Psychology & Counseling
![James Clear - [object Object] author](https://res.cloudinary.com/readsomnia/image/upload/authors/a_B07DJTJC3X.jpg)
Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones
The #1 New York Times bestseller. Over 3 million copies sold!
Tiny Changes, Remarkable Results
No matter your goals, Atomic Habits offers a proven framework for improving--every day. James Clear, one of the world's leading experts on habit formation, reveals practical strategies that will teach you exactly how to form good habits, break bad ones, and master the tiny behaviors that lead to remarkable results.
If you're having trouble changing your habits, the problem isn't you. The problem is your system. Bad habits repeat themselves again and again not because you don't want to change, but because you have the wrong system for change. You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems. Here, you'll get a proven system that can take you to new heights.
Clear is known for his ability to distill complex topics into simple behaviors that can be easily applied to daily life and work. Here, he draws on the most proven ideas from biology, psychology, and neuroscience to create an easy-to-understand guide for making good habits inevitable and bad habits impossible. Along the way, readers will be inspired and entertained with true stories from Olympic gold medalists, award-winning artists, business leaders, life-saving physicians, and star comedians who have used the science of small habits to master their craft and vault to the top of their field.
Learn how to:
• make time for new habits (even when life gets crazy);
• overcome a lack of motivation and willpower;
• design your environment to make success easier;
• get back on track when you fall off course;
...and much more.
Atomic Habits will reshape the way you think about progress and success, and give you the tools and strategies you need to transform your habits--whether you are a team looking to win a championship, an organization hoping to redefine an industry, or simply an individual who wishes to quit smoking, lose weight, reduce stress, or achieve any other goal.
Tiny Changes, Remarkable Results
No matter your goals, Atomic Habits offers a proven framework for improving--every day. James Clear, one of the world's leading experts on habit formation, reveals practical strategies that will teach you exactly how to form good habits, break bad ones, and master the tiny behaviors that lead to remarkable results.
If you're having trouble changing your habits, the problem isn't you. The problem is your system. Bad habits repeat themselves again and again not because you don't want to change, but because you have the wrong system for change. You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems. Here, you'll get a proven system that can take you to new heights.
Clear is known for his ability to distill complex topics into simple behaviors that can be easily applied to daily life and work. Here, he draws on the most proven ideas from biology, psychology, and neuroscience to create an easy-to-understand guide for making good habits inevitable and bad habits impossible. Along the way, readers will be inspired and entertained with true stories from Olympic gold medalists, award-winning artists, business leaders, life-saving physicians, and star comedians who have used the science of small habits to master their craft and vault to the top of their field.
Learn how to:
• make time for new habits (even when life gets crazy);
• overcome a lack of motivation and willpower;
• design your environment to make success easier;
• get back on track when you fall off course;
...and much more.
Atomic Habits will reshape the way you think about progress and success, and give you the tools and strategies you need to transform your habits--whether you are a team looking to win a championship, an organization hoping to redefine an industry, or simply an individual who wishes to quit smoking, lose weight, reduce stress, or achieve any other goal.
Editorial Reviews
Wall Street Journal bestseller
USA Today bestseller
Publisher's Weekly bestseller
One of Fast Company's 7 Best Business Books of 2018
One of Business Insider's Best Self-Help Books of 2018
"A supremely practical and useful book. James Clear distills the most fundamental information about habit formation, so you can accomplish more by focusing on less."
-Mark Manson, #1 New York Times best-selling author of The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck
"James Clear has spent years honing the art and studying the science of habits. This engaging, hands-on book is the guide you need to break bad routines and make good ones."
-Adam Grant, New York Times best-selling author of Originals, Give and Take, and Option B with Sheryl Sandberg
"A special book that will change how you approach your day and live your life."
-Ryan Holiday, bestselling author of The Obstacle is the Way and Ego is the Enemy
"As a physician attempting to help my patients build healthy habits to decrease and reverse chronic disease, Atomic Habits is the playbook I have been searching for. Not only does the book offer actionable items I can teach my patients, I can refer them to read and implement the ideas themselves. The format is powerful and simple. This should be taught in all medical schools."
-Laurie Marbas, MD, United States Air Force veteran
"Atomic Habits was a great read. I learned a lot and think it'll be helpful to a lot of people."
-Gayle King, co-anchor of CBS This Morning and editor-at-large for O, The Oprah Magazine
"Useful new book"
–Wall Street Journal
"In Atomic Habits, Clear will show you how to overcome a lack of motivation, change your environment to encourage success, and make time for new (and better) habits.
–Glamour.com
"Atomic Habits is a great book for anyone who is frustrated with the way they can't seem to kick that one (or two dozen) bad habit(s) and wants to finally achieve health, fitness, financial freedom, great relationships, and a good life."
–Medium.com
"Excellent. Well worth the read."
–Benjamin Hardy, Inc.com
USA Today bestseller
Publisher's Weekly bestseller
One of Fast Company's 7 Best Business Books of 2018
One of Business Insider's Best Self-Help Books of 2018
"A supremely practical and useful book. James Clear distills the most fundamental information about habit formation, so you can accomplish more by focusing on less."
-Mark Manson, #1 New York Times best-selling author of The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck
"James Clear has spent years honing the art and studying the science of habits. This engaging, hands-on book is the guide you need to break bad routines and make good ones."
-Adam Grant, New York Times best-selling author of Originals, Give and Take, and Option B with Sheryl Sandberg
"A special book that will change how you approach your day and live your life."
-Ryan Holiday, bestselling author of The Obstacle is the Way and Ego is the Enemy
"As a physician attempting to help my patients build healthy habits to decrease and reverse chronic disease, Atomic Habits is the playbook I have been searching for. Not only does the book offer actionable items I can teach my patients, I can refer them to read and implement the ideas themselves. The format is powerful and simple. This should be taught in all medical schools."
-Laurie Marbas, MD, United States Air Force veteran
"Atomic Habits was a great read. I learned a lot and think it'll be helpful to a lot of people."
-Gayle King, co-anchor of CBS This Morning and editor-at-large for O, The Oprah Magazine
"Useful new book"
–Wall Street Journal
"In Atomic Habits, Clear will show you how to overcome a lack of motivation, change your environment to encourage success, and make time for new (and better) habits.
–Glamour.com
"Atomic Habits is a great book for anyone who is frustrated with the way they can't seem to kick that one (or two dozen) bad habit(s) and wants to finally achieve health, fitness, financial freedom, great relationships, and a good life."
–Medium.com
"Excellent. Well worth the read."
–Benjamin Hardy, Inc.com
Readers Top Reviews
Pravin Poojary.
And I absolutely mean it what I said in Headline of my comment. I have been following jamesclear.com from very long. His one article has absolutely changed my life, imagine what this book can offer to you. I have been chasing to build many habits and experimenting with them a lot but I would always find a bit difficult to stay with my changed behavior and then while browsing on internet studying more on habits formation I stumbled on James's articles and boy this guy has the answer for habit formation. If you are looking to form a new habit you have to read this Book. I have never commented online on any of the books that I have read but this one deserves a lot of appreciation. This one is for you James, in future if you ever read this comment I want to tell you that your work has hugely impacted my life. And I express my huge gratitude towards your work on Atomic Habits and the articles you post. Thank a lot for this :)
Tushar Joshi
I was aware of many concepts of this book through the web site of the author jamesclear.com In fact that the place from where I came to know James first time. The article on habits where he mentions process is important than goals was my starting point. I continued reading his updates through the consistent newsletter he publishes through his site. Once the book was announced and available it was a no brainer for me to purchase my own copy to have all the concepts in one place and to go through the ideas in succession. This book provides supplementary material like cheat sheet and templates which are very useful for planning your own habit profile and continuous improvement. This book is action oriented. The concepts present an action plan for trying them in your own situation and to practice the ideas directly in day to day life. This makes the book an instruction manual for nurturing good habits and killing bad habits. I was able to immediately relate to many new habits to start and many not so good habits I can stop and avoid using the identification pattern provided in the book. The principle presented in the book about understanding who to become, that is finding out what identity to achieve instead of just starting or stopping a habit is very helpful. One important aspect of this book is the to the point summary provided after every chapter. Once you have read the book this summary helps recall all the concepts in short time and becomes a concise model to revise the concepts. The book is engaging and is suitable for reading cover to cover as it provides many stories and references. As the concept of process than goals was already known to me through the Learning How to Learn MOOC at Coursera, I was glad to find the same concept mentioned in this book and was able to relate quickly with the principles. The book also becomes a workbook and reference material once you have gone through it. The chapters are divided into sections which can be referred for particular situation in hand. I will recommend this book for anyone who is eager to understand why habits are formed and how to nurture good habits and avoid bad ones.
Tom Venuto, Author o
I've read a lot of books on changing behavior and building habits and James Clear's Atomic Habits is my new favorite. This book is different from others in the way it covers an enormous amount of ground in the larger area of self-improvement while seamlessly tying all these ideas back into the central theme of habits. One of the core concepts in Atomic Habits is to focus on the small improvement. The impact a 1% improvement per day can make may appear negligible at first, but Clear makes a compelling argument that in the case of habits, thinking small produces the biggest results over time. "Habits are the compound interest of self-improvement," explains Clear. Over the months and years, the accumulated effect of small habitual daily behaviors is staggering. Early in the book we are also warned that this compounding works both ways, so we'd better make sure we're making it work in the positive direction, not for the negative. This is a concept I was introduced to years ago under a different name - Kaizen - the Japanese term for continuous incremental improvement. What's different and new in this book is how the concept is applied specifically to building habits. I found the information introduced in chapter two about behavior change at the identity level to be spot-on. You're also given a simple two-step process for changing your identity and this one idea alone is incredibly powerful. In chapter three, we are introduced to the habit loop - cue, craving, response, reward - and we learn how to build good habits in 4 simple steps and break bad habits in 4 simple steps. One of those steps to habit formation, which goes hand in hand with the 1% concept, is how to make it not only small, but easy. In the chapters that follow, this is exactly what you find out. Other ideas of great value that stood out included, habit stacking (the best way to form a new habit), habit tracking, habit shaping and how to design your environment - physical and social - for habit building success. You learn the truth about self-control, how to stop procrastinating and how to use implementation intentions, temptation bundling and motivational rituals. The book is simply packed with actionable ideas, tactics and strategies. Virtually every idea in the book is useful and resonated with me. While I may not agree that we should "forget about goals," I agree with one of Clear's core principles in the book - that we must develop systems for change. If we only focus on goals and don't develop systems and a focus on the process, we risk falling into a number of goal-related traps which ultimately lead to stagnation. With the right systems, we're rewarded with continuous improvement on a lifelong journey of success. Another difference between Atomic Habits and other books in this genre is that while it's based on science ...
Haical Sajovic Hadda
I previously wrote this review right after reading the book. Today, February 15th, after applying James’s system for 100 days on a few tiny habits, I feel compelled to share updates with you because they have sincerely worked. I will divide the review into 5 parts. The first part is a summary of the book with short excerpts highlighted while taking notes. Next, I hope to share pieces of advice that have motivated me while building new habits. Following that, I will share how I implemented the first 3 habits throughout these months. Then, some thoughts to whom I would recommend reading the book. Last, there are 4 complementary readings. SUMMARY [Introduction] James starts by sharing personal strategies he implemented to recover from a serious accident in high school. That event forced him to improve the quality of his routine to get his life in order, coming to the conclusion that “we all deal with setbacks, but in the long run, the quality of our lives often depends on the quality of our habits. With the same habits, you will end up with the same results. But with better habits, anything is possible.” [Section I : The Fundamentals] [Chapter 1] Here we learn the power of compounding effect: changes that seem small and unimportant at any given day will compound into remarkable results if we are willing to stick with them for months and years. James explains that “breakthrough moments are often the result of many previous actions, which build up the potential required to unleash a major change.” Comparing to habits, he shows that bamboo can barely be seen during the first couple of years while the roots grow underground before exploding for almost 100 feet into the air in a few weeks. From that perspective, we come to understand the best outcomes are generally delayed. [Chapter 2] Based on a 3-layer concentric circle behavior change model—divided into outcome change, process change, and identity change—James explains that we should pay attention to our inner identity by focusing on beliefs, assumptions, and values. “Many people begin the process of changing their habits by focusing on what they want to achieve. This leads us to outcome-based habits. The alternative is to build identity-based habits. With this approach, we start by focusing on who we wish to become.” The strongest changes, then, happen from inside out, starting from our identity, passing through the process, and ultimately changing the outcome. [Chapter 3] In this chapter we are introduced to a 4-step framework, which is composed of cue, craving, response, and reward. James calls it 'The 4 Laws of Behavior Change'. He then explains that we can think of each law as a lever that influences our behavior—when the levers are in the right positions, they create good habits effortless whereas when they are in the wrong...
Short Excerpt Teaser
It is so easy to overestimate the importance of one defining moment and underestimate the value of making small improvements on a daily basis. Too often, we convince ourselves that massive success requires massive action. Whether it is losing weight, building a business, writing a book, winning a championship, or achieving any other goal, we put pressure on ourselves to make some earth- shattering improvement that everyone will talk about.
Meanwhile, improving by 1 percent isn't particularly notable-sometimes it isn't even noticeable-but it can be far more meaningful, especially in the long run. The difference a tiny improvement can make over time is astounding. Here's how the math works out: if you can get 1 percent better each day for one year, you'll end up thirty-seven times better by the time you're done. Conversely, if you get 1 percent worse each day for one year, you'll decline nearly down to zero. What starts as a small win or a minor setback accumulates into something much more.
Habits are the compound interest of self-improvement. The same way that money multiplies through compound interest, the effects of your habits multiply as you repeat them. They seem to make little difference on any given day and yet the impact they deliver over the months and years can be enormous. It is only when looking back two, five, or perhaps ten years later that the value of good habits and the cost of bad ones becomes strikingly apparent.
This can be a difficult concept to appreciate in daily life. We often dismiss small changes because they don't seem to matter very much in the moment. If you save a little money now, you're still not a millionaire. If you go to the gym three days in a row, you're still out of shape. If you study Mandarin for an hour tonight, you still haven't learned the language. We make a few changes, but the results never seem to come quickly and so we slide back into our previous routines.
Unfortunately, the slow pace of transformation also makes it easy to let a bad habit slide. If you eat an unhealthy meal today, the scale doesn't move much. If you work late tonight and ignore your family, they will forgive you. If you procrastinate and put your project off until tomorrow, there will usually be time to finish it later. A single decision is easy to dismiss.
But when we repeat 1 percent errors, day after day, by replicating poor decisions, duplicating tiny mistakes, and rationalizing little excuses, our small choices compound into toxic results. It's the accumulation of many missteps-1 percent decline here and there-that eventually leads to a problem.
The impact created by a change in your habits is similar to the effect of shifting the route of an airplane by just a few degrees. Imagine you are flying from Los Angeles to New York City. If a pilot leaving from LAX adjusts the heading just 3.5 degrees south, you will land in Washington, D.C., instead of New York. Such a small change is barely noticeable at takeoff-the nose of the airplane moves just a few feet-but when magnified across the entire United States, you end up hundreds of miles apart.
Similarly, a slight change in your daily habits can guide your life to a very different destination. Making a choice that is 1 percent better or 1 percent worse seems insignificant in the moment, but over the span of moments that make up a lifetime these choices determine the difference between who you are and who you could be. Success is the product of daily habits-not once‑in‑a‑lifetime transformations.
That said, it doesn't matter how successful or unsuccessful you are right now. What matters is whether your habits are putting you on the path toward success. You should be far more concerned with your current trajectory than with your current results. If you're a millionaire but you spend more than you earn each month, then you're on a bad trajectory. If your spending habits don't change, it's not going to end well. Conversely, if you're broke, but you save a little bit every month, then you're on the path toward financial freedom-even if you're moving slower than you'd like.
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. Are you spending less than you earn each month? Are you making it into the gym each week? Are you reading boo...
Meanwhile, improving by 1 percent isn't particularly notable-sometimes it isn't even noticeable-but it can be far more meaningful, especially in the long run. The difference a tiny improvement can make over time is astounding. Here's how the math works out: if you can get 1 percent better each day for one year, you'll end up thirty-seven times better by the time you're done. Conversely, if you get 1 percent worse each day for one year, you'll decline nearly down to zero. What starts as a small win or a minor setback accumulates into something much more.
Habits are the compound interest of self-improvement. The same way that money multiplies through compound interest, the effects of your habits multiply as you repeat them. They seem to make little difference on any given day and yet the impact they deliver over the months and years can be enormous. It is only when looking back two, five, or perhaps ten years later that the value of good habits and the cost of bad ones becomes strikingly apparent.
This can be a difficult concept to appreciate in daily life. We often dismiss small changes because they don't seem to matter very much in the moment. If you save a little money now, you're still not a millionaire. If you go to the gym three days in a row, you're still out of shape. If you study Mandarin for an hour tonight, you still haven't learned the language. We make a few changes, but the results never seem to come quickly and so we slide back into our previous routines.
Unfortunately, the slow pace of transformation also makes it easy to let a bad habit slide. If you eat an unhealthy meal today, the scale doesn't move much. If you work late tonight and ignore your family, they will forgive you. If you procrastinate and put your project off until tomorrow, there will usually be time to finish it later. A single decision is easy to dismiss.
But when we repeat 1 percent errors, day after day, by replicating poor decisions, duplicating tiny mistakes, and rationalizing little excuses, our small choices compound into toxic results. It's the accumulation of many missteps-1 percent decline here and there-that eventually leads to a problem.
The impact created by a change in your habits is similar to the effect of shifting the route of an airplane by just a few degrees. Imagine you are flying from Los Angeles to New York City. If a pilot leaving from LAX adjusts the heading just 3.5 degrees south, you will land in Washington, D.C., instead of New York. Such a small change is barely noticeable at takeoff-the nose of the airplane moves just a few feet-but when magnified across the entire United States, you end up hundreds of miles apart.
Similarly, a slight change in your daily habits can guide your life to a very different destination. Making a choice that is 1 percent better or 1 percent worse seems insignificant in the moment, but over the span of moments that make up a lifetime these choices determine the difference between who you are and who you could be. Success is the product of daily habits-not once‑in‑a‑lifetime transformations.
That said, it doesn't matter how successful or unsuccessful you are right now. What matters is whether your habits are putting you on the path toward success. You should be far more concerned with your current trajectory than with your current results. If you're a millionaire but you spend more than you earn each month, then you're on a bad trajectory. If your spending habits don't change, it's not going to end well. Conversely, if you're broke, but you save a little bit every month, then you're on the path toward financial freedom-even if you're moving slower than you'd like.
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. Are you spending less than you earn each month? Are you making it into the gym each week? Are you reading boo...
