3 reasons you should read Atomic Habits by James Clear
- Nihaal Manaf
- Aug 26, 2021
- 5 min read
Atomic Habits is a self-help book written by James Clear and this book provides a framework for improving any aspect of your life because it focuses on the process rather than the end goal. Now, there are a lot of useless self help books out there and I have a hard time separating the cream from the crop. That's what had me feeling lucky when I came across this book. Before you read on, this article is not a summary of the book because I would be robbing you of the well explained points with relevant examples given by James. Hence, I would simply be convincing all of you to give it a read. Trust me. Implementing this framework will have a considerable change in the quality of life and I say this because it happened to me (more towards the end). At the end of this article, I have attached a pdf that has my highlights from my kindle. These highlights include key information and details that will encourage you to read the book to gain a deeper understanding. So, here are 3 reasons you should read this book.
1. Atomic Habits gives you clear cut and effective pointers
As mentioned earlier, there are a lot of self help books out there and even in the good ones, there is a lot of repetition. In the book, "Think and grow rich", the concept of believing yourself to be rich, helps you become rich was repeated time after time in the beginning of the book, which is where I read up till. I could not bring myself to finish the book because it was filled with ideals and how you should shape your beliefs. This is why it was very easy to appreciate the simplicity of which Atomic Habits gets across its points.
2. Provides a thorough framework for building and breaking habits
Explaining a concept is one thing. Telling you step by step how to implement it is another. Luckily, James comes through by providing a clear cut framework on how to implement or break a habit. This framework is broken down into separate phases which is then broken down further into different steps. It's almost as if using a treasure map to reach your desired state. Nothing comes simpler.
3. Provides interesting examples and studies done to prove a point
I studied German in School and to increase my vocabulary, I relate each word to something relatable in English which either easily allows me to understand it or easily recall it. Let me give you an example. The word 'Zukunft' in German means the future. I remember this by relating Zukunft to the word, zucchini and how I have never had them and I will have them in the, wait for it, the future. This method of increasing my vocabulary by using examples and word associations made my life easier and that was a very effective method. Similarly, James puts a point through and drives it home with interesting examples to allow us to remember the points.
What impact did it have on my life
Increased music sight reading practice by keeping app on front page.
There are several laws in the book that you will come across to form or break a habit. One of the laws is called 'Make it Obvious' and it is self explanatory. I, along with many others surely, have formed a habit of taking out their phones when they are bored or waiting in line for something. Hence, instead of mindlessly scrolling through Instagram or Twitter, I would use this app to better my sight reading. To do this, all I had to do was remove Netflix and Instagram from my home page and put the sight reading app there. That way, when I unlock my phone, the first thing I see is that app. This simple change had me using it more often.
Practice speed typing as I am done with work.
I like typing fast [The Flash soundtrack enters]. It proves useful is various aspects of my life. Faster typing makes it easier to program, game, and even write this article. If I can type as fast as I think, there is a smooth transition from thought to a piece of work. It becomes a more seamless experience. Hence, when I practice typing, I get more and more used to using all my fingers and reduce the rate of making mistakes. To efficiently embrace this habit, I used a technique James called Habit stacking. It simply means adding the habit you want to start doing to a habit that you already do. One example could be that if you wanted to start flossing, you simply do it after you brush your teeth, which is a habit that you have doing since you were a toddler. Hence, I decided to simply practice my typing right after I tick something off my to-do list of the day. As a result, my typing speed has gone from 40 words per minute to 75 words per minute, with an all time high of 100 words per minute. Of course, there is a long way to go to my target speed of 120 words per minute. But, it is important to recognize progress and be patient.
Met all deadlines for my essays by breaking down assignments and specifying exactly what and how it needs to be done.
This has proven to be one of the most impactful changes in my life as this had lead to me scoring well in my IB exams, which then lead me to gaining admission into my university of choice. For an IB student, their internal assessments ( research papers ) play a large role in their final result. Hence, finishing these essays on time and to the best of my abilities were a priority and without proper time management or a proper workflow, it would be very difficult. Therefore, I had to commit to consistently completing a certain amount of each essay daily and to do this, I had to be very clear on what exactly must be done and how it must done. Therefore, whenever I get a new task for my essay, I will break it down to simple bits and put into my {essay subject} to do list.
My Workflow in Notion-
This makes it very easy for me to form a habit of checking off 3 things from the to do list, ensuring I finish all my essays on time.
At this point you should have a clear cut view of how this book can be impactful. Now, just buying and reading this book will not lead to any long lasting impact if you don't apply the knowledge you gain to your surroundings. Lucky for you, the framework provided makes it easy for you to do so. If I have successfully convinced you to buy the book, please use the link below, if you are in Singapore. Otherwise a quick google search would suffice. Thanks for reading! If you have already read the book, share how you implemented the framework in your life in the comments section!
Buy it here- https://www.amazon.sg/gp/product/0593189647?ie=UTF8&tag=nihaalmanaf-22&camp=247&linkCode=xm2&creativeASIN=0593189647
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