Pages: 320
Genre: Self-help
Overall theme: How minor changes in one’s actions, when practiced consistently, can compound to create major changes in one’s life.
Overview:
“Atomic Habits” by James Clear is a must-read for anyone seeking motivation and guiding wisdom. Unlike many self-help books, we found “Atomic Habits” to be extremely practical, as the principles and guidance are applicable to all facets of our lives. We believe it is the perfect book for a commuter to read in the morning, as it primes you for a day of self-improvement.
I found this book to both motivate and inspire me for the days ahead in the office, a far more productive start to my morning than aimlessly scrolling on social media. In this Atomic Habits book review, we will cover some of the key principles and lessons and suggest how their implementation can transform your life. The changes in behaviour that James urges you to consider are not at all drastic. He emphasises how, by tweaking habits slightly, it is possible to see significant lifestyle changes down the line. This idea is backed up with case studies that are both fascinating and inspiring.
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My Key Takeaways:
Understanding Habits:
Immediately this book transformed the way I thought about my existing habits. The main topic of this book doesn’t seem ground-breaking, but the way in which James described how we form habits and how our habits form us creates a certain level of empathy for the human experience. Our habits are the unconscious decisions we make every day, which define our lives. Reading this book awakens you to the habits you display, consequently making you far more likely to make impactful positive alterations to your day to day life.
The book also delves into a more technical breakdown of what our habits are and describes the 4 stages of a habit loop. These are the cue, the craving, the response, and the reward. Breaking down the components of what makes up habits is extremely helpful when crafting the habits we want to adopt and successfully breaking the ones we would like to do away with. One such example might be how you’d like to be more productive on your commute. Currently, you get on the train and are bored (the cue). You have the craving to be entertained, so you respond by pulling out your phone and scrolling aimlessly on TikTok. Your reward is the small dopamine hit you get from the app’s trivial amusement. Instead, you should create a new 4-stage habit loop that involves getting on the train and a whole lot of Commuter Mob!
How to Build New Habits:
James is an expert in making new habits stick. He walks you through the process of creating new habits by making them obvious, attractive, easy, and satisfying. Other key messages the book covered that stuck with me are that motivation is arbitrary and that discipline is the way in which goal outcomes are achieved. Another pearl of wisdom I learned from this book was habit stacking. By adding a new habit we want to start on top of an existing habit, we are more likely to continue to do it as it becomes integrated with our existing habit loop.
One final topic that really grasped me is the part of the book that discusses how we define our spaces and how this affects our habits. Time and location are the two most common cues, which we mentioned earlier. How often do you walk into your living room, sit on the sofa, and before you know it, the TV is on? Reading this book helped me to better understand the places that were cueing my undesirable habits, and I have since found new places for healthier habits or redefined the places in my life (like the train) that now cue healthier, more productive ones.
Process Oriented, Not Goal Oriented:
The book opens by giving a fascinating example about the British cycling team. James speaks of how the new performance director, Dave Brailsford, took a super detail-oriented approach to improving the performance of his (at the time, rather mediocre) athletes. He implemented a strategy he called ‘the aggregation of marginal gains.’ Essentially, he changed tiny details wherever possible. Examples included rubbing alcohol on the tires for better grip and tweaking fibres in the athletes’ suits to improve aerodynamics. These sound like reasonable adjustments, but this isn’t where it ended. Brailsford taught his athletes how to wash their hands more effectively to minimise illness within the team and even conducted studies investigating optimal mattresses and pillows to ensure the athletes had the best rest and recovery. By focusing on the seemingly arbitrary details and making them just 1% better consistently every day, he created a winning team. These changes and hundreds of others meant that just 5 years later, in the 2008 Olympics, the team won 60% of the gold medals available. Brailsford, importantly, was focused on the process of improvement, not the overall goal of becoming the best team. If this had been his approach, like past coaches, they probably wouldn’t have achieved the success they did.
James goes on to suggest small changes we could all make in our everyday lives to achieve long-term success. It is by making the process of 1% improvements habitual that true success is achieved. My favourite quote from the book is: “You do not rise to the level of your goals; you fall to the level of your systems.” Some examples of more productive aims are not to run 20k a week, but become a runner. Not to read a book a week, but become a reader. Not to read 2 interesting blog articles a week, but become a commuter mobster! “Your outcomes are a lagging measure of your habits.”
Conclusion:
A self-development book is a commuter’s ideal companion, with the power to kickstart a productive day in the office. Commuting can be draining, but using this time to read an engaging book can provide valuable insights, motivation, and a productive escape. It prepares your mind, boosting focus and optimism, so you arrive at work ready to tackle tasks with confidence and enthusiasm. In short, reading a self-help book during your journey time sets the stage for a successful day in the workplace. As we reach the end of this Atomic Habits book review, I can confidently say that I would recommend this read to anyone. This book was a significant motivator in my journey to starting this blog, so I thank James Clear for inspiring Commuter Mob.