Atomic Habits
- Raghav
- Aug 30, 2020
- 6 min read
Scientific motivation
By - James Clear
Have you ever heard of Les Brown, David Goggin or Jocko Willink screaming their shit out to work hard, be consistent and stay motivated?
This guy, James Clear did it all with LEGIT facts.
We all pump up watching for those 5 minutes motivational videos.
If someone tells you to work hard this books tells you why, how, when to do that all with positive results and facts.
Let's get straight into it!
Slow progress
Habits are the compound interest of self-improvement.
The effects of small habits compound over time. For example, if you can get just 1 percent better each day, you’ll end up with results that are nearly 37 times better after one year.
So if you want to shred those extra pounds off you need to get going by now! I doesn't matter if do work for 15 minutes one day you will get good results!
Your thinking VS reality
Take a moment and try to understand the graph. SHIT just got real. Now read below.
We often expect progress to be linear. At the very least, we hope it will come quickly. In reality, the results of our efforts are often delayed. It is not until months or years later that we realize the true value of the previous work we have done. This can result in a “valley of disappointment” where people feel discouraged after putting in weeks or months of hard work without experiencing any results. However, this work was not wasted. It was simply being stored. It is not until much later that the full value of previous efforts is revealed.
“When nothing seems to help, I go and look at a stonecutter hammering away at his rock, perhaps a hundred times without as much as a crack showing in it. Yet at the hundred and first blow it will split in two, and I know it was not that last blow that did it—but all that had gone before.” -- Jacob Riis
"This was just the chapter 1 and there's so much to learn!! I feel like putting the whole book into this LOL. Forreal though, every section is so easy to understand and important that I can't exclude it."
Messed up thinking?
Achieving a goal only changes your life for the moment. That’s the counterintuitive thing about improvement. We think we need to change our results, but the results are not the problem. What we really need to change are the systems that cause those results. When you solve problems at the results level, you only solve them temporarily. In order to improve for good, you need to solve problems at the systems level. Fix the inputs and the outputs will fix themselves.
If you’re having trouble changing your habits, the problem isn’t you. The problem is your system. Bad habits repeat themselves again and again not because you don’t want to change, but because you have the wrong system for change.
"Habits are a double-edged sword. They can work for you or against you, which is why understanding the details is essential."
The actual shit!!
The cue triggers a craving, which motivates a response, which provides a reward, which satisfies the craving and, ultimately, becomes associated with the cue.
Together, these four steps form a neurological feedback loop—cue, craving, response, reward; cue, craving, response, reward.
This four-step process is not something that happens occasionally, but rather it is an endless feedback loop that is running and active during every moment you are alive—even now.
Now check this out!!
We can split these four steps into two phases: the problem phase and the solution phase. The problem phase includes the cue and the craving, and it is when you realize that something needs to change. The solution phase includes the response and the reward, and it is when you take action and achieve the change you desire.
I don't know about you, but my mind was blown after reading this below -
This (above) makes me think myself as a AI who has everything programmed. LMAO!!
Lets break your gram addiction.
Cue - Delete the app. straight up!
Craving - Unfollow all the meme pages and models, and follow all the cringe and ugly stuff (I said 'stuff' not people so don't even try to think that I am judgmental, you ugly ass Mfs.)
Response - use the gram from the browser and login every time.
Reward - oh you know much better than me to make it "unsatisfying".
HOW TO REPROGRAM YOUR BRAIN TO ENJOY HARD HABITS
You can make hard habits more attractive if you can learn to associate them with a positive experience. Sometimes, all you need is a slight mind-set shift. For instance, we often talk about everything we have to do in a given day. You have to wake up early for work. You have to make another sales call for your business. You have to cook dinner for your family.
Now, imagine changing just one word: You don’t “have” to. You “get” to.
You get to wake up early for work. You get to make another sales call for your business. You get to cook dinner for your family. By simply changing one word, you shift the way you view each event. You transition from seeing these behaviors as burdens and turn them into opportunities.
THE TWO-MINUTE RULE
“When you start a new habit, it should take less than two minutes to do.”
“Read before bed each night” becomes “Read one page.”
“Do thirty minutes of yoga” becomes “Take out my yoga mat.”
“Study for class” becomes “Open my notes.”
The idea is to make your habits as easy as possible to start.
Improvements are only temporary until they become part of who you are.
The goal is not to read a book, the goal is to become a reader.
The goal is not to run a marathon, the goal is to become a runner.
The goal is not to learn an instrument, the goal is to become a musician.
The best I learned from this book and implemented into my life -
It is a simple two-step process:
Decide the type of person you want to be.
Prove it to yourself with small wins.
Easy as that! now let me explain!!
First, decide who you want to be.
This holds at any level—as an individual, as a team, as a community, as a nation. What do you want to stand for? What are your principles and values? Who do you wish to become?
These are big questions, and many people aren’t sure where to begin—but they do know what kind of results they want: to get six-pack abs or to feel less anxious or to double their salary. That’s fine. Start there and work backward from the results you want to the type of person who could get those results. 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?
“Who is the type of person who could write a book?” It’s probably someone who is consistent and reliable. Now your focus shifts from writing a book (outcome-based) to being the type of person who is consistent and reliable (identity-based).
The Best Way to Start a New Habit
I will [BEHAVIOR] at [TIME] in [LOCATION].
It's simple as it is! Check these out -
Meditation: I will meditate for one minute at 7 a.m. in my kitchen.
Exercise: I will exercise for one hour at 5 p.m. in my local gym.
Weed: I will smoke weed for 37 minutes at 8 p.m. in the heaven. Mind works faster than a computer after smoking weeeeed.....Whoo-ooo Ganja ganjaaaaaaa!!
"Now what if I told you that 90% of whatever you read above is just copied and pasted from the book itself.
This book was so well written that anyone can easily interpret and imply in their lives. I couldn't find/ come up with anything more straightforward than this.
I 100% recommend you this book"
Best #quotes from the book
"You become your habits"
"Every action you take is a vote for the type of person you wish to become."
"Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life and you will call it fate.” - Carl Jung
"Your identity is literally your 'repeated beingness.'"
"If you continue to prioritize comfort over accomplishment, you’ll be drawn to relaxing rather than training."
"You do not crave smoking a cigarette, you crave the feeling of relief it provides. You are not motivated by brushing your teeth but rather by the feeling of a clean mouth. Work for that feeling not for material purposes."
“In the long history of humankind, those who learned to collaborate and improvise most effectively have prevailed.” - Charles Darwin
"When changing your habits means challenging the tribe, change is unattractive. When changing your habits means fitting in with the tribe, change is very attractive."
"Missing once is an accident. Missing twice is the start of a new habit."
"Choose the habit that best suits you, not the one that is most popular."
"Distraction is a good thing because you need distractions to practice meditation."
"If you want to master a habit, the key is to start with repetition, not perfection."
"The consequences of bad habits are delayed while the rewards are immediate."
"Happiness is the space between one desire being fulfilled and a new desire forming.” - Caed Budris
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