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

by James Clear

changes that seem small and unimportant at first will compound into remarkable results if you’re willing to stick with them for years.

four-step model of habits—cue, craving, response, and reward—and

searching for a tiny margin of improvement in everything you do.

It is so easy to overestimate the importance of one defining moment and underestimate the value of making small improvements on a daily basis.

we convince ourselves that massive success requires massive action.

Habits are the compound interest of self-improvement. The same way that money multiplies through compound interest, the effects of your habits multiply as you repeat them. They seem to make little difference on any given day and yet the impact they deliver over the

months and years can be enormous. It is only when looking back two, five, or perhaps ten years later that the value of good habits and the cost of bad ones becomes strikingly apparent.

a slight change in your daily habits can guide your life to a very different destination.

Success is the product of daily habits—not once-in-a-lifetime transformations.

Your outcomes are a lagging measure of your habits. Your net worth is a lagging measure of your financial habits. Your weight is a lagging measure of your eating habits. Your knowledge is a lagging measure of your learning habits. Your clutter is a lagging measure of your cleaning habits. You get what you repeat.

Time magnifies the margin between success and failure. It will multiply whatever you feed it.

Good habits make time your ally. Bad habits make time your enemy.

YOUR HABITS CAN COMPOUND FOR YOU OR AGAINST YOU

habits often appear to make no difference until you cross a critical threshold and unlock a new level of performance.

All big things come from small beginnings. The seed of every habit is a single,

tiny decision. But as that decision is repeated, a habit sprouts and grows stronger.

Goals are about the results you want to achieve. Systems are about the processes that lead to those results.

Goals are good for setting a direction, but systems are best for making progress.

A handful of problems arise when you spend too much time thinking about your goals and not enough time designing your systems.

The purpose of setting goals is to win the game. The purpose of building systems is to continue playing the game. True long-term thinking is goal-less thinking. It’s not about any single accomplishment. It is about the cycle of endless refinement and continuous improvement. Ultimately, it is your commitment to the process that will determine your progress.

You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems.

Behind every system of actions are a system of beliefs.

The ultimate form of intrinsic motivation is when a habit becomes part of your identity. It’s one thing to say I’m the type of person who wants this. It’s something very different to say I’m the type of person who is this.

Becoming the best version of yourself requires you to continuously edit your beliefs, and to upgrade and expand your identity.

Small habits can make a meaningful difference by providing evidence of a new identity.

Decide the type of person you want to be. Prove it to yourself with small wins.

“Habits are, simply, reliable solutions to recurring problems in our environment.”