Atomic Habits: A Summary
Lately I’ve been listening to Atomic Habits by James Clear. The premise of the book is that by working on your small (or “atomic”) habits, you can change who you are as a person and reach your goals. Since many of the ideas are repeated numerous times throughout the book, I thought a summary of the most stand-out points from what I’ve read so far would be useful to someone interested in what Clear has to say.
So what even are atomic habits?
According to Clear, habits are “the compound interest of self-improvement”. The author tells the story of British cycling, where a man named Dave Brailsford was hired to improve the performance of Britain’s then-abysmal cycling team. By changing small details in the cyclists’ habits, attire and equipment, such as redesigning bike seats, wearing electrically heated overshorts, and even things such as the type of pillow and mattress that the riders used at night, Brailsford drastically altered the team’s performance in less than 5 years. This ties into Clear’s 1% improvement idea, in which he calculates that getting 1% better every day counts for a lot in the long-run- by the end of a year, you’ll end up 37 times better than where you started. However, if you get 1% worse for a year, you’ll end up at nearly zero. Another interesting idea explained in the first chapter is that these 1% improvements stack on top of each…
