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

by James Clear

Habits are the compound interest of self-improvement.

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

You should be far more concerned with your current trajectory than with your current results.

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.

When you fall in love with the process rather than the product, you don’t have to wait to give yourself permission to be happy. You can be satisfied anytime your system is running. And a system can be successful in many different forms, not just the one you first envision.

The purpose of setting goals is to win the game. The purpose of building systems is to continue playing the game.

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.

Many people begin the process of changing their habits by focusing on what they want to achieve. This leads us to outcome-based habits.

we start by focusing on who we wish to become.

With outcome-based habits, the focus is on what you want to achieve. With identity-based habits, the focus is on who you wish to become.

signals a shift in identity.

that their old identity can sabotage their new plans for change.

Behind every system of actions are a system of beliefs.

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

Your identity emerges out of your habits.

Every belief, including those about yourself, is learned and conditioned through experience.*

your habits are how you embody yo...

the process of building habits is actually the process of becoming yourself.

If nothing changes, nothing is going to change.

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

What do you want to stand for? What are your principles and values? Who do you wish to become?

Ask yourself, “Who is the type of person that could get the outcome I want?” Who is the type of person that could lose forty pounds? Who is the type of person that could learn a new language? Who is the type of person that could run a successful start-up?

but fundamentally they are not about having something. They are about becoming someone.

you become your habits.

There are three levels of change: outcome change, process change, and identity change. The most effective way to change your habits is to focus not on what you want to achieve, but on who you wish to become. Your identity emerges out of your habits. Every action is a vote for the type of person you wish to become. Becoming the best version of yourself requires you to continuously edit your beliefs, and to upgrade and expand your

The process of building a habit can be divided into four simple steps: cue, craving, response, and reward.

The cue triggers your brain to initiate a behavior.

information that predicts a reward.

naturally leads to a craving.

Cravings are the second step, and they are the motivational force behind every habit.

What you crave is not the habit itself but the change in state it delivers.

The response is the actual habit you perform, which can take the form of a thought or an action.

response delivers a reward.

the end goal of every habit.

In summary, the cue triggers a craving, which motivates a response, which provides a reward, which satisfies the craving and, ultimately, becomes associated with the cue.

How can I make it obvious? How can I make it attractive?

How can I make it easy? How can I make it satisfying?

Your habits are shaped by the systems in your life.

Before we can effectively build new habits, we need to get a handle on our current ones.

There are only effective habits.

categorize your habits by how they will benefit you in the long run.

The 1st Law of Behavior Change is to make it obvious.

The two most common cues are time and location.

The implementation intention formula is: I will [BEHAVIOR] at [TIME] in [LOCATION].

The habit stacking formula is: After [CURRENT HABIT], I will [NEW HABIT].

Environment is the invisible hand that shapes human behavior.

You don’t have to be the victim of your environment. You can also be the architect of it.

A stable environment where everything has a place and a purpose is an environment where habits can easily form.