Tiny Little Habits
A review of “Atomic Habits: An easy and proven way to build good habits and break bad ones” by James Clear
Dear Fellow,
This is my second read for the year. A memorable reading experience it was. You will find out eventually.
Meanwhile, I trust you are well at your end. And that you still find reasons to stay hopeful.
The Backstory
In the previous year, Atomic Habits was a bestseller in my city. No stats to prove my proposition, but there was a clue. I am a frequent visitor at the major bookstore in the city of Jos, Plateau State. Every week that finds me at the store, from the third quarter to the fourth, met with the absence of the book. Though it was brought in several tens each week, it lasted barely four days. The trend was quite significant and thrilling. And it didn’t end there. Two folks on Facebook caused the impact on the market—Lengdung Tungchamma and Feyisayomi Ayo-Akwe.
Tungchamma writes on productivity, education, books, and politics, and is also a YouTuber. Feyisayomi, widely known as Captain Selvolution, is a personal coach. She also coaches people who want to build their reading habits, among other commitments to self-actualisation. Tungchamma built his Facebook page from zero to 100K fellows in about 11 months, organically. His content garners several hundred impressions in 24 hours. His review of Atomic Habits was positive . . . the intended readers blew from there. Captain conducted two reading sessions and the primary text for both sessions was the same book. These two were responsible for this book appearing every day on my timeline. I got curious and wanted to find out what gold the book is.
The Reading
I picked the book just after reading The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey. (You can read the review of the 7 habits here: READ.) Employing the reading strategy of one hour per reading session every day, I read this one in 11 days. It was beneficial to read in this manner because it helped sustain my curiosity and conserved my energy through the process. This is the best reading strategy I have used so far. Interestingly, this method found confirmation in the book.
Atomic Habits refer to ‘a regular practice or routine that is not only small and easy to do but also the source of incredible power; a component system of compound growth’ (pg. 27). Self-development, habit building and breaking have never been explained and redefined at its best as you find in this book, I think. I fancy the idea that habits are not just one big bang of an activity, or merely reaching for a goal. Habits are long-term investments which compound in interest over the years. Clear proposes that you do not just aim to read a book (building a reading habit), but aim at being a reader. The idea is that habits support your identity or attack it. The book is built around the idea that: ‘You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems’ (pg. 27). The core theme of the book is to show you how to build your own atomic habits system; a system that helps you develop small and easy routines which help toward the kind of person you desire to become.
While Covey’s 7 habits describe the target, Clear offers a strategy to hit the target in Atomic Habits.
The Lessons
The first lesson from the book is that there is a connection between our habits and our identity. Clear was only confident to call himself a writer after he has turned writing into a regular activity. Someone who attempted to write only once will refuse to be called a writer until he has enough evidence (writing regularly) to support the identity.
Second, our environment influences our behaviour. The first law of the atomic habits system—Make it Obvious—explains how our environment influences our behaviour and how we can use our environment to help us build habits that support our identity. Clear makes a bold claim that people who resist temptation spend less time in tempting situations.
The Conclusion
The book was worth my 11 hours and I will recommend it to everyone because we all want to break some habits and build some. The atomic habits system is premium. I also found the book really informative and thought-provoking. I think psychologists, neuroscientists, behaviour experts and the like will find the book resourceful. If you are anything like me, you will feel empowered to delay gratification whenever necessary, even if you understood the need to but failed to act in line.
See you next week!
Your LetterMan,
Tongjal, W. N.
The Four Laws of Atomic Habits—to help you build systems for your habits:
Make it Obvious (Cue)
Make it Attractive (Craving)
Make it Easy (Response)
Make it Satisfying (Reward)