I sincerely thank the Book store where I got attracted the moment I saw this book cover and also some book reviewers who inspired me to give this marvellous bundle of pages a read.

Set in 2018, this book is an extraordinary approach to cultivate tiny habits which results in remarkable successes. This book is all about easy and proven ways to build good habits and break the bad ones. The motivational pathway starts from the life journey of the author himself. The surprising power of atomic habits revolves in just 4 stages which are extremely useful and thoughtful when adapted precisely. To begin with, if you see remarkable results you need to forget about goals and focus on the system instead. The 3 layers of behaviour changes include identity, processes and outcomes.  The most effective way to change your habits is to focus not on what you want to achieve but who you wish to become.

The science of habits includes 4 stages, which are:

  1. Cue
  2. Craving
  3. Response
  4. Reward

All you have to do is to make your cue obvious, your craving attractive, your response easy and your reward satisfying.  The inversions of these 4 laws include the opposite of these i.e invisible, unattractive, difficult and unsatisfying.

THE FIRST LAW: CUE

You are entitled to make your cues very obvious so that your brain picks them up and predict certain outcomes without any consciousness. Before you cultivate a habit, you need to be aware of what you are doing. For this, the author suggests us a simple technique called the “Habits Scorecard “and “Pointing and calling” method. This law also included the implementation intention which basically talks about a plan which has to be done beforehand on when and where to act since time and location matters a lot. The next concept is HABIT STACKING which teaches tracking a new habit on top of our current habit. Let go of your old cues and find new ones in a new environment. The inversion of this law is making it invisible, there will often be temptations in your way which has to be overcome with self-control.

THE SECOND LAW: CRAVING

This law states that you have to make your habits attractive. Here comes the dopamine-driven feedback loop which rises for us to act. One of the ways to make your habits more attractive is the temptation bundle which teaches us to pair an action you want to do with an action you need to do. Our kith and kin play a major role in the formation of our habits. The inversion of the 2nd law is to make it unattractive. Habits are attractive when it is associated with a positive feeling and it is unattractive when it is associated with negative feelings.

THE THIRD LAW: RESPONSE

This is all about making it easy. The habits must be made repetitive and the focus has to be on taking action and not motion. People tend to enjoy doing things that require the least effort. In this context, we need to be in an environment where doing the right thing is as easy as possible. Procrastination is the biggest threat to all of us. The Two Minute Rule is to our rescue, it states that when we start a new habit it should take less than 2 minutes to do. We are supposed to ritualize the habit in the beginning. The inversion of this law is to make it difficult. For this, we need a commitment device that helps us in making a choice at present for a better future.

THE FOURTH LAW: REWARD

This is about making it satisfying. We are likely to repeat a behaviour when the reward is satisfying. The Cardinal rule of behaviour change states that “What is immediately rewarded is repeated. What is immediately punished in avoided”. We need to increase our odds to make our habits repetitive. Habit tracker is a legitimate tool that helps us perform our habit per diem. We should never miss our track twice. Just because we can measure something doesn’t mean it’s the most important thing. The inversion of this law is to make it unsatisfying. A habit contract can be used to make it unsatisfying. Accountability partners can guide us when there is constantly watching happening on us.

The secret to maximizing your odds of success is to choose the right field of competition and your personality plays a major role here. The Goldilocks rule states that humans experience peak motivation when working on tasks that are right on the edge of their current abilities. We need to overcome boredom as it is an important cause when compared to failure.

      HABITS+ DELIBERATE PRACTICE= MASTERY is the key to betterment.

With this guidance, James Clear has set us some tools and strategies that we can use to build better systems and shape better habits. If done with interest and perseverance small habits can make our lives sumptuous and remarkable.

Personally, I would like to rate this book: 4.8/5

Written by

Anuradha R, BCOM KCLAS, Books and Beyond