Questions About Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones

by James Clear (Goodreads Author)

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Answered Questions (45)

Hi James - Can you tell us how this book is different from The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg?

James Clear Great question! I'm a fan of Duhigg's book and I think he did a great job. I tried to build upon his framework (in addition to the work of many other …moreGreat question! I'm a fan of Duhigg's book and I think he did a great job. I tried to build upon his framework (in addition to the work of many other scientists and researchers) and develop a practical framework that anyone can apply.

Here's what a few readers have said about the differences...

"[Atomic Habits] seems a LOT more practical and focused on guiding people on how to actually make changes. Power of Habit is more journalistic, though it does have the appendix at the back that talks about how to implement habit changes."

Source (see comments): https://www.instagram.com/p/BokCUOGFLdJ/

"The most impactful book I've ever read about habits was The Power of Habit... and then Atomic Habits came along. James takes everything I loved about The Power of Habit and expands on it here. The book is chock full of real, practical, and actional advice anyone can take to add more good habits and tweak bad habits over the long term."

Source: https://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-re...
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How many habits can you work on at once? If I alter my habits sequentially a lot of habits will be put on the back burner. Thanks!

James Clear Good question. I know it requires patience, but I tend to recommend focusing on one at a time.

Some habit experts will say you can work on 2-3 habits …moreGood question. I know it requires patience, but I tend to recommend focusing on one at a time.

Some habit experts will say you can work on 2-3 habits at once, but that only works if they are *really* small. For example, meditating for 60 seconds and doing 10 pushups after you wake up. Those are simple enough that you might be able to handle both each day. But I still tend to recommend focusing on one for a few months, mastering it and making it the new normal, and then advancing.

Another note that is related to this: habits often come in bundles. That is, when you want to change one behavior you may be forced to change related behaviors. So you may have to change a few habits at the same time.

For example, say you want to start the "habit" of cooking more meals at home and eating out less. To do this, you may have to change your grocery shopping habits, meal planning habits, dish cleaning habits, and others. This is another reason I recommend focusing on one change at a time: often, a single change has a lot more built into it than it appears at first glance.(less)

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Which habits make the biggest impact on long-term success? Is there a specific 'habit-stack' of the uber-successful individual? BTW I loved the book and enjoy your articles.

James Clear Thanks! Glad you enjoyed the book.

Obviously, the ideal list of habits differs for each person, but here's one way to think about it:

A successful per…moreThanks! Glad you enjoyed the book.

Obviously, the ideal list of habits differs for each person, but here's one way to think about it:

A successful person general has habits that help them do three things: 1) gain knowledge, 2) maintain energy, 3) maintain focus. If you have knowledge about your domain, the energy to act on that knowledge, and the focus to stay on task, then you can generally achieve some level of success in your field.

Knowledge habits:

- Reading
- Writing

Energy habits:

- Exercise
- Sleep
- Nutrition (I'm not as good at this one as I would like)

Focus habits:

- Leave your phone in another room while you work
- Work in a quiet environment
- Block social media and other distracting websites using tools like Freedom, Facebook News Feed Eradicator, and Distraction Free YouTube.

The exact tools and habits will change over time, but the general idea is to build habits that help you develop and maintain knowledge, energy, and focus.(less)

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How can you use Atomic Habits for weight loss?

James Clear Tons of ways! The Four Laws of Behavior Change mentioned in the book can all be applied to weight loss. I'll go through a few quick examples here...

1s…moreTons of ways! The Four Laws of Behavior Change mentioned in the book can all be applied to weight loss. I'll go through a few quick examples here...

1st Law: Make It Obvious.

Make healthy food options the most obvious ones in your environment (and reduce exposure unhealthy options). Keep healthy snacks on the most visible shelf in the pantry or at the front of the fridge. Hide calorie dense foods and alcohol in hard-to-reach and hard-to-see areas in the pantry or fridge. (Or, keep unhealthy foods out of the house entirely.)

2nd Law: Make It Attractive.

In Atomic Habits, I write, "Join a group where your desired behavior is the normal behavior." Basically, hang out with people who have healthy eating habits and it will be easier for you to eat healthy as well.

3rd Law: Make It Easy.

This is mostly about abandoning the all-or-nothing mindset that is so prevalent with many diets. People think if they can't stick to a diet perfectly, then it must not be worth doing at all.

This is incorrect.

The mantra I like to keep in mind is, "Never miss twice." Maybe you binge ate or went to happy hour with friends. That's not great, but move on and focus on making the next meal a healthy one. Never miss twice.

As I write in the book, "It's never the first mistake that ruins you. It's the spiral of repeated mistakes that follows." Get back on track quickly.

4th Law: Make It Satisfying.

Behaviors stick when they are satisfying. As a result, the best diet is the one you enjoy. If you find it enjoyable (or at the very least, don't feel like you're suffering), then you'll be more likely to stick with it.

You can also use external reinforcers to keep you on track. For example, whenever you complete a day where you eat three healthy meals, you get to take a bubble bath or watch an hour of Netflix or do something else enjoyable.

Hope that helps!(less)

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Hi James, I have quit and consistently kept so many good habits over the last few years thanks to your work. I would love to know, did you do a book prooosal or book outline for Atomic Habits? Can you explain a bit about the process? Thank you!

James Clear I'm so happy to hear that. I'm glad you're finding my work useful.

Yes, I did create a book proposal for Atomic Habits. I worked with an editor on it. …moreI'm so happy to hear that. I'm glad you're finding my work useful.

Yes, I did create a book proposal for Atomic Habits. I worked with an editor on it. In total, it took about three months. When we were done it was about 60 pages.

Half of that was the marketing plan: who we were going to reach out to, what we were going to do to push the book to my platform, how the book would compare to similar books on the market, etc.

The other half was 1 sample chapter (15 pages) and an outline of the remaining chapters of the book. Usually, it would just be a paragraph or two about the chapter and what research we would include in each section.

I believe the proposal had 12 chapters in the outline, but the finished book ended up with 20 chapters. At some point in the process, I realized my style is to write tighter, smaller chapters rather than long ones.

Also, the Four Laws of Behavior Change (the overarching framework for the book) was not mentioned or even conceived at the time of the book proposal. That only came much later. It was a huge change to the structure (although many of the ideas mentioned in each law were part of the proposal).

Publishers expect a fair bit of revision as the writing process gets underway, so I don't think I did too much out of the ordinary.

Also, for me, writing is like thinking. I often don't know what I really think about a topic or idea until I write about it. In a sense, I didn't really know what Atomic Habits was until the first draft was complete. Then, I was finally able to see the whole picture and get busy revising. (less)

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