The irony of that I’ve had no discipline to read a book in such a long time has now changed thanks to Atomic Habits – a book based on how to implement winning habitual formulas. I built new and easy disciplines in order to form new habits to start reading, which quickly turned into success. There’s so much to unfold and relate to in this book, but below I have picked my favourite topics to discuss, which hopefully you can relate to and adopt.
The Power of Habits 💪🏽
What stood out most to me was the impact one can see by adopting tiny changes that turn into great success. Most of all this can happen quickly. A personal and small example of this was at the start of this year when I decided to start reading again. I said to myself to start reading just 5 pages every day and to ensure I could not avoid my target, I left my book on my bed every morning. This forced me to literally touch the book every day, making it more present in my life and made me feel guilty if I dared to push to the side. In no time at all, my 5 pages a day turned into 10 and I wasn’t forcing myself. I realised that the methods I was taking to adopt a new habit were on point to much of the book itself, where I needed to make new habits achievable and to ensure they were brought into my daily operations. I made gradual improvements that accumulated into substantial progress. After not reading a book for years – I finished Atomic Habits in January this year.
Habit Stacking 🧱
An area I enjoyed reading most was about habit stacking. This was based on attaching a new habit to an existing one, to create a chain of behaviours that could support the integration of positive changes. It uses established routines as triggers for new habits, acting as a form of a magnet or glue to allow you to adopt your new habit. A simple example of this which many and I can relate to, is wanting to be healthier. Usually this target compromises of two goals : exercise more + eat healthier. If you’re already exercising and need to enhance your food disciplines then add your healthy eating requirements to every exercise so they become one activity.
The 2-Minute Rule ⌛
This is probably the biggest game-changer when it comes to building new habits. Usually when one needs or wants to adopt a new habit, just getting started is the hard part. It can be daunting, intimidating as you’re likely being taken out of your comfort zone. The 2 minute rule is simple where a new habit should only take just 2 minutes to complete. Simple but genius and why? If you can complete your new habit in 2 minutes then you’ll feel a sense of achievement, boosting morale and you won’t be scared to complete your new habit every day because it’s quick and makes you feel great. Over time, these small habits create a path for larger, longer, more meaningful changes. If you want to get stronger, then start doing 2 sets of 15 push ups, 15 squats and 15 mountain climbers. I’m sure within a week, your 2 minutes will become 5 and then 10 etc.
Tracking Habits 📊
Whilst we uptake new daily operations, in order to manage progress, it’s important to track our habits. Whilst tracking may seem data driven and intimidating, it’s not complicated. We must also make sure we’re tracking the right metrics to understand what success looks like and what it actually is. A great example in the book was re restaurants and how chefs should track success. The point was, don’t track who paid for a meal but who finished a meal. When it comes to tracking my health, I want to ensure I am exercising frequently and that my body fat percentage is at a healthy rate. These two points are easy to track and by doing so, it drives my confidence and discipline to maintain my actions. My Peloton tracks my activity levels and every now and then I’ll attend a gym and stand on one of those machines that break down your body and its health metrics, such water, bone, fat and muscle percentages. I am that sad that to ensure results are roughally correct, I’ve tried this as two different locations, to gauge if the results are accurate, which they are!
Fall In Love with Boredom 💝
This was my favourite topic because I found it the most intriguing and the more I thought about it, it was the most true. When I look at successful sportsmen, such as Floyd Mayweather or Cristiano Ronaldo, their dedication to what they do is what made them successful and they would continue to practise every day until achieving perfection. Floyd would throw hundreds of hooks every week at the gym, literally. He was obsessed with repetition in order to generate the best hook possible. Ronaldo was the same. He was known for being the first on training pitch and the last to leave, whilst he practised the perfect shot and free kick, which has resulted in him being the top scorer of all time. Habits may be boring at times, but the more we practise the better we will become and once we see success, the more enjoyable they will be.
Conclusion 🏆
Atomic Habits has had a tangible impact on me and it contains various tools and strategies for you to take that next step into how to self discipline to adopt and manage a new habit, in order for you to successfully progress. Whilst we’re all different, the book contains some excellent tactics which we can all relate to and tackle to support our goals. By breaking down habits into manageable components, the suggested methods make the process of change less overwhelming, allowing us to focus on achievable steps that lead to significant transformations over time.
