THERE IS AN ancient Greek parable known as the Sorites Paradox,fn1 which talks about the effect one small action can have when repeated enough times. One formulation of the paradox goes as follows: Can one coin make a person rich? If you give a person a pile of ten coins, you wouldn’t claim that he or she is rich. But what if you add another? And another? And another? At some point, you will have to admit that no one can be rich unless one coin can make him or her so.1 We can say the same about atomic habits. Can one tiny change transform your life? It’s unlikely you would say so. But what if
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