15 Key Takeaways I discovered from Reading James Clear’s Atomic Habits

Every now and then, I will encounter life-changing books. Atomic Habits by James Clear is one of those books. On that note, one statement that resonates greatly with me is related to Law of Least Effort. To quote James Clear, and I quote “Law of least effort states that our real motivation is to be lazy and to do what is convenient.”

Photo by Nubelson Fernandes on Unsplash

So, if you’re someone that relies on Law of Least Effort, you may find the 15 takeaways below at this instance.

1. If you can get 1 percent better each day for one year, you’ll end up 37 times better by the time you’re done
2. It is easy to overestimate the importance of one defining moment and underestimate the value of making small improvements on a daily basis
3. You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems
4. Many think they lack motivation when what they really lack is clarity
5. Self-control is a short term strategy, not a long term one. The key is to spend less time in tempting situations.
6. Whatever habits are normal in your culture are among the most attractive behaviors you’ll find
7. It is the anticipation of a reward, not the fulfilment of it, that gets us to take action
8. We don’t choose our earliest habits, we imitate them from the close, the many and the powerful
9. If you want to master a habit, the key is to start with repetition, not perfection
10. When you start a new habit, it should take less than 2 minutes to do creating a gateway habit
11. It is better to do less than you hoped than to do nothing at all
12. It is so important that we should stick to our newly formed habit even if we can’t do it as well or as completely as we would like
13. You don’t have to build the habits everyone tells you to build. Choose the ones that best suit you, not the one that is most popular
14. The way to maintain motivation and achieve peak levels of desire is to work on tasks of just manageable difficulty
15. The greatest threat to success is not failure but boredom

My Personal Take on the Book using Ali Abdaal’s Framework

Now that I have your attention, let us go through my personal review and take on the book.

3 Sentences about the Whole Book

It’s a mind tripping book that will change your perspective on forming habits be it on a professional or personal level.

It offers a pragmatic framework with Four Laws of Behavior Change that you could use instantly.

It draws on best ideas and discoveries made by others in the field of biology, neoroscience, philosophy and etc.

So, who should read it

Someone that wants to:

understand why he/she/they have difficulty in creating good habits and breaking bad habits

learn how to achieve remarkable results through tiny changes in life

Top 3 quotes

“It doesn’t matter if you cast a few votes for bad behavior. Your goal is simply to win the majority of the time.”

“The first mistake is never the one that ruins you. It is the spiral of repeated mistakes that follows.”

“Professionals stick to the schedule; amateurs let life get in the way.”

P.S. The 15 takeaways do not do justice to the book ‘Atomic Habits’. If you’re interested in the book after going through this story, please, by all means, read the book to have a full experience. Alternatively, you may click here to have an overview of the book made by yours truly!

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