Notes and Takeaways from Atomic Habits by James Clear

Rules For Building and Breaking Habits - A Best Seller For a Reason

Happy Monday from Las Vegas, Nevada

Atomic Habits has become a mindblowingly popular book. According to author James Clear’s instagram, it has sold over 4 million copies.

When I checked Amazon while writing this email, Atomic Habits was in the top 4 selling books… of all books on the site.

This week I summarized the most important ideas and concepts from the book.

Enjoy!

Atomic Habits

Preliminary Ideas

Focus on Systems Instead of Outcomes

• Goals are the results you want to achieve. Systems are the processes that lead to those results. Celebrate correctly executing a process. Fall in love with the work.

• If you fix your inputs, outcomes take care of themselves. If you eat all the right foods and train the right way, you will become fitter. It doesn’t matter what the goal is, the outcome is determined by sustained efforts.

• Hyperfocus on outcome based goals is not good for long term progress. If you are too goal oriented, you fall apart after achieving your goals because... what now?

• Winners and losers have the same goals, but only winners have winning systems. 

Focus on Identity

• If you change your beliefs, you change your identity.

• Smokers require willpower to turn down a cigarette. Non-smokers do not. Your identity (smoker/ non-smoker) dictates your response.

• Some behaviors are impossible under certain belief systems. "Behavior that is incongruent with the self will not last."

• "Every action you take is a vote for the type of person you wish to become. No single instance will transform your beliefs, but as the votes build up, so does the evidence of your new identity."

• Ask yourself, "Who is the type of person that could get the outcome I want." In every situation ask yourself, what would that person do right now?

• One of the easiest ways to change your identity is to join groups where your target identity is the default identity. Want to “become a reader?” Join a book club.

Four Rules For Building and Breaking Habits

1. Make Good Habits Obvious, Bad Habits Invisible

Habits Need To Be Stated Clearly

• "Most people think they lack motivation when what they really lack is clarity."

• If you want to start a habit, but don’t get specific about when, where, or how long, you are much more likely to fail.

• Become extremely clear about what the “habit” is. Reading every day is too vague. Reading immediately after breakfast for 10-minutes is more likely to stick.

Use Your Environment To Help

• "Environment is the invisible hand that shapes human behavior"

• "Your habits change depending on the room you are in and the cues in front of you"

• "… alter the spaces where you live and work to increase your exposure to positive cues and reduce your exposure to negative ones."

• “Habits thrive under predictable circumstances.”

• Surround yourself with people who have your desired habits and identities.

Examples

• If you live walking distance from a block of bars, you’ll go (and drink) more often.

• If you hide your Xbox in the closet, you’ll use it less often.

• Place books where you intend to read them.

• If you make your new tab page the online course you’ve been meaning to take, maybe you’ll make progress.

2. Make Good Habits Attractive, Bad Habits Difficult

Use Temptation Bundling

• Use habits you want to do to motivate yourself to do what you need to do. An example would be only getting pedicures (want) while processing work emails (need).

• Reward yourself for taking desired actions. The mint in toothpaste makes it enjoyable to brush your teeth—an otherwise boring process.

Use Artificial Consequences

• Impose a $20 penalty every time you snooze. Donate $10 to charity every time you watch an hour of Netflix.

Join The Right Social Groups

• "Behaviors are attractive when they help us fit in."

3. Make Good Habits Easy, Bad Habits Hard

Start Extremely Small (Why The Title Is Atomic Habits)

• "When you start a new habit, it should take less than two minutes to do." If the miniaturized habit (read one page instead of reading a chapter) leads to you feeling like doing the full habit, then awesome, but you only have to do the small version.

• "A new habit should not feel like a challenge. The actions that follow can be challenging, but the first two minutes should be easy."

• "The point is to master the habit of showing up... Instead of trying to engineer a perfect habit from the start, do the easy thing on a more consistent basis." — B+ Effort, A+ Consistency

Focus On The Decisive Moment

• The important habit isn't going to the gym after work. Instead, the habit is choosing to change into your workout clothes instead of turning on the TV and pouring a glass of wine. With the clothes on, it is natural to go to the gym.

• The important habit isn’t starting your work. The habit is turning off distractions, finding a quiet space, and playing your focus music.

• "The more you ritualize the beginning of a process, the more likely it becomes that you can slip into the state of deep focus that is required to do great things."

4. Make Good Habits Satisfying, Bad Habits Unsatisfying

Techniques and Ideas

• Use Accountability Partners. It’s rewarding to brag about meeting your goals. It’s awful to admit failure. "When the consequences are severe people learn quickly"

• Use visual habit trackers to keep tabs on your progress. These provide clear evidence of progress which is satisfying.

• Never miss new habits twice in a row.

• "... the costs of your good habits are in the present. The costs of your bad habits are in the future."

• "What is immediately rewarded is repeated. What is immediately punished is avoided."

• When you want to quit, ask yourself “has the plan stopped working or am I just bored?”

Changes I’m Making

When reading a book like this, you’ll introspect on your habits the entire time.

Instead of pondering habits for five minutes when reading this email, reading the full book forces you to consider your habits for about four to five hours.

These are some of my personal ideas for habit change from reading the book.

Making The Gym More Fun

Without a workout partner, the gym gets really boring. To avoid this, I try to preplan my gym and gym-commute entertainment.

When you get the right audiobook, podcast, or album, you start desperately seeking out more time to listen to it.

Winning Mornings With FocusMate

Every action influences the following actions (momentum). This is why I try to start my days productively.

Since reading the book, I’ve been beginning each day with a FocusMate, a 50-minute scheduled video coworking session with a random stranger.

This makes me start the day with a win and forces me to get started without wasting hours dilly-dallying.

Modified Journaling Template

If you focus on small improvements every day, the end results can be spectacular. The book inspired me to add these two questions to my (almost) daily journal.

• How can I get 1% better by addition/ continuation?

• How can I get 1% better by subtraction?

How can I change my environment?

I dismounted the TV from my bedroom. It created clutter which made me never use my desk.

I’m also actively searching for interest groups where my desired behavior and interests match the group’s behavior and skills. Shoutout to my friend Jake Gallen for hosting Blockchain meetups in Vegas!

In Summary

• Prioritize executing systems that make desired outcomes inevitable.

• Work to integrate the identity that matches your desired habits and choices.

• Make sure you are in a supportive environment (people, geography, distractions).

• Use the 4 laws to increase your odds of successfully building or breaking a habit.

• I highly recommend the book.

Thank You For Reading!

Topic suggestions for future newsletters are always welcome.

Until next time,

Louis

The Hyperlinks

Two Quick Clicks

(1) 🔨 Tool I’m Trying 🔨: Complice Productivity Software

Complice forces you to connect every task you write to a goal you have set within the system. This forces you to examine the degree your daily work is miscellaneous versus bringing you closer to what you really want.

(2) 🎧 Best Podcast I Heard This Week 🎧: Dave Rubin on The Pomp Podcast

Dave Rubin explains why his distrust in Big Tech lead him to create Locals.com, his own platform for streaming video and interacting with his followers.

Podcast Updates 🎧

• LK #77 with Brandon Green: Is Bitcoin Good for Humanity?

• LK #76 with Scott Rieckens: Financial Independence, Retire Early Q+A

• LK #75 with Joel Runyon: Achieving IMPOSSIBLE Goals.

LK Content Coming Soon 📅

• David Bailey from Bitcoin Magazine and BTC 2021

• Peter McCormack, Host of What Bitcoin Did & Nassim Taleb heckler

• Nick Velasquez, Author and Skill Acquisition Expert

Photo of the week — Visualize Value Graphic

Jack Butcher’s drawings are powerful.

Each notification (distraction) contributes to a steady decline in productivity and momentum.

Stay focused!

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