Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones

These notes are old and were written while reading — they don’t necessarily reflect my current views.

Marginal improvement can lead to strong long term results due to compounding.

These results might occur very suddenly. This does not mean the work before was unnecessary.

You have to identify with the person you want to become not a goal you want to achieve.

Its about the system, not the goal

There are 4 steps to habits: Cue, craving, response and reward.

This leads to the four laws of behavior change that attack exactly these four steps:

The first is to make the cue obvious. This can be done by pointing, calling or by placing the cue in a spot where it’s guaranteed to get your attention. You could also do a score card (checklist). Another way is to implement a habit on a specific time / place or trough stacking it on another habit. Furthermore, try to dedicate places to activities. This helps to set subconscious cues.

The second law is to make it attractive. You can do that by joining a society where the desired behaviour is the norm. Also habit stacking can be applied here. You force yourself to only do one thing after doing the other.

The third law is make it attractive, this means one should eliminate friction and start with very small and easy habits. Once the habit is formed on can build on it. One should also make decisions in advance instead of in the moment.

The fourth law is to make it satisfying. This can be done by adding immediate pleasure to a new habit. Habit tracking can be very helpful. It is important to note the habit directly after doing it.

Stick with the right field of competition. The Goldilocks rule states that the challenge should be about 4% above your current ability.