Atomic habits book summary

Atomic habits written by James clear teach us about the power of small changes. Small changes can produce extraordinary results. Here the author has given the example of the British cycling team. Their performance was terrible in almost every competition. Even their bike manufacturer declined to sell them their bikes to save their reputation and then everything changed for this team. Brailsford was hired as the coach and he used the power of small changes. He made small adjustments in almost every aspect from redesigning bike seats to massage gels. They even decided which mattress will be more comfortable for the players and this resulted in their drastic improvement. They finished the Olympic games of 2008 with 60 percent of the medals. Compound interests play a major role in habit formation. If a millionaire will start spending more than his income then he will lose all his money on the other hand if a poor person will save and then invest the majority of his money then he will become financially free after crossing a critical threshold. Most of the time powerful outcomes are often delayed. Cancer spends the majority of his life undetectable and then destroys 80 percent of the body within few weeks. winners and losers both have the same goals but they still don’t get the same results because winners focus on the system. There is no benefit in reading a book if you are not learning anything. A book reader enjoys the book and focuses on grasping knowledge instead of just finishing it. We should always focus on the system because achieving a goal is just a momentary change. You will feel happy for only 2 to 6 days after completing your goals. It restricts your happiness. Try to create a system with the habits of winners and to create those habits you have to change your identity. Instead of focusing on winning the life focus on how a winner behaves. The goal is not to lose weight but to be a healthy person. The goal is not to score an A grade but to be a hardworking Student. There are four steps to build a habit which are discussed in this book.

Make it obvious- there was a woman who was working as a paramedic. She identified that something was wrong with her father-in-law. She immediately told him to see a doctor. The doctor told her that she had just prevented a heart attack. Due to her profession, she had seen those signs in patients too so it was obvious for her. Army personals have also successfully differentiated their aircraft from the enemy although they look similar on the radar. This automatic system is created by the brain to increase its efficiency. This thing can work to your advantage as well as to your disadvantage. If you are doing something wrong then it is better to be aware and the best way to be aware is to speak. Tell yourself aloud that you are eating pizza and this will negatively affect your fitness goals. To make a habit obvious assign a specific time and location to it. Once you have a separate room or table or even a corner of the room for reading a book then this environment will automatically help you to read a book irrespective of your motivational levels. Habit stacking is another way to form a habit easily. If you finish your workout at 7 am then perform a new habit just after doing your workout. After some days Your brain will automatically tell you to perform that habit after you finish your workout. Once you implement good habits in your routine you will automatically include more habits in your schedule. Just like one purchase leads to another. In 1971 during the Vietnam war, it was discovered that 15 percent of the US soldiers were heroin addicts. At that time heroin addiction was considered incurable but everyone was shocked when soldiers eliminated their addiction overnight. This happened due to the change in their environment. They returned to their family and friends and there was no stress of war. Design your environment in such a way that it supports your habits. Resisting temptation is not a long-term strategy. Keep your fruits in the middle of the table and they will remind you to eat healthy food. Make it attractive- Dopamine plays a major role in our life. Once scientists blocked the dopamine in rats and suddenly those rats lost their will to survive. This applies to human behavior as well. Craving motivates us to take action. Your brain receives a shot of dopamine when you anticipate a reward that forces you to take action. Watching television will produce dopamine in your brain so attach a habit with this old habit. Promise yourself that you will reward yourself with an episode of a series after continuously doing exercise for a week but choose your pleasure wisely. We are humans and we care what others think about us because it increases the chance of our survival and increases our mating opportunities. People will even do those things also which they consider wrong just because others are doing it so if you want to learn a new habit spend your time with those peoples who are already performing your desired habit. Social approval will make any habit more attractive. There was a Hungarian man who believed in hard work. He raised 3 daughters with his wife and they motivated their daughters to play chess. Their daughters performed at every available competition. Their room was filled with pictures of chess masters. They performed extraordinarily in this field and broke records. Playing chess became attractive for them because of respect and their environment. The author shared the story of a friend who stopped smoking just after reading a book. This book told him all the reasons why he shouldn’t do smoking and the book made the habit of smoking unattractive for him.

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Make it easy- the professor at the University of Florida assigned tasks to his students. He divided his students into two groups. Group A had to produce pictures in terms of quantity and Group B had to produce pictures in quality. Students From Group A took a lot of pictures and increased their skills on the other hand group B just studied the process of clicking a perfect picture. At the end of the experiment, it was concluded that group A produced the best picture in terms of quality. Your brain will change its structure when you will start reading one book per month and with time, it will increase its efficiency. So, it can be concluded that habit formation depends upon how many times you have repeated that habit and to repeat any new habit it should be easy. The number rule you should remember while implementing a new habit is to make it easy. Start with 2 push-ups daily. Start with one page. Don’t read more than one. It is consistency that matters. After crossing the threshold, it will become automatic for you. Reduce the unnecessary clutter from your environment. Japanese companies have used this hack. Companies are constantly improving their websites in such a way that customers have to make few choices. Increase the friction and choices with the bad habit and decrease the friction and number of choices with good habits.

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Make it satisfying- it doesn’t matter if the habit is attractive or easy you won’t repeat that habit until it satisfies you. There was a health worker who went to Karachi in Pakistan. Conditions in Karachi were terrible. Lack of a proper waste removal system leads to various diseases. But the solution was there and people in Karachi were also aware of that solution which was to wash your hands with soap. But the majority of the population was not washing their hand properly so a company created a soap which had excellent fragrance and was easy to use. It dramatically decreased illness in the area. Chew gum was not a very successful product in the beginning but then companies used different flavors to make their products more satisfying. The biggest problem with satisfaction is that we are wired towards immediate satisfaction. It had helped us in the past for our survival but in the present time, it is not working for us. Your ability to delay your satisfaction increases your chances of having a successful career. The solution to this problem is habit tracking. Track your habit using a calendar and it will provide immediate satisfaction to your brain. It will tell your brain that you are doing progress. There will be those times when you won’t be able to perform a habit consistently. To solve this problem rebound quickly. If you have eaten a pizza due to some reasons don’t eat pizza for a month. Repeating bad behavior more than once will create a new destructive habit.

Originally published at https://www.bookshustler.com on June 6, 2021.