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I FINALLY read Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones by James Clear.
For the record, I had put in a request for the book with my library many many weeks ago, but it was only my turn to read it (I actually listened to it) this week.
Regardless of the library wait time, I’m embarrassed it took me so long to read this book. I know why I haven’t… I don’t typically gravitate towards non-fiction, but this book was such a helpful reframe and simplification about habits, goal setting, identity creation, and building the life that we want.
At that, this book was entertaining nonfiction. There was just the right amount of personal anecdotes, evidence, and science to keep me entertained. Go, James Clear! That’s hard to do!
Anyway, I’m embarrassed because this book is SO relevant to everything I do and coach, and reinforces many of the principles I believe and preach. It also teaches different ways to support ourselves in this habit creation, which just adds things to my tool belt, and I appreciate that.
So, if you’re someone who is looking to better understand how to adopt habits, this book is a must read.
Here are some of the biggest points that stuck out to me:
The book started with a reframing of goals. Not that there is anything wrong with goal setting, but his point was around what happens after you do certain things. For example, if you have a goal to run a marathon, then what happens after you do that? Instead, if we have a goal to become a runner, then the same types of processes can be involved, but the running doesn’t need to end after the marathon is complete.
I believe I got this down as an exact quote… it’s at least close enough. “If you want better results focus on your systems. You do not rise to the levels of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems.” YES. I preach the building of nonnegotiable habits and processes for this exact reason. It’s what you do daily and regularly—your systems—that create your results.
He stresses the benefits of patience, and manageability, in the process. He brings up 1% equation. You may have heard of this before. The gist is that if you get “only” 1% better every day for a year, you will end up 37x better at the end of the year, while if you get “only” 1% worse every day for a year, you end up 0.03x worse at the end of the year. As seen here:
This is really valuable and exciting to me. In my experience coaching nutrition, many times people feel like they’re not doing “enough” in their food plans because it doesn’t feel hard enough or too challenging. In reality, as we can see here, if we can just do little bits better over time, it REALLY adds up. Conversely, continuing to “allow” little bits worse to accumulate over time really doesn’t help.
Clear writes, “Success is the product of daily habits, not once in a lifetime transformations… What matters is whether your habits are putting you on the path to success. You should be far more concerned with your current trajectory than your current results. If you’re a millionaire, but you spend more than you earn each month, then you’re on a bad trajectory… Your outcomes are a lagging measure of your habits.” WOAH. Among other things, he says, “Your weight is a lagging measure of your eating habits… You get what you repeat.” Is there more to our weight than only what we eat? Yes. However, the point about our actions and food choices being the indicator of long-term results is HUGE. This applies to so much in life and I appreciated the bluntness here.
Your behavior has to be connected to your identity. He gives the example of someone offering you a cigarette and there being a difference between you saying “I’m not a smoker” vs. “I’m trying to quit.” The person who asserts that they’re not a smoker, even if they haven’t fully quit yet, is much more likely to successfully turn down the offer. The doubt or leeway that comes with “trying to quit” is not as strong. The point here is that if we’re wanting to change something about our lives or our habits, thinking about ourselves as someone who already does/is that thing is critical. I’ve written about this before, but creating mantras or identity statements about what you’re becoming is a great idea. If you want to run that marathon, thinking about yourself as “I am a runner” vs “I’m trying to run more” is way different!
“Have to” vs “get to.” You may have heard this one before too, but I liked hearing it again! Thinking about the fact that you “have to go to the gym” feels like a burden or an obligation. Alternatively, thinking about that you “get to go to the gym” feels like an opportunity and a celebration of what your body can and is able to do… and you’re way more likely to do it!
Motion vs action. I believe this is the first time I’ve heard this difference. Motion is doing things that make you feel like you’re making changes, while action is actually doing things to make changes. Here are some examples:
Hiring a nutrition coach is a motion, actually putting the lessons into practice is action. The hiring of the coach can make you feel like you’re helping your nutrition, but it doesn’t make any difference if you don’t integrate practices into your life.
Buying a book to help you learn a new skill is a motion. Actually reading the book and practicing the skill is action.
Getting a gym membership is a motion. Going to the gym is the action.
…The explanation of this difference was a big reality check for me. I’ve definitely been guilty of taking motions as opposed to actions. Seeing the difference spelled out was eye opening.
Last thing. I really appreciated this one… it’s continuing to do the important and valuable habits even when they get boring! Things done consistently can, and likely will, inevitably get boring. Doing workouts 5x per week isn’t always exciting, but continuing to do it even when it loses its allure is critical. You don’t always want to work to eat your protein, but you know it’s important so you keep doing it. So many of us give up on things when the boring-ness starts, and if the things are that important, it’s worth it to keep going. Along these lines, a fellow nutrition coach has posted that when your food plan gets boring that you should congratulate yourself because you’ve made it! ; )
Even though I highlighted some of the parts of the book that stood out to me, there’s much more to it and I highly recommend that you give the book a read or a listen (it’s only ~6 hours long!). If you do or have read this, I’d love to hear what parts stuck out to you and if you’re planning to adopt or remove any of your habits after reading!
As always, thank you for reading!
xoxo,
Sara