This article is to share my book reading experience. This book is packed with evidence-based self-improvement strategies, Atomic Habits will teach us how to make the small changes that will transform our habits and deliver remarkable results. Net – net , Small changes for transformation , be it in personal life or business.

My take on it is , Atomic Habits is a process of solving “A” Problem , “THE” Problem will be taken care of in long term.

Book started giving meaning of a-tom-ic and hab-it, followed by the fundamentals of why tiny changes could make a big difference , four laws , tactics to move from good to great and concludes with the secrets to sustain the results.

Atomic Habits – Easy / Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break the Bad Ones.

Power of Small Habits

  • Stick to the small changes for years , achieve remarkable results. Gradual Evolution ( Start Small )
  • Four Step Model ( Power of Habits ) – Cue,Craving,Response And Reward

Fundamentals Of Human Behaviour

  • Aggregation Of Marginal Gains – Break Down Everything, Improve by 1 percent , you will see significant increase when you put them all together ( This could be applied in our business , example take a problem statement , break it down (Problem Discovery), ideate for improvements by 1 percent for each problem discovery and the end result will be transformational.
  • Small Habits Make a Big Difference – Get better by 1% each day for one year , you will end up 37 times better at end of the year. Cross the plateau of latent potential.
  • Set Goals and Forget them , continue to focus on the process/system and you will achieve the results.Goals are to set directions , systems are to make progress. Remember , winner and loser both have same goal ,it is the system/process which makes the difference.

Habits Shape Identity ( Repeated Beingness )

  • Change Outcomes / Change Process / Change Identity – Get / Do / Believe
  • Outcome Based Habit not good , Identity Based Habits focus on who you wish to become
  • Behaviour Change is the Identity Change , Two Step Process to Change Identity – Habits & Beliefs.

Four Simple Steps to Build Better Habits

  • Cue ( Notice ) – Trigger to Initiative a Behaviour
  • Craving ( Want ) – Motivational Force craving a change
  • Response ( Obtain ) – Actual Habit We Perform
  • Reward – End Goal Of Every Habit

All four together make it a Habit Loop ( Automatic Habit ). And these make Four Laws of Behaviour Change – Make it Obvious / Attractive / Easy / Satisfying.

Start a New Habit ( Habit Stacking – OverHaul Your Habits ) – Diderot’s Effect

  • Control Group – Track
  • Motivation Group – Benefits
  • Implementation Group – Situational Response

Habit Stacking Formula = After Current Habit , I will New Habit ( After Drinking Water , I will go for Jogging ) , In our networking terms it is like Switch Stacking.

Habit Change – Environment more important than Motivation

  • Behaviour is a function of person in the environment – I say this very often, it is not a good or bad person , it is the situation
  • Don’t be victim of your environment , be an architect

Make Habit Attractive / Irresistible

  • Super Normal Stimuli – Make it attractive
  • Dopamine Spike – Neurotransmitter – Triggers when anticipate a reward / receive a reward
  • Temptation Bundling – Bundle the more probable behaviours with less

Make Habit EASY – Walk Slow but Never Backward

  • The “best” is the enemy of the “good” – I keep telling this to my team mates – No need to be precise and slow, be ‘roughly’ right & fast
  • Change a Habit – Key is to start , repeat and not wait for perfection without starting. In other words , START and COMPLAIN rather than Complain without Starting.
  • Law of Least Effort – Humans are motivated to do what is easy.

Two Minute Rule – Master the decisive moments of Habits ( Habit Shaping )

  • Habit – 2 minute version ( to start )
  • Gateway Habit towards a productive path

Stick to Good Habits ( Habit Tracker )

  • Benefits of Habit tracking are Obvious , Attractive , Satisfying ,
  • Measure the good habits & Automate the measurement process
  • Accountability Partner – Habit Contract

Going Good to Great

  • Competence is highly dependent on context – pick the habit that fits your genes
  • Personality influences habits – Openness to Experience , Conscientiousness , Extroversion , Agreeableness , Neuroticism
  • Learn to play the game , where odds are in your favour
  • Work hard on things that come easy – leading with strengths

In Summary , Let’s get better 1% everyday. Habits are backbone of pursuit of excellent ,let us stick to our good habits.Let us take action, make many small bets, and run lots of quick (but thoughtful) experiments. Then, double-down on the success. Keep reviewing your habits and make adjustments.

In my Org we follow HIT ( Honesty Integrity Trust ) as core values / good habits and this habit is putting us on the path towards success for sure , it is the source of incredible success , component of system of compound growth , exactly as “Atomic Habits”.

Your Team , Family & Friends play a key role in shaping your habits – Surround yourself with people who have habits you want to have , rise together !!

In James words – Optimize for tomorrow—as in, literally, one day from now.Save to be a little richer tomorrow. Exercise to be a little fitter tomorrow. Read to be a little smarter tomorrow 1% better every day.

In Summary , a supremely practical and useful book , few times there is repeat of examples ( like going to gym , reading book , examples of good habits ) but those are intentional in each chapter , to demonstrate the importance / relevance of simple single daily habit.