By James Clear April 07, 2019 ⋅ 13 min read ⋅ Books
The Fundamentals
Why Tiny Changes Make a Big Difference
Chapter 1: The Surprising Power of Atomic Habits
The aggregation of small gains leads to large changes.
It’s easy to overestimate the importance of one defining moment and to underestimate the value of small improvements on a daily basis.
We believe that massive success requires massive action. However, this isn’t true.
Improving 1% every day for one year is a gain of 1.01365=37.78 versus 1% worse every day is 0.99365=0.03.
Habits are the compound interest of self-improvement.
A single decision is easy to dismiss.
Success is the product of daily habits, not one in a lifetime transformations.
You should be more concerned about your current trajectory, not your current results.
Habits are a double-edged sword as they can compound for you or against you.
Examples of positive compounding
Productivity
Knowledge
Relationships
Examples of negative compounding
Stress
Negative thoughts
Outrage
Habits appear to make no difference until you pass a critical threshold.
You have to persist long enough to get through the plateau of latent potential.
Progress isn’t linear but exponential.
Success is more closely tied to systems rather than goals.
Goals are the results you want to achieve. Systems are about the processes that lead to those results.
If you completely ignored your goals and only focused on your systems, would you still succeed?
Goals are good for setting direction, systems are good for making progress.
Problems with goals
Winners and loses have the same goal. Goals suffer from survivorship bias.
Achieving a goal is only a momentary change. Fix the inputs and the outputs will fix themselves.
Goals restrict your happiness. Fall in love with the process, not the product.
Goals are at odds with long-term progress. Commitment to the process will determine your progress.
You don’t rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems.
Like how atoms are the building blocks of molecules, atomic habits are the building blocks of remarkable results.
Chapter 2: How Your Habits Shape Your Identity (and Vice Versa)
Changing our habits is hard for two reasons
We try to change the wrong thing.
We try to change our habits the wrong way.
This chapter focuses on the first reason.
Three levels of change
Outcomes (outer): changing results
Processes (middle): changing habits and systems
Identity (inner): changing beliefs
Outcomes are what you get, processes are about what you do, and identity is about what you believe.
The problem with building habits is the direction of change.
Outcome-based habits: outcomes -> processes -> identity. The focus is on what you want to achieve.
Identity-based habits: identity -> processes -> outcomes. The focus is on who you wish to be.
E.g. “No thanks for the cigarette. I’m trying to quit.” versus “No thanks. I’m not a smoker.”
Identity based habits are stronger.
Behind every system of actions are a system of beliefs.
The ultimate form of intrinsic motivation is when a habit becomes a part of you identity.
Progress requires unlearning.
The more evidence you have for a belief, the more strongly you will believe it.
The process of building habits is the process of becoming yourself.
Every action you take is a vote for the type of person you wish to become.
Two step process on changing your identity
Decide the type of person you want to be
Prove it to yourself through small, repeated wins
Habits matter not because they can get you results, but because they can get you to become who you want to be.
Chapter 3: How to Build Better Habits in 4 Simple Steps
Learning is not repeating the same mistakes and is cutting straight to the solution.
A habit is a behavior that’s been repeated enough times to become automatic.
Try, fail, learn, try differently.
Useless movements fade away and useful actions get reinforced.
Whenever you face a problem repeatedly, your brain begins to automate the process of solving it.
Habits are reliable solutions to recurring problems in the environment.
They’re just a memory of the steps used to solve the problem in the past.
The main reason the brain remembers the past is to better predict the future.
Habits reduce cognitive load by off-putting the task to the unconscious mind.
The ultimate purpose of habits is to solve the problems of life with as little energy and effort as possible.
Habits create freedom by freeing up mental energy for thinking and creativity.
Four stages of building habits
Cue
Craving
Response
Reward
The cue triggers the brain to initiate behavior.
The craving is the change in state that we desire.
The response is the actual habit.
The reward is the result from the habit.
If any of the four steps fail, then the habit isn’t created.
The four stages form a feedback loop known as the habit loop.
The Four Laws of Behavior Change
How to create a good habit
Make it obvious.
Make it attractive.
Make it easy.
Make it satisfying.
How to break a bad habit
Make it invisible.
Make it unattractive.
Make it difficult.
Make it unsatisfying.
The 1st Law
Make It Obvious
Chapter 4: The Man Who Didn’t Look Right
The brain is a prediction machine.
You don’t need to be aware of the cue for a habit to begin.
Habits are unconscious and because we aren’t aware of them, behavior change starts with awareness.
There aren’t good and bad habits, only effective habits that are aimed at solving problems.
Habits that reinforce your desired identity are usually good.
Chapter 5: The Best Way to Start a New Habit
Implementation intention: how you intend to implement a particular habit.
Time and location are two common cues.
“I will perform [BEHAVIOR] at [TIME] in [LOCATION].”
E.g. “I will study cognitive science at 8 PM every day in my room.”
People who make a specific plan for when and where they will perform a new habit are more likely to follow through with it.
People don’t lack motivation, they lack clarity.
There isn’t a need for a decision, just follow the plan.
Being specific about what you want and how to achieve it helps prevent distractions and bad decisions.
When your dreams are vague, it’s easy to rationalize small exceptions and to put it off.
The Diderot Effect: a domino effect occurs when one change leads to another.
You often decide what to do next based on what you just did.
Habit Stacking: identify a current habit and then stack a new behavior on top.
Habit stacking is a special form of implementation intention in that rather than pairing the habit to a time and place, you pair the habit with a current one.
“After doing [CURRENT HABIT], I will do [NEW HABIT].”
E.g. “After reading my cognitive science textbook for one hour, I will read a different book for another hour.”
It’s like a set of rules you follow or an algorithm.
Make the habit obvious by being specific and detailed.
Chapter 6: Motivation Is Overrated; Environment Often Matters More
People often choose products not because of what they are, but because of where they are.
Environment is the invisible hand that shapes human behavior.
Every habit is context dependent.
Approximately 10 million out of 11 million sensory receptors are used for vision.
A small change in what you see can lead to a big shift in what you do.
Cues that are visible and obvious make it easier to start a habit.
To make a habit a big part of life, make its cue a big part of the environment.
Habits aren’t associated with a specific trigger but instead with a context or situation.
The context becomes the cue.
Build new habits with a new context.
Avoid mixing contexts as it’ll mix the habits.
E.g. No working from home.
Every habit should have a home.
Habits thrive under predictable circumstances.
A stable environment allows for stable habits.
Chapter 7: The Secret to Self-Control
More disciplined people don’t have more willpower, they just structure their time to avoid tempting situations.
You can break a bad habit, but you’re unlikely to forget it.
Kill bad habits by reducing exposure to the cue.
The 2nd Law
Make It Attractive
Chapter 8: How to Make a Habit Irresistible
We’ve gotten too good at pushing our own buttons.
The more attractive an opportunity is, the more likely it’s to become habit forming.
The dopamine spike is something all habits share.
Dopamine creates the desire but doesn’t stop an experience from being pleasurable.
Habits are dopamine driven feedback loop.
Dopamine is released not only when you experience pleasure, but also when you anticipate it.
It’s the anticipation of a reward, not the fulfillment of it, that gets us to take action.
Desire is the engine that drives behavior.
Temptation bundling is when you link a habit that you want to do with a habit that you need to do.
E.g. Riding a cycle while watching Netflix.
“After [HABIT I NEED], I will [HABIT I WANT].”
Chapter 9: The Role of Family and Friends in Shaping Your Habits
A genius isn’t born, but is educated and trained.
Behaviors are attractive when they help us fit in.
We imitate the habits of three groups.
The close.
The many.
The powerful.
We pick up habits from the people around us.
Our friends and family provide invisible peer pressure that pulls us in their direction.
Surround yourself with people who have the habits you want. Where your desired behavior is the normal behavior.
It transforms your personal quest into a shared one.
The shared identity reinforces your personal identity.
Whenever we are unsure how to act, we look to the group to guide us.
E.g. Amazon reviews
There’s evidence in numbers. However, this can be a downside.
The reward of being accepted is often greater than the reward of winning an argument or finding the truth.
Once we fit in, we start looking for ways to stand out.
We imitate powerful people because we desire what they have.
Survivorship bias.
Chapter 10: How to Find and Fix the Causes of Your Bad Habits
Every behaviour has a surface-level craving and a deeper underlying motive.
A craving is just a specific manifestation of a deeper underlying motive.
New habits don’t create new motives, but rather latch onto underlying motives.
The “why” chain.
Habits are modern day solutions to ancient desires.
Life feels reactive, but it’s actually predictive.
The cause of your habits is the prediction that precedes them.
A craving is the sense that something is missing.
Emotions and feelings gives us the ability to make decisions.
You don’t “have” to do anything. You “get” to.
Reframing a habit to highlight its benefits makes the habit more attractive.
Create a motivation ritual by doing something you enjoy immediately before a difficult habit.
The 3rd Law
Make It Easy
Chapter 11: Walk Slowly, but Never Backward
We are so focused on finding the best solution that we never take action.
We think more because we want to avoid and delay failure.
To master a habit, the key is repetition, not perfection.
Repetition is a form of change. It changes the brain.
Habits form when a behavior is repeated enough to become automatic.
Habits form based on frequency, not time.
The amount of time you’ve been performing a habit isn’t as important as the number of times that you’ve performed it.
Chapter 12: The Law of Least Effort
Law of Least Effort: when deciding between two similar options, people tend to pick the one that requires the least amount of work.
We are motivated to do what’s easy.
The less energy a habit requires, the more likely it’s to occur.
The goal isn’t the habit, but what it delivers.
Rather than try to overcome the friction in life, you reduce it.
One way of reducing friction is to practice environment design.
Create an environment where doing the right thing is as easy as possible.
E.g. Want to read more? Set the book on a comfy chair with a mug beside it.
Reduce the friction associated with good habits.
The opposite also works. Increase friction to stop bad habits.
How can we design a world where it’s easy to do what’s right.
Chapter 13: How to Stop Procrastinating by Using the Two-Minute Rule
Habits are like the entrance ramp to a highway. And once you’re on the highway, there’s no stopping.
Decisive moments: moments that deliver a significant impact.
E.g. Starting your homework versus starting a video game.
We are limited by the choices we make.
Small choices over a day stack up that amount to significantly different days.
Two minute rule: when you start a new habit, it should take less than two minutes to do.
Easier habits are gateways to more challenging habits.
A habit must be established before it can be improved.
Chapter 14: How to Make Good Habits Inevitable and Bad Habits Impossible
Sometimes, success is less about making good habits easy and more about making bad habits hard.
A commitment device is a choice you make in the present that locks in better behavior in the future.
The best way to lock in your future behavior is to automate your habits.
Invest in technology and onetime purchases to lock in future behavior.
The 4th Law
Make It Satisfying
Chapter 15: The Cardinal Rule of Behavior Change
We are more likely to repeat a behavior when the experience is satisfying.
What’s immediately rewarded is repeated, what’s immediately punished is avoided.
The first three laws increase the odds of a habit being performed this time. The fourth law increases the odds of a habit being performed next time.
The trick is that we’re looking for immediate satisfaction.
Immediate-return environment vs delayed-return environment.
Often, the sweeter the first fruit of a habit, the more bitter are its later fruits.
The costs of your good habits are in the present. The cost of your bad habits are in the future.
Delayed gratification. The last mile is the least crowded.
Reinforcement ties your habit to an immediate reward.
Select rewards that reinforce your identity rather than conflict with it.
E.g. Rewarding yourself with ice cream after working out.
Incentives can start a habit. Identity sustains a habit.
Chapter 16: How to Stick with Good Habits Every Day
Making progress is satisfying, and visual measures provide clear evidence of your progress.
Measure progress with a habit tracker.
A habit tracker is a simple way to measure whether you did a habit.
Its makes a behavior obvious, attractive, and satisfying.
Tracking a habit keeps you in check with reality and provides a satisfying visual cue on your progress.
The most effective form of motivation is progress.
However, habit tracking is difficult because it forces you into two habits.
Tips to make tracking easier
Automate it
Track only important habits
Record each measurement immediately after the habit occurs
“After [CURRENT HABIT], I will [TRACK MY HABIT].”
Don’t break the chain. Try to keep your habit streak alive.
How to recover when your habits break down: never miss twice.
Successful people don’t dwell on their mistakes, they rebound quickly.
Doing a poor job is better than doing no job because you maintain the habit.
The all or nothing pitfall.
Another pitfall from measuring a habit is that we become driven by the number rather than the purpose behind it.
We optimize for what we measure. When we choose the wrong measurement, we get the wrong behavior.
“When a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure.”
Chapter 17: How an Accountability Partner Can Change Everything
We are more likely to avoid an experience when the ending is painful.
To add an immediate cost to any habit, create a habit contract.
Similar to how governments use laws to hold citizens accountable, you can use a habit contract to hold yourself accountable.
A habit contract is an agreement where you state your commitment to a habit and the punishment if you don’t follow it.
Knowing that someone else is watching you can be a powerful motivator.
Advanced Tactics
How to Go from Being Merely Good to Being Truly Great
Chapter 18: The Truth About Talent (When Genes Matter and When They Don’t)
The secret to maximizing your chances of success is to choose the right field of competition.
Habits are easily to do when they align with your natural inclinations and abilities.
Competence is highly dependent on context.
Genes don’t determine your destiny, they determine your areas of opportunity.
“Genes can predispose, but they don’t predetermine.”
You should build habits that work for your personality.
You don’t have to build the habits that everyone tells you to build.
How do you figure out which field you’re fit for? Trial and error.
However, life is too short to try everything so instead do the explore/exploit trade-off.
Initially explore and then exploit the solutions you’ve found.
But don’t stop exploring when you’ve found a field, just reduce the time spent exploring.
Questions to narrow down the field
What feels like fun to me, but work to others.
What makes me lose track of time.
Where do I get greater returns than the average person.
What comes naturally to me.
Don’t forget the role of luck. Of being in the right place at the right time with the right skills and right people.
When you can’t win by being better, you can win by being different.
Play a game that favors your strengths. If no game exists, then create one.
Genes don’t eliminate the need for hard work, they clarify what to work hard on.
Chapter 19: The Goldilocks Rule: How to Stay Motivated in Life and Work
The brain loves a challenge but only if it’s in an optimal zone of difficulty.
The Goldilocks Rule: that humans experience peak motivation when working on tasks that are right at the edge of their current abilities.
Improvement requires a delicate balance between challenges and progress.
Mastery requires practice, but that eventually becomes boring.
The greatest threat to success isn’t failure but boredom.
You need just enough winning to experience satisfaction and just enough wanting to experience desire.
When a habit is truly important, you have to be willing to stick to it in any mood.
You have to fall in love with boredom.
Chapter 20: The Downside of Creating Good Habits
Habits create the foundation for mastery.
The upside of habits is that we can do them without thinking.
The downside of habits is that we get used to doing it that way and ignore small errors.
Habits are necessary, but not sufficient for mastery.
Habits + Deliberate Practice = Mastery
Each habit unlocks the next level of performance in an endless cycle.
However, they also lock us into a certain way of thinking and acting.
Avoid falling into complacency by establishing a system for reflection and review.
Review and reflection enables long term improvement because it makes you aware of your mistakes and where to improve.
It also enables you to view the bigger picture and to keep your identity in check.
The tighter we cling to an identity, the harder it becomes to grow beyond it.
If we cling to only one identity, then we become brittle if that identity is lost.
The solution is to redefine your identity to be more general and flexible.
Conclusion: The Secret to Results That Last
The secret to habit change isn’t a small improvement, it’s the compounding of those small improvements.
Success is achieved through commitment to tiny, sustainable, unrelenting improvement.