Reviewing “Atomic habits” by James Clear plus similar perspectives from a wide range of “life coaches
Its not surprising that James Clear’s book on Atomic Habits has been such a best seller. Everyone wants the “quick fix” on how to improve themselves (well most people…) A good friend of mine used to always use the phrase “you can’t shortcut experience” as one of his own life mottos. What he was meaning by this is to be very careful with the assertion that you can leapfrog your peers simply reading and practicing some new theories. His assertion being that experience is earnt and is by its very virtue a time bound opportunity.
The above is a slight artistic diversion as the core message that both James Clear presents and many others to be fair, simply using a slightly different language and set of metaphors is that small incremental changes will make a huge difference if repeated (and conversely bad habits will have a bad effect).
The challenge is that small changes will often look like they are not making a difference until you suddenly get to a tipping point- its not a linear change
In this review, I refer to both atomic habits and tiny habits. Both books/works assert the need to create small habits incrementally to make a difference – ie no big bang approach. However, this is where the two works then diverge as they each take on quite a different approach and method in order to be succesful
Firstly for atomic habits, I suspect no one will argue that this theory sounds great but the fundamental question is of course; “what change do I actually want to effect” or in old language “what is my goal”, The problem with setting a specific goal e.g. I want to be thin/I want to stop smoking – is that more often than not they are the outcome but not the systems and processes that lead to those results. Furthermore an interesting insight into goals is most of them they are shared with many other people as opposed to being individual. A simple example is Goal: I I want to read lots of books vs the system which is “I am a reader”. You will also notice there is a strong “identity” context in the process. Logically it them would be to a reader you would read but you increase it incrementally.
The reason for the title: “atomic” habits is that it means each habit is worthwhile in its own right. Although there is there an additional context of “habit stacking” – whereby you can add one habit onto another
One assertion which I am not together in agreement with is if you ignore the goal, focus on the system you will be more successful. This sounds way too simplistic which actually takes is the term “habit”. By its very own definition a habit is something that has been repeated enough it becomes automatic
So lets take a personally easy example
I wanted to be able to run a marathon.If I had simple set a goal of “run a marathon” then without a training plan i.e. the system then it would be virtually impossible. However my real ambition was “to be a runner” and in that context to create a habit of running four times a week on such a ritualistic basis that wind forward three years, I call myself a runner because I run four times a week. Furthermore, to achieve marathon distance, |I had a plan which incrementally increased the mileage every week
I do find that sporting examples as both plenty and easier to understand but in a business context they need an equal focus. Let’s take an easy career one e.g. in the old way of thinking it would be “I want to be promoted”. This is an outcome and can lead to a lot of frustration of not getting there in the time you expect. Expand this out and the identity element is to act and behave as if you have already been promoted and consider small incremental changes to work activities in the way you work.
There is another interesting phenomena around how important it is to make the habit “easy” or in other words if there are obstacles in the way it just makes it harder to turn into a habit. Homelife examples are easy to understand e.g. if you have to take tablets every morning – put them by the mugs you use for your first drink of the day. In a business context, there are also lots of obstacles that often will make it hard to create that habit. One current one is “email distraction” e.g. if you are constantly responding to emails as soon as they appear in your inbox this may wel thwart your ability to work on a new piece of work albeit incrementally. So one habit break is to consider that for 1 minute in every 10 you will not check your emails, and then gradually increase it potentially
In terms of reviews, on balance, the vast majority of those providing a review are all significantly positive about the book and the effect it has had on them .Clearly lots of superlatives used in large doses. Such as “Beware this book can change your life” through to “huge tool of actionable, practical and organised strategies”
There are a few negatives as you would expect; “Verbose Unoriginal Refurbished Content”
As referred to at the beginning, Atomic Habits is not a unique idea but also its not to be confused with “tiny habits”, which is based on the BJ Fogg Behavioural model (https://behaviormodel.org/). In simple terms, this model states that three elements must converge at the same moment for behaviour to occur. These three elements being: motivation, ability and a prompt. A simple two dimensional graph show the relationship between ability and motivation i.e. high motivation and high ability, means when prompted is likely to succeed i.e. positive behaviour. Conversely low motivation and low ability will mean the prompts are likely to fail i.e. negative behaviour.
The theory in terms of tiny habits which is interesting as the first thing you do is set yourself a goal/outcome (which of course is at odds with atomic habits). It then asserts that by incrementally adding tiny habits routinely (and this is the key to success), it will add positively to the motivation/ability curve and hence create a more positive prompt and hence outcome
A simple example, which is in the book, is if the goal is to “get better sleep” – it then suggests 20 tiny habits to introduce which then create a positive overall behaviour. These tiny habits can range from “after I hear the alarm, I will get up rather than pressing snooze” The tiny habits are always structured in the 3 dimensions i.e. “after I”(the anchor moment , “I will” ( the tiny behaviour) , “then I celebrate” (the celebration)
So in the context of tiny habits, these are a lot easier to understand and measure which in turn build up a “portfolio” of habits (similar to habit stacking but not using the same name..)
It would be easier to conclude that you should read both books and make your own mind up, however my personal opinion is that Tiny Habits is actually an easier process to follow and measure
Neil's thoughts 