Five Books to Read in Your 20's - Book 5

Atomic Habits by James Clear

All the books I've discussed to this point have long been in print and well-regarded as foundational in the personal and professional development space. This book is slightly newer but has already established itself with millions of copies sold, and for a good reason. Habits define our lives, and as Clear discusses, it is the aggregation of small habits that can lead to an outsized impact. Too often, we think it is monumental life-changing decisions that create the trajectory of our lives, but as Clear discusses, it is just the opposite. It is the small choices we make every day that lead to these break-out moments and build our life and success. Or, it is the inverse – small daily bad habits that lead us spiralling.

"Your outcomes are a lagging measure of your habits. Your net worth is a lagging measure of your financial habits. Your weight is a lagging measure of your eating habits. Your knowledge is a lagging measure of your learning habits. Your clutter is a lagging measure of your cleaning habits. You get what you repeat. If you want to predict where you'll end up in life, all you have to do is follow the curve of tiny gains or tiny losses, and see how your daily choices will compound ten or twenty years down the line."

The simplicity of this book is what I resonated with most. I also found it very action-oriented, with a good balance between the why behind things and practical application. Clear helps us understand why we behave the way we do and strategies for building and breaking habits using our nature to help us rather than against us.

As Clear describes, the science behind our behaviors revolves around a four-step model, the Habit Cycle. Cue, Craving, Response, Reward. The cue is the signal that predicts a reward. As the cue starts the process of anticipation, this then leads to a craving. This is the motivation in the Habit Cycle. Next is the response. This is the habit which comes in two forms: thought or action. Lastly is the reward, which, as Clear describes, serve two purposes, they satisfy us and teach us.

"Rewards teach us which actions are worth remembering in the future. Rewards close the feedback loop and complete the habit cycle."

Let's run through an example of this that we all face every day and think about how every thought and action we take is worked through the habit cycle. You'll realize that these habits are so automatic we don't even recognize this cycle occurring. For example, eating lunch - you look at the clock, see it is noon or feel hungry (Cue), you desire food/being full (Craving), you eat (Response), your full (Reward).

Now that we have a basic understanding of how habits are shaped and progressed let's understand how we take this information and directly translate it into action. I challenge you as you read this to stop and honestly think about a habit you have wanted to build and how you would work it through the cycle above to create a cue and the subsequent progression to reward. I also would like you to think about the laws below and determine specific ways you will implement them to build the habit you've been wanting.

The laws are as follows: Make it Obvious. Make it Attractive. Make it Easy. Make it Satisfying.

By applying this framework and its inverse to create and break habits, we are working with the habit cycle on our side. I also want to tie these laws to a focus on systems/strategies. You've read me talk about systems before in my previous article, Five Books to read in Your 20's – Book 4.

"If you are a coach, your goal might be to win a championship. Your system is the way you recruit players, manage your assistant coaches, and conduct practice."

Through all this, our ultimate goal is identity change. As I read this book, I committed to taking the information and applying it specifically to a habit I was trying to build or break. This book operated more as a case study for me than a text. The four habits I decided to work on were/are: Reading, Writing, Not Wasting Time, and being Present. My ultimate goal, of course, is not the habit but the identity. In reading, building an identity as a life-longer learner. In writing, being creative and someone who shares with others. In Not Wasting Time, being some who manages stress and boredom appropriately. In Presence, being someone who is connected, grateful, and aware. I say were/are because this is a never-ending process that I still succeed and fail at daily.

"Imagine two people resisting a cigarette. When offered a smoke, the first person says, "No thanks, I'm trying to quit." It sounds like a reasonable response, but this person still believes they are a smoker. They are hoping their behavior will change while carrying around the same beliefs. The second person declines by saying, "No thanks, I'm not a smoker." It's a small difference, but this statement signals a shift in identity. Smoking was a part of their former life, not their current one. They no longer identify as someone who smokes."

1st Law: Make it Obvious

To make or break habits, we must first start with self-awareness. We must be aware of our habits to change them. In addition, there are three other points Clear discusses to "Make it Obvious", including; implementation intention, habit stacking, and environment design. As I discuss a personal example of how I have used this law to build a habit in my life, I will briefly explain each point.

1st Habit: Reading

As mentioned previously, reading was never something that came naturally to me. I remember dreading it and grudgingly getting through the books assigned to me for most of my life. It wasn't till I reached college and found topics that interested me that I realized this was a habit I wanted to be a part of my life. Not surprisingly, I was unsuccessful in building a consistent reading habit through most of college. This continued after college, and while I have read significantly, there have been fluctuations in my consistency—time to build the habit starting with the 1st law.

As this was my 1st habit, I began by taking inventory of my current habits. This analysis went to the detail of writing down daily activities such as brushing my teeth, driving to work, and eating. I thought through my entire day and wrote down everything I did. Next, I moved to the implementation intention strategy, which is my plan. As Clear discusses, the two most essential cues and time and location. Remember, we are using these laws to work with the habit cycle, so making it obvious is built around working with cues.

My implementation intention, a strategy for creating a new habit using a specific time and location, was, "I will read (Behavior), at 7:00 pm (Time), at my desk (Location)." Adding habit stacking (another strategy), you pair a new habit with a current habit. My stack looks like this; after I eat dinner (current habit), I will read (new habit). Priming my environment with the cue in mind, I placed my book on the counter so I would see it as soon as I finished eating. I also turned on my desk light as an additional cue. Lastly, as the inverse to Making it Obvious, I made the competing activity, scrolling on my phone, invisible by placing it in another room. Why take the self-control to not play on my phone? I'm better off designing my environment to avoid temptation. As Clear discusses, this is the secret of self-control.

"People with high self-control tend to spend less time in tempting situations. It's easier to avoid temptation than resist it."

2nd Law: Make it Attractive

Thinking back to the second step in the habit cycle, craving, let's unpack the 2nd law of habit creation. Remember, we repeat behaviors that feel good and are rewarding. Habits are simply a dopamine-driven feedback loop. Craving is what leads to action, the anticipation of a reward. We will discuss temptation bundling, culture and further understand how craving drives all this.

2nd Habit: Writing

Hey, I'm doing it right now. How did I use this 2nd law to make it to this chair and do exactly as I am now, as I've done every Sunday since I applied this framework to create this habit? How do you make writing attractive to develop a craving to do it? I don't think I've ever heard anyone say, "Man, I'm just craving to write right now; get me my laptop!" Quickly stepping back to understand cravings, these are specific pre-programmed motivations that go back to the beginning of humanity. At its deepest level, we eat to survive, but I doubt this would be your friend's answer if you ask them why they want to eat.

"Your habits are modern-day solutions to ancient problems."

As habits solve problems, many people choose different solutions to answer the same issues. Stressed? One person meditates, one drinks.

I started with temptation bundling to make writing attractive, pairing the action I wanted with the action I needed. Then, pairing temptation bundling with habit stacking, my model went like this, After I drink my coffee (Current Habit), I will write (Habit I need). Then, after I write (Habit I need), I will watch Ben Mallah on YouTube (Habit I want). This strategy of using temptation bundling made writing attractive.

Next, I used culture and understanding our human nature to build the habit of writing. Clear points out how our family and surroundings influence who we are. We imitate the close, the powerful, and the many. Surround yourself with others who have the behavior you desire. I joined a subreddit on writing and actively engaged with others. I also began regularly talking to a family member that is a writer. There was also simultaneously reprogramming going on in my brain to shift my beliefs on writing. Sunday morning comes, and my mindset is not that I have to write. Instead, I have an opportunity to share my knowledge and be creative. Using the strategies above and shifting my mindset created a craving to solve a problem, connecting and bonding with others, with the solution I wanted to build, writing.

3rd Law: Make it Easy

In physics, this would be the path of least resistance. In humans, this is The Law of Least Effort.

"We will naturally gravitate toward the option that requires the least amount of work."

Operating with this understanding in mind, I'll call out a few systems for using the 3rd law to build or break a habit. This is the response phase in the habit cycle. Alter friction, master the decisive moment, and automate. As you will see, this is also self-fulfilling as the more we repeat a behavior, the more the habit cycle is reinforced.

3rd habit (to break): Mindless Screen Time

This is an example of a habit I wanted to break. Most of this wasted time is spent mindlessly scrolling on my computer or phone. It could be the news, YouTube, Redfin, etc. This mindless scrolling is a solution I use to distract myself when I feel stressed or as a way to escape boredom. However, this is not the solution I want to these problems.

To break this habit, I used the inverse of what I would do to build a habit. Because of this, rather than Make it Easy, I Make it Difficult.

To increase the difficulty in doing this, I started by increasing the friction. Rather than my phone sitting right next to me, I place it in a drawer in another room. I have to get up, go into a separate room, and open the drawer to scroll on my phone. Not impossible, but more complicated than simply reaching over. Next, I mastered the decisive moment. This meant that the moment I got home, I had two options:

• Plop on the couch, phone in hand.

• Walk to the other room and put the phone in the drawer.

This was the moment that decided whether I would mindlessly scroll on my phone or not. It was a decision now that would lock in future behavior just as our next strategy does, Automation. With so much technology available to us, we must use this on our side to assist in creating and breaking habits. I use Downtime and App Limits on my phone to automatically manage my screen time. Automation is the best strategy for guaranteeing success. Never want to be late paying bills? Set up Auto-Pay.

4th Law: Make it Satisfying

While the first three laws focus on increasing the odds of behavior being performed, this last law to behavior change focuses on improving the odds a behavior will be repeated. As discussed before, satisfaction is the reward in the habit cycle and closure to the feedback loop. It teaches us that the behavior is worth repeating. Equally as important as the reward is the timing. Our brain naturally prioritizes visible immediate rewards over delayed unseen rewards. Let's work with this human nature and apply strategies from this law.

The systems I will focus on within this law are reinforcement/immediate reward, habit tracking, and the concept of never missing twice.

4th Habit: Joyful Focused Attention

This is a concept from another book, The Mayo Clinic Guide to Stress-Free Living, by Dr. Amit Sood. Joyful Focused Attention anchors you in the current moment, aligning your senses and thoughts. It's the difference between looking at something and seeing something, taking novelty in our surroundings and being 100% present in the moment. Not worrying about the future or thinking about the past. This habit was an opportunity to build more gratitude in my life, be more connected in my relationships, and better manage stress and uncertainty.

"Days pass, and the years vanish, and we walk sightless among miracles" Mishkan Tefilah, Jewish Sabbath Prayer Book.

To build this habit, I started with reinforcement and immediate rewards. Ultimately, the goal is intrinsic motivation and identity change which takes time to build. For my immediate reward, drinking coffee acted as both the reward and the cue. It is also is another example of habit stacking. Practicing Joyful Focused Attention while I drink my morning coffee and look at nature, describing to myself what I am seeing. Habit tracking was another system I implemented and had used previously to build other habits. My journal has a section to mark each habit by day if you complete it. Lastly, I've followed the mantra of never missing twice.

This concept resonated with me more than anything else in this book. It made me think of something I had heard previously and repeated to myself for years. It's the idea that the difference between an amateur and a professional is amateurs operate on feeling and emotion, "work was stressful today, and I'm tired, so I'm not going to make it to the gym. I'll work out harder tomorrow." Versus the professional who knows that the decision to exercise has nothing to do with how they feel.

It is a non-decision. There is no daily internal discussion of justifications and comprises. Professionals operate on an obligation to themselves; amateurs operate on feelings. To balance this with realism as life does happen, Never Miss Twice more addresses the importance of rebounding quickly when we miss a day. Remember, this book is about daily decisions that compound over time when repeated consistently. Missing once will not ruin you. It is the daily reoccurrence of mistakes compounding over time that hurts us.

Putting all this together, I want to go back to where it all begins with self-awareness. Without the ability to introspect, it is challenging to grow. You must commit to actively working to understand who you are to change. With an understanding of who we are and the psychology behind what we do, we can now work with this psyche.

Lastly, understanding what defines "a life?" This is a massive question, and every person will interpret and answer this question differently. My answer, all similar concepts, is that life is defined by the decisions we make, thoughts we repeat and believe; ultimately, our repeated actions define our life. By saying this, I also think it is accurate to say that as habits are simply solutions to the motives all humans face, life can be defined by the habits we build to respond to its motives.