Atomic Habits: Key takeaways

5 min readMay 24, 2020

In 2018, James Clear published the book Atomic Habits based on his personal blog which gained some traction over time. This book delves into the fundamentals of how to successfully form habits. He meticulously identifies the day-to-day struggles many people face to keep up with their new year resolutions. He advocates frameworks and minor tweaks in our lifestyle that can help us in sustaining long-term productive habits.

In the blog, I will only focus on delineating the tools/frameworks suggested by the author that can ease the process of habit tracking and its sustainability. Before diving into the frameworks, let’s get some fundamentals straight.

What is an Atomic Habit?

An atomic habit is a little habit that is part of a larger system

The author urges us not to focus on the end goal but on the system of getting tiny things necessary in the process of habit making right.

Getting 1 percent better every day counts for a lot in the long run

For example, if your goal is to lose pounds by going to the gym, do not fixate on the weighing scale. He suggests breaking down the process of going to the gym into simple steps like wearing gym clothes, putting on shoes, and driving. It is highly unlikely that you will not exercise once you reach the gym. He suggests performing the fundamental blocks as a ritual. Then, even in days where you absolutely don’t feel like going, you can follow the simple steps and do at least one push up before heading back.

The Four Laws of Behaviour Change

The author creates a broad framework of four dimensions in which your atomic habits need to be projected for effortless habit formation. The same can be achieved for breaking bad habits by simply inverting these laws.

The 1st Law: Make it obvious

Awareness of your present habits is essential for establishing a new habit. Explicitly calling out your actions has shown to enhance efficacy. Fews ways to augment the awareness process are as follows

Pointing-and-Calling: Verbalize your action. If you’re craving to pick up that piece of cheesecake, just say it out loud I’m going to have that cheesecake and it’s going to make me fat.
The Habits Scorecard: Maintain a scorecard on a calendar for every habit to mark days where you completed an atomic habit. This gives you a sense of the progress you made even though the results aren’t palpable.
Strategy: Plan out your habit cycle in advance. The implementation intention formula should be like: I will [Behaviour] at [Time] in [Location].
Habit Stacking: Leverage your current habits to develop new habits. Suppose brushing and having breakfast after waking up are your present habits, then you can plan on meditating for 1 minute after breakfast. Formula: After [Current Habit], I will [New Habit]
Environment: Motivation is overrated. Create an environment for yourself that aids habit formation. For example if you wish to reduce your screen time simply put away your phone in the next room. If you wish to cut on your alcohol consumption, avoid attending parties for some time.
Self-control: People with high self-control simply tend to reduce exposure to tempting situations. Self-control is not a long term strategy.

The 2nd Law: Make it attractive

The idea is to make atomic habits as attractive as possible by associating rewards or penalties with them.

Penalties: Associate heavy penalties if you’re breaking a habit like having to do 100 push-ups if you check Facebook during work. Enter into legal monetary contracts with family/friends who’ll benefit heavily if you skip a habit.
Culture: It is easier to form good habits if they’re appreciated highly among immediate friends and family, approval makes it attractive. The normal behavior of a tribe overpowers the individual desire. The best way to cultivate such a habit is to join a group (eg. a running club) where the habit you’re seeking is the norm and you already have some common traits with other group members.

Source: https://atomichabits.com/. Representation of two cards used in the famous social conformity experiments by Solomon Asch. The length of the line on the first card (left) is obviously the same as line C, but when a group of actors claimed it was a different length the research subjects would often change their minds and go with the crowd rather than believe their own eyes.

3. Highlight the consequences: Habits are always associated with an underlying motive. Highlight the consequences when you’re about to break a habit, making it seem attractive at that point.

The 3rd Law: Make it Easy

Make the process of execution of a habit easier so that it doesn’t feel like a burden. Practice makes it automatic over time through repetition.

Action: Focus on the action and not motion. Number of times a habit is executed is more important than the amount of time invested in a single go
Reduce friction: Human beings gravitate towards the path of least friction. Remove barriers associated with good action. Prime your environment to add friction for bad habits like moving your tv remote to the next room.
Two-minute rule: Break down your habit so that it takes about two minutes or less. For example, start meditating for 1 minute and tie your gym shoes within 2 minutes before going there.
Automation: Make good habits inevitable by automating either the habit or the tracking process. Enroll in an automatic savings fund, buy a better mattress to induce quality sleep, etc.

The 4th Law: Make it satisfying

The human brain has evolved to prioritize immediate results over delayed rewards. We have to find a way to earn gain a sense of immediate satisfaction. The previous three laws help in executing a habit this time, this law focuses on making sure the habit is repeated the next time as well.

Maximize your odds: Choose a habit according to your abilities where your progress would be easy. Habits are easier when they align with your natural abilities. Example: Don’t get started with heavyweight training if you are a beginner in the gym
Goldilocks Rule: Humans experience their peak of motivation when it is the right balance of comfort and challenge. Make a schedule and level up your tasks to ensure your habits don’t become boring over time

The methods mentioned above aid in the effective formation of a new habit. I have summarized the key tools suggested for habit-forming. The book also covers other topics relating to the psychology of habit-forming and some real-life stories where taking small steps towards a large goal yielded incredible results. I am linking a few resources relating to the book and the author below.