Lessons From The Book: Atomic Habits
1. What is the Atomic Habits about?
The book, “Atomic Habits” by James Clear, provides a proven framework on how to create new and/or break bad habits. These techniques can be work into your daily routine, in order to make or break habits easy.
2. What have I learnt from Atomic Habits?
These are the three lessons that I learnt from the book.
Aim for 1% improvement every day
Learn to fall in love with boredom
Create systems to help you
3. How has the book changed my life?
I knew that it's a good habit to create systems for your daily life even before reading the “Atomic Habits”. In this book, a system may refer to your morning routine or the way you set up your work desk. After reading this book, I realised that it is equally important to review and improvise on the systems. Ever since, I created a few systems in my life, such as tidying up my work desk at the end of each day, I can see improvement in my daily life. I will feel less stressed the next day when I see a neat table too.
Secondly, I am not a fan of boredom. Whenever I am bored (or lack the motivation to do work), I tend to scroll mindlessly on social media platforms, especially Youtube. It's a habit that I want to break. Hence, I deleted the Facebook App on my phone. I am contemplating if I should delete more of such apps on my phone, because I want to spend less time on my phone too.
Currently, I am trying to learn to deal with "boredom" by reminding myself of my goals. For example, when I am bored and lack the motivation to write a blog post, I would remind myself why I started this blog in the first place. I start by doing something easy first before moving to something that requires me to crack my brain. On most days, I aim to write one or two paragraphs. There are also good days when I managed to complete an entire article. It happens when I am in the flow.
"The greatest threat to success is not failure but boredom."
So, I am learning to show up and do work! Even if I lack the motivation, simply show up and do the work would get me into the momentum. My future self will thank me for not leaving everything to the last minute. My future self will not be so stressed also.
Nowadays, I also like to ask myself, would I hate myself tomorrow if I did or did not do something. For example, when I am craving for fast food, I will remind myself that my stomach is going to hate me tomorrow. This method works for me. I only had fast food twice since the start of 2021.
After reading this book, I feel motivated to improve by 1% every day, especially in my craft. I am learning to make small changes every day. You will reap what you sow. It is like compound interest.
4. Who should read the Atomic Habits?
I would recommend this book to anyone who would like to build good habits and/or break the bad ones, be more productive and improve their life in general. It is because the book offers realistic solutions and examples. It's relatively easy to integrate the steps into your daily life. Once you build into your routine, the habits will get easier.
I would rate this book as "life-changing". It provides great and doable tips to improve your current life. Grab a copy and read it. Who knows the book may impact your life positively too!
- Esther
I welcome suggestions and collaboration. Feel free to drop me a note at hello.estherp@gmail.com.
