Atomic Habits by James Clear
Notes for Atomic Habits by James Clear.
Atomic Habits by James Clear
da Marvin Rubia
1. CH1: THE SURPRISING POWER OF ATOMIC HABITS
1.1. NOTE: Dave Brailsford became the coach of British Cycling in 2003. ("aggregation of marginal gains")
1.2. "Habits are the compound interest of self-improvement."
1.3. "Your outcomes are lagging measure of your habits."
1.4. NOTE: Clear's Plateau of Latent Potential and "valley of disappointment"
1.5. Winners and losers have the same goals.
1.6. "You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems."
2. CH2: HOW YOUR HABITS SHAPE YOUR IDENTITY (AND VICE VERSA)
2.1. 3 LAYERS OF BEHAVIOR CHANGE Outcomes Processes Identity (smallest concentric circle)
2.2. The problem in building habits is the direction of change.
2.3. "True behavior change is identity change."
2.4. "The biggest barrier to positive change at any level—individual, team, society—is identity conflict."
2.5. "Your identity is literally your 'repeated beingness.'" NOTE: The word "identity" comes from the Latin word "essentias," which means being, and "identidem," which means repeatedly.
2.6. HOW TO CHANGE (or HOW TO IMPROVE) 1. Decide the type of person you want to be. 2. Prove it to yourself with small wins.
2.7. "Every action you take is a vote to what you wish to become."
3. CH3: HOW TO BUILD HABITS IN 4 SIMPLE STEPS
3.1. "The process of habit formation begins with trial and error."
3.2. Behavioral scientist Jason Hreha writes, "Habits are, simply, reliable solutions to recurring problems in our environment."
3.3. "All behavior is driven by the desire to solve a problem."
3.4. The 4 stages of the habit loop are the ff. 1. Cue 2. Craving 3. Response 4. Reward
3.4.1. ADD: We fail to break bad habits because the problem lies somewhere in these 4 stages.
3.5. HOW TO CREATE A GOOD HABIT? 1st Law: Make It Obvious. 2nd Law: Make it attractive. 3rd Law: Make it easy. 4th Law: Make it satisfying.
4. CH4: THE MAN WHO DIDN'T LOOK RIGHT
4.1. "The process of behavior change always start with awareness."
4.2. "There are no good habits or bad habits. There are only effective habits."
4.3. NOTE: 1. Pointing-and-Calling strategy 2. Habit Scorecard
5. CH5: THE BEST WAY TO START A HABIT
5.1. The 2 most common cues are time and location.
5.2. Use IMPLEMENTATION INTENTION I will [BEHAVIOR] at [TIME] in [LOCATION].
5.3. NOTE: Diderot Effect
5.4. HABIT STACKING After I do [CURRENT HABIT], I will [NEW HABIT].
6. CH6: MOTIVATION IS OVERRATED; ENVIRONMENT OFTEN MATTERS MORE
6.1. NOTE: Choice Architecture (on presenting the cue more easily and conveniently)
6.2. THE CONTEXT IS THE CUE "Our behavior is not defined by the objects in the environment but by our RELATIONSHIP to them."
6.2.1. "It is easier to associate a new habit with a new context than to build a new habit in the face of competing cues."
7. CH7: THE SECRET TO SELF-CONTROL
7.1. NOTE: Typically, 90% of heroin users become readdicted once they return home from rehab. This is because the context of home is associated to heroin.
7.2. "Bad habits are autocatalytic: the process feeds itself."
7.3. "You can break a habit, but you're unlikely to forget it."
8. CH8: HOW TO MAKE A HABIT IRRESISTIBLE
8.1. 2ND LAW: Make it attractive.
8.2. NOTE: Supernormal stimulus, a heightened version of reality that makes us crave it. Filter in photos, the extraordinary success of another person, too-good-to-be-true advertisement of a product, extreme porn, etc.
8.3. DOPAMINE plays a major role in our habits. For years, scientists thought that this hormone is responsible only for pleasure. But it is known today that it affects brain circuitry on motivation, learning and memory, punishment and aversion, and voluntary movement.
8.4. Dopamine spikes not only when you experience pleasure but also when you ANTICIPATE it. This means there is a surge of dopamine in our brain when we see the cue—before we act and receive the reward. For example, heroin addicts get a surge of dopamine when they see the white powder not when they take it.
8.4.1. "Your brain has far more neural circuitry allocated for WANTING rewards than for LIKING them."
8.5. TEMPTATION BUNDLING: A strategy to make our habits more attractive. 1. After [CURRENT HABIT]. I will [HABIT I NEED]. 2. After [HABIT I NEED], I will [HABIT I WANT]. NOTE: Ronan Byrne, an electrical engineer, connected his stationary bike to his TV and wrote a program that when he is pedaling at a certain speed, Netflix on his TV will play. He is associating the thing he wants (watching Netflix) to the thing he needs (exercising).
8.5.1. NOTE: Premack's Principle = more probable behaviors will reinforce less probably behaviors.
8.5.2. How can I apply this idea with my habits?
9. CH9: THE ROLE OF FAMILY AND FRIENDS IN SHAPING YOUR HABITS
9.1. This chapter elaborates that a habit is more attractive if done with other like-minded people.
9.2. We imitate the habits of three groups in particular: 1. The close 2. The many 3. The powerful
9.3. "One of the most effective things you can do to build better habits is to join a culture where (1) your desired behavior is the normal behavior and (2) you already have something in common in the group."
9.4. "If a behavior can get us approval, respect, and praise, we find it attractive."
10. CH10: HOW TO FIND AND FIX THE CAUSES OF BAD HABITS
10.1. "Your habits are modern-day solutions to ancients desires."
10.2. "The cause of your habits is actually the prediction that precedes them. The prediction leads to feeling."
10.3. "Habits are attractive when we associate them with positive feelings and unattractive when we associate them with negative feelings. Create a motivation ritual by doing something you enjoy immediately before a difficult habit."
10.3.1. ADD: How about if a habit can be both negative and positive? ANSWER: It all depends on the identity you are trying to build up, which is discussed in Chapter 2. In Chapter 11, the book emphasized frequency over the length of time. I believe a bad habit [1] does not help you build the identity that you desire and [2] consumes more frequency than it deserves. For example, playing chess is SOMETIMES a bad habit when it overwhelms my other productive weekly habits.
11. CH11: WALK SLOWLY, BUT NEVER BACWARD
11.1. 3rd Law of Behavior Change: Make it easy.
11.2. "The amount of time you have been performing a habit is not as important as the number of times you have performed it."
11.2.1. ADD: It's not about period of time, it's about the frequency of the actions.
12. CH12: THE LAW OF LEAST EFFORT
12.1. "Create an environment where doing the right thing is as easy as possible."
12.2. Increase the friction for bad behavior and decrease the friction for good behavior.
13. CH13: HOW TO STOP PROCRASTINATING USING THE TWO-MINUTE RULE
13.1. "40 to 50 percent of our actions on any given day are done out of habit."
13.2. NOTE: Decisive moments --> ritual NOTE: Twyla Tharp's hailing a cab
13.3. "Standardize before you optimize. You cannot improve a habit that doesn't exist."
14. CH14: HOW TO MAKE GOOD HABITS INEVITABLE AND BAD HABITS IMPOSSIBLE
14.1. NOTE: Commitment device = is a choice you make in the present that locks in better behavior in the future NOTE: Victor Hugo's removing all his outdoor clothes to finish a book before a deadline.
14.1.1. One-time actions for a good future
14.2. Automation using technology is a great way to lock in good habits and prevent bad habits in the future. Ex. automatic savings plan deducted from the salary, turn off notifications from apps, etc.
14.3. "Civilization advances by extending the number of operations we can perform without thinking about them." -Alfred Whitehead
15. CH15: THE CARDINAL RULE OF BEHAVIOR CHANGE
15.1. 4th Law: Make it satisfying
15.2. NOTE: Toothbrush mint feeling has no cleaning purpose but it gives the feeling of being fresh, to make the habit more satisfying.
15.3. "The road less traveled is the road of delayed gratification."
15.4. "The cost of your good habits are in the present. The costs of your bad habits are in the future."
16. CH16: HOW TO STICK WITH GOOD HABITS EVERYDAY
16.1. In this chapter, Clear stresses the importance of tracking our habits.
16.2. "One of the most satisfying feelings is the feeling of making progress."
16.3. "The breaking of a habit doesn't matter if the reclaiming of it is fast."
16.4. But the tracking of habit is not the target. It is still the real improvement that matters from doing the significant actions. GOODHART'S LAW: "When a measure becomes the target, it ceases to be a good measure." ADD: This is especially true in education. Grades are a good measure of academic performance but grades are not the goal, it's the learning that matters, which leads to holistic improvement of the individual.
17. CH17: HOW AN ACCOUNTABILITY PARTNER CAN CHANGE EVERYTHING
17.1. In this chapter, Clear discusses the importance of accountability partner and habit contract (with others).
18. CH18: THE TRUTH ABOUT TALENT (WHEN GENES MATTER AND WHEN THEY DON'T)
18.1. "Genes do not determine your destiny. They determine your areas of opportunity."
18.2. "Boiling water will soften a potato but harden an egg. You can't control whether you're a potato or an egg, but you can decide to play a game where it's better to be hard or soft."
19. CH19: THE GOLDILOCKS RULE: HOW TO STAY MOTIVATED IN LIFE AND WORK
19.1. NOTE: In a particular research, it is found that to achieve a state of flow, a task must be 4% beyond your current ability.
19.1.1. ADD: How can I make use of this idea in my habits?