Atomic: an extremely small amount of a thing; the single irreducible unit of a larger system
Atomic: the source of immense energy or power
Habit: a routine or practice performed regularly; an automatic response to a specific situation
Changes that seem small and unimportant at first will compound into remarkable results if you’re willing to stick with them for years
We all deal with setbacks but in the long run, the quality of our lives often depends on the quality of our habits
With the same habits, you’ll end up with the same results. But with better habits, anything is possible
Start small
“To write a great book, you must first become the book.” - Naval Ravikant
Search for a tiny margin of improvement in everything you do
Getting 1 percent better every day counts for a lot in the long-run
Habits are the compound interest of self-improvement
It's only when looking back two, five, or perhaps ten years later that the value of good habits and the cost of bad ones becomes strikingly apparent
Success if the product of daily habits—not once-in-a-lifetime transformations
Your outcomes are a lagging measure of your habits
You get what you repeat
Time magnifies the margin between success and failure
Your habits can compound for you or against you
Productivity compounds. Knowledge compounds. Relationships compound.
Stress compounds. Negative thoughts compound. Outrage compounds
Habits often appear to make no difference until you cross a critical threshold and unlock a new level of performance
A hallmark of any compounding process: the most powerful outcomes are delayed
Mastery requires patience
All big things come from small beginnings
Goals are about the results you want to achieve. Systems are about the processes that lead to those results
Results had very little to do with the goals I set and nearly everything to do with the systems I followed
Goals are about the results you want to achieve. Systems are about the processes that lead to those results
The only way to actually win is to get better each day
"The score takes care of itself" - Bill Walsh
When you fall in love with the process rather than the product, you don't have to wait to give yourself permission to be happy. You can be satisfied anytime your system is running
The purpose of setting goals is to win the game. The purpose of building systems is to continue playing the game
It's not about any single accomplishment. It is about the cycle of endless refinement and continuous improvement
It is your commitment to the process that will determine your progress
You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems
Just as atoms are the building blocks of molecules, atomic habits are the building blocks of remarkable results
Habits are the atoms of our lives. Each one is a fundamental unit that contributes to your overall improvement
Atomic habits—a regular practice or routine that is not only small and easy to do, but also the source of incredible power; a component of the system of compound growth
The three layers of behavior change: identity -> processes -> outcomes
Outcomes are what you get. Processes are what you do. Identity is what you believe
Your old identity can sabotage your new plans for change
Behind every system of actions are a system of beliefs
Behavior that is incongruent with the self will not last
The more pride you have in a particular aspect of your identity, the more motivated you will be to maintain the habits associated with it
True behavior change is identity change
Improvements are only temporary until they become part of who you are
When your behavior and your identity are fully aligned, you are no longer pursuing behavior change. You are simply acting like the type of person you already believe yourself to be
Becoming the best version of yourself requires you to continuously edit your beliefs, and to upgrade and expand your identity
If nothing changes, nothing is going to change
Decide the type of person you want to be
Prove it to yourself with small wins
Behaviors followed by satisfying consequences tend to be repeated by those that produce unpleasant consequences are less likely to be repeated
The feedback loop behind all human behavior: try, fail, learn, try differently
"Habits are reliable solutions to recurring problems in our environment." - Jason Hreha
Habit formation is incredibly useful because the conscious mind is the bottleneck of the brain
Habits do not restrict freedom. They create it
It’s only by making the fundamentals of life easier that you can create the mental space needed for free thinking and creativity
The process of building a habit can be divided into four simple steps: cue, craving, response, and reward
The cue triggers your brain to initiate a behavior. It’s a bit of information that predicts a reward
Cravings are the motivational force behind every habit. Without some level of motivation or desire—without craving a change—we have no reason to act
What you crave is not the habit itself but the change in state it delivers
Every craving is linked to a desire to change your internal state
Cues are meaningless until they are interpreted. The thoughts, feelings, and emotions of the observer are what transform a cue into a craving
The response is the actual habit you perform, which can take the form of a thought or an action
A response occurs depending on how motivated you are and how much friction is associated with the behavior, and your ability to do it
Rewards are the end goal of every habit. The cue is noticing the reward. The craving is wanting the reward, and the response is obtaining the reward
Rewards satisfy us and teach us
If a behavior is insufficient in any of the four states, it will not become a habit. Eliminate the cue and your having will never start. Reduce the cravings and you won’t experience enough motivation to act. Make the behavior difficult and you won’t be able to do it. And if the reward fails to satisfy your desire, then you’ll have no reason to do it again in the future
The purpose of every habit is to solve the problems you face
How to create a good habit
Cue: make it obvious
Craving: make it attractive
Response: make it easy
Reward: make it satisfying
How to break a bad habit
Cue: make it invisible
Craving: make it unattractive
Response: make it difficult
Reward: make it unsatisfying
Every goal is doomed to fail if it goes against the grain of human nature
If a habit remains mindless, you can’t expect to improve it
“Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life and you will call it fate.” - Carl Jung
Make a full list of your daily habits. Look over each behavior and ask yourself, “I’d this a good habit, a bad habit, or a neutral habit?”
The marks you give to a particular habit will depend on your situation and your goals. It all depends on what you’re working toward
There are no good and bad habits. There are only effective habits. That is, effective at solving problems
Does this behavior help me become the type of person I wish to be?
The process of behavior change always starts with awareness
The format for creating an implementation intention: “when situation X arises, I will perform response Y”
People who make a specific time lab for when and where they will perform a new habit are more likely to follow through
An implementation intention sweeps away foggy notions like “I want to work out more” or “I want to be more productive” or “I should vote” and transforms them into a concrete plan of actions
Many people think they lack motivation when what they really lack is clarity
I will [BEHAVIOR] at [TIME] in [LOCATION]
Being specific about what you want and how you will achieve it helps you say no to things that derail progress, distract your attention, and pull you off course. We often say yes to little requests because we are not clear bough about what we need to be doing instead. When your dreams are vague, it’s easy to rationalize little exceptions all day long and never get around to the specific things you need to do to succeed
BJ Fogg’s habit stacking formula: “After I [CURRENT HABIT], I will [NEW HABIT]
People often choose products not because of what they are, but because of where they are
Your habits change depending on the room you are in and the cues in front of you
Make sure the best choice is the most obvious one. Making a better decision is easy and natural when the cues for good habits are right in front of you
Most people live in a world others have created for them. But you can alter the spaces where you live and work to increase your exposure to positive cues and reduce your exposure to negative ones
Be the designer of your world and not merely the consumer of it
It’s easier to build new habits in a new environment because you are not fighting against old cues
Disciplined people are better at structuring their lives in a way that does not require heroic willpower and self-control. They spend less time in tempting situations
Make your cues of your good habits obvious and the cues of your bad habits invisible
The more attractive an opportunity is, the more likely it is to become habit-forming
Dopamine drives cravings and desire
It’s the anticipation of a reward—not the fulfillment of it—that gets us to take action
“A genius is not born, but is educated and trained.” - Laszlo Polgar
Humans are herd animals. We want to fit in, to bond with others, and to earn the respect and approval of our peers.
“In the long history of humankind, those who learned to collaborate and improvise most effectively have prevailed” - Charles Darwin
The culture we live in determines which behaviors are attractive to us
Behaviors are attractive when they help us fit in
The closer we are to someone, the more likely we are to imitate some of their habits
We tend to imitate the habits of three social groups: the close (family and friends), the many (the tribe), and the powerful (those with status and prestige)
Running against the grain of your culture require extra effort
Humans everywhere pursue power, prestige, and status
We want to be acknowledged, recognized, and praised
Historically, a person with greater power and status has access to more resources, worries less about survival, and proves to be a more attractive mate
You want to reduce uncertainty and relieve anxiety, to win social acceptance and approval, or to achieve status
Every action is tinged with the motivation to feel differently than you do in the moment
You don’t “have” to. You “get” to
Take three breaths and smile
We are so focused on figuring out the best approach that we never get around to taking action
"The best is the enemy of good." - Voltaire
When you're in motion, you're planning and strategizing and learning. Those are all good things, but they don't produce a result
Action is the type of behavior that will deliver an outcome
Motion allows us to feel like we're making progress without running the risk of failure
Most of us are experts at avoiding criticism. We slip into motion rather than taking action because we want to delay failure
When preparation becomes a form of procrastination, you need to change something. You don't want to merely be planning. You want to be practicing
If you want to master a habit, the key is to start with repetition, not perfection
You need to get your reps in
Habit formation is the process by which a behavior becomes progressively more automatic through repetition
Each time you repeat an action, you are activating a particular neural circuit associated with that habit. This means that simply putting in your reps is one of the most critical steps you can take to encoding a new habit
Habits form based on frequency, not time
Our real motivation is to be lazy and to do what is convenient
Energy is precious, and the brain is wired to conserve it whenever possible
Law of least effort: when deciding between two similar options, people will naturally gravitate toward the option that requires the least amount of work
Every action requires a certain amount of energy. The more energy required, the less likely it is to occur
Every habit is just an obstacle to getting what you really want
Make it as easy as possible in the moment to do things that payoff in the long run
Japanese companies looked for every point of friction in the manufacturing process and eliminated it
When we remove the points of friction that sap our time and energy, we can achieve more with less effort
Habits are automatic choices that influence the conscious decisions that follow
Decisive moments set the options available to your future self
We are limited by where our habits lead us
Each day is made up of many moments, but it is really a few habitual choices that determine the path you take
When you start a new habit, it should take less than two minutes to do
Habits can be completed in a few seconds but continue to impact your behavior for minutes or hours afterward
The more you ritualize the beginning of a process, the more likely it becomes that you can slip into the state of deep focus that is required to do great things
A commitment device is a choice you make in the present that controls your actions in the future
Commitment devices are useful because they enable you to take advantage of good intentions before you can fall victim to temptations
“Civilization advances by extending the number of operations we can perform without thinking about them” - Alfred North Whitehead
The cardinal rule for behavior change: what is rewarded is repeated. What is punished is avoided
We are not looking for just any type of satisfaction. We are looking for immediate satisfaction
“It is almost always happens that when the immediate consequence is favorable, the later consequences are disastrous, and vice versa... often, the sweeter the first fruit of a habit, the more butter are it’s later fruits” - Frederic Bastiat
Because of how we are wired, most people will spend all day chasing quick hits of satisfaction. The road less traveled is the road of delayed gratification. If you’re willing to wait for the rewards, you’ll face less competition and often get a bigger payoff. As the saying goes, the last mile is always the least crowded
The vital thing in getting a habit to stick is to feel successful
It is important to select short-term rewards that reinforce your identity rather than ones that conflict with it
You do it because it’s who you are and it feels good to be you
The more a habit becomes a part of your life, the less you need outside encouragement to follow through. Incentives can start a habit. Identity sustains a habit
The best way to measure your progress is with a habit tracker
“Don’t break the chain” - Jerry Seinfeld
Don’t break the chain of sales calls and you’ll build a successful book of business. Don’t break the chain of workouts and you’ll get fit faster than you’d expect. Don’t break the chain of creating every day and you will end up with ah impressive portfolio
The most effective form of motivation is progress
It feels good to watch your results grow, and it it feels good, then you’re more likely to endure
Habit tracking helps keep your eye on the ball: if you’re focused on the process rather than the result
Habit tracking
Creates a visual cue that can remind you to act
Is inherently motivating because you see the progress you are making and don’t want to lose it
Feels satisfying whenever you record another successful instance of your habit
Record each measurement immediately after the habit occurs
The first mistake is never the one that ruins you. It is the spiral of repeated mistakes that follow
Missing once is an accident. Missing twice is the start of a new habit
“The first rule of compounding: Never interrupt it unnecessarily” - Charlie Munger
Sluggish days and bad workouts maintain the compound gains you accrued from previous good days
Going to the gym for five minutes may not improve your performance, but it reaffirms your identity
We care more about getting ten thousand steps than we do about being healthy
We teach for standardized tests instead of emphasizing learning, curiosity, and critical thinking
We optimize for what we measure. When we choose the wrong measurement, we get the wrong behavior
“When a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure.” - Charles Goodhart
Measurement is only useful when it guides you and adds context to a larger picture, not when it consumes you
One of the most satisfying feelings is the feeling of making progress
Just because you can measure something doesn’t mean it’s the most important thing
Just as we are more likely to repeat an experience when the ending is satisfying, we are also more likely to avoid an experience when the ending is painful. Pain is an effective teacher. If a failure is painful, it gets fixed. If a failure is relatively painless, it gets ignored
If you want to prevent bad habits and eliminate unhealthy behaviors, then adding an instant cost to the action is a great way to reduce their odds
An accountability partner can create an immediate cost to inaction. We care deeply about what other ms think of us, and we do not want others to have a lesser opinion of us
A habit contract can be used to add a social cost to any behavior. It makes the costs of violating your promises public and painful
Knowing that someone else is watching you can be a powerful motivator
Choose habits that best suit you, not the one that is most popular
If you are winning, you exploit. If you are losing, explore
What feels like fun to me, but work to others?
The work that hurts you less than it hurts others is the work you were made to do
What makes me lose track of time?
What comes naturally to me?
What feels natural to me? When have I felt alive? When have I felt like the real me?
The truly great among us are the ones who not only work hard but also have the good fortune to be exposed to opportunities that favor us
It’s more productive to focus on whether you are fulfilling your own potential than comparing yourself to someone else
Genes can’t make you successful if you’re not doing the work
The Goldilocks Rule: humans experience peak motivation when working on tasks that are right in the edge of their current abilities. Not too hard. Not too easy. Just right
Stepping up when it’s annoying or painful or draining to do so, that’s what makes the difference between a professional and an amateur
Professionals stick to the schedule; amateurs let life get in the way. Professionals know what is important to them and work toward it with purpose; amateurs get pulled off course by the urgencies of life
The only way to become excellent is to be endlessly fascinating by doing the same thing over and over. You have to fall in love with boredom
Habits + deliberate practice = mastery
Career best effort means giving your best effort spiritually and mentally and physically
“Sustaining an effort is the most important thing for any enterprise. The way to be successful is to learn how to do things right, then do them the same way every thing.” - Pat Riley
Reflection and review enables the long-term improvements of all habits because it makes you aware of your mistakes and helps you consider possible paths for improvement
Without reflection, we can make excuses, create rationalizations, and lie to ourselves. We have no process for determining whether we are performing better or worse compared to yesterday
What went well this year?
What didn’t go so well this year?
What did I learn?
Yearly integrity report:
What are the core values that drive my life and work?
How am I living and working with integrity right now?
How can I set a higher standard in the future?
“Keep your identity small” - Paul Graham
“Men are born soft and supple; dead, they are stuff and hard. Plants are born tender and pliant; dead, they are brittle and dry. These whoever is stiff and inflexible is a disciple of death. Whoever is soft and yielding is a disciple of life. The hard and stuff will be broken. The soft and supple will prevail.” - Lao Tzu
Habits deliver numerous benefits, but the downside is that they can lock us into our previous patterns of thinking and acting—even when the world is shifting around us
Everything is impermanent
The tighter we cling to an identity, the harder it becomes to grow beyond it
Success is not a goal to reach or a finish line to cross. It is a system to improve, an endless process to refine
Make it obvious. Make it attractive. Make it easy. Make it satisfying
The secret to getting results that last is to never stop making improvements. It’s remarkable what you can build if you just don’t stop
Small habits don’t add up. They compound