Atomic Habits - James Clear

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to conclude that the quality of your life is determined by your habits.

Good habits are difficult to acquire and easy to lose. On the opposite end, Bad habits are really easy to acquire yet even more difficult to get rid of.

So how can a person go through life building good habits while still avoiding the trap of slipping into bad habits.

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The simple answer to that question is “Atomic Habits” By slowly developing your habits in a relaxed, chunk size manner over a long period of time. One is able to unleash a compounding effect to those habits which once seemed impossible to achieve. Transforming them into things you do seamlessly without friction and effort.

James Clear’s “Atomic Habits” is probably the only self-help book I would recommend to anyone, because it takes extremely complex human behaviours and articulates them in a lucid manner for anyone to understand and apply to their life.

It’s not the regurgitated, wishy-washy, Change your life nonsense we see everywhere. It’s just one of those special books I’m really grateful I picked up and started reading. Here are some of my key takeaways from the book.

Success is the product of daily habits

James Clear uses the analogy of an airplane flying from LA to New York. If the trajectory of that plane is adjusted by only 3.5 degrees South, that plane will eventually arrive in Washington DC instead of New York.

So that small change of a few feet which is barely noticeable at take-off is magnified across the US which ends up to be hundreds of miles apart.

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This analogy resonated with me because it clearly articulates the process of learning a new language. Most of my students become overwhelmed with the long process of learning English.

I always try to remind them to forget about the mountain top and focus on climbing a few steps everyday, while enjoying the process and stopping to smell the roses. The small actions everyday will compound into huge results over-time.

Plateau of Latent Potential

When a bamboo seed is planted, it can barely be seen for the first 5 years. However, underground it is building an extensive root system slowly. After a few years of what seems like nothing is happening, suddenly the Bamboo shoots up to 25 metres in about 6 weeks.

This is similar to how habits work, during the early and middle stages it looks like there is no progress and people lose interest and motivation and eventually give up. Progress doesn’t happen in a linear fashion, it’s usually like a zig-zag of frustration with many ups and downs. It often feels like you are not going anywhere.

It’s important to understand that any compounding process is delayed, that is why it is difficult to build habits that last. Frustration and impatience start to creep in after months of going to the gym, and you still don’t see physical improvements.

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Most people will simply give up, because they don’t understand the key principle of the plateau of latent potential. Habits need to persist long enough to break through this plateau.

The word people use for someone who has managed to break through this plateau is “Overnight Success”  because they choose not to see all the work and effort that goes on behind the scenes.

Just like the Bamboo tree which seems like it’s dead but after an extended period of time bursts out like an explosion and surprises everyone around it. This is the powerful process of latent potential, impatience is the enemy.

Build Good Systems

This is the fundamental principle in the whole book, which really caught my attention. How many of us fall into the trap of setting new goals every year with the hope of changing our life.

Just before the New Year, we promise ourselves to change our old ways and turn over a new leaf. To become better people, make more money, be more happier. 

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But the biggest problem with this method is that you’re not articulating how you are going to achieve those goals. That’s why “Clear” bluntly suggests that you forget about goals, and rather focus on systems. Because goals are about the results you want to achieve, but systems are about the processes that lead to those results.

An example of this is with Sports. The Goal of any sports is to finish the game with the highest score. So the only way to win is to get better each day. This is the same with life, if you want a better job, more money you have to improve your skills. If you want better results, then forget about your goals. Focus on your systems. Goals are only good for setting your direction, but systems are the best for making progress.

When I decided to start learning Mandarin seriously, I put together a detailed study plan of what I needed to do everyday. The amount of characters I had to study, the time spent on different aspects of the language such as Reading, Listening and Pronunciation drills. 

I built a detailed system of what I needed to do everyday, eventually after months of following this comprehensive system I was able to make great progress without the negative thoughts reminding me that this is one of the most challenging languages in the world. The system took care of everything, all I had to do was show up everyday and do the work. 

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I eventually reached an Intermediate level in Mandarin whereby I could have conversations with Natives quite comfortably, read books and watch movies. This all seemed impossible when I started.

Looking back at this achievement, I can see the key difference between me and the other students who had the same goal of speaking Mandarin. Winners and losers have the same goal. It is only when you implement a system with that goal, because that system ensures continuous small improvements which will eventually get you the results you want.

In Conclusion  

I think the biggest takeaway from this book is that we don’t need to feel overwhelmed and stressed by what lies ahead in life. 

Our general ideas about goals is what causes anxiousness and friction in our life. The notion that we cannot be happy unless we achieve a particular goal is what throws most people into a state of depression. 

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I love James Clear’s refreshing take on habits. It fits neatly into the chaos of modern life. It helps us remember what the purpose of life is, which we can sometimes forget while navigating around the complexities of achievement. 

“The purpose of setting goals is to win the game. The purpose of building systems is to continue playing the game. True long-term thinking is goal-less thinking. It’s not about any single accomplishment. It is about the cycle of endless refinement and continuous improvement”