes the habit easier over time. In turn, over several years, I have multiplied the number of consecutive push-ups I can do–highlighting how small habits compound over time.

Clear’s second law is to “make it attractive.” We are more likely to consistently engage in a behavior if we want to do it; yet, many of the habits we seek to build are not enjoyable or attractive in the present. One strategy to overcome this challenge is called temptation bundling. The idea of this strategy is to bundle something you want to do with the habit you are trying to build. In my life, I like to watch Netflix while completing a moderate home workout, and I only allow myself to watch Netflix while working out. Thus, by choosing a show I enjoy, I make my habit more attractive and am more likely to work out consistently. 

The third law is to “make it easy.” A helpful rule is the two-minute rule, which states, “when you start a new habit, it should take less than two minutes to do.” French philosopher Voltaire once wrote, “the best is the enemy of the good.” In other words, seeking perfection can be a form of procrastination that prevents us from starting a habit at all. Do not try to craft the perfect habit. Make the behavior easy (less than two minutes) and just start practicing immediately. The more repetitions we do, the more automatic the habit becomes, allowing us to eventually increase the difficulty of the behavior.

The fourth law of behavior change is to “make it satisfying.” Although we are naturally wired to prefer instant gratification, we can train ourselves to delay gratification by adding immediate pleasure to a desired behavior with long-term benefits. For instance, perhaps you treat yourself each time to your favorite latte or smoothie on your way back from the gym. Eventually, as the habit becomes automatic and a part of your identity, you will have less of a need for external motivation: as Clear writes, “incentives can start a habit. Identity sustains a habit.” Another way to make your habit satisfying is by utilizing a habit tracker and crossing off each day you complete your habit. In the past, I have used a physical calendar for this purpose, but currently, I use a habit tracking app on my phone. Ultimately, by making our habit streak visual, we are less likely to let ourselves break the habit.

When building habits in your own life, remember to choose habits that suit you, to keep Clear’s four laws of behavior change in mind, and to avoid breaking your habit at all costs–even if you only partially complete the behavior. Start with small behaviors so you can start immediately, allowing the benefits of consistent habit building to start compounding with time. As you begin building habits and appreciating their compounding potential, you will be able to more effectively build new habits throughout your life, even as your goals and identities inevitably change.