Books in 2022: Atomic Habits

Book #10

I realize that I was knocking off fiction books nearly every week. But this post after about 15 days pretty much sums up my abysmal pace of reading non-fiction, self-help books. Yet, on the other hand, reading such books gives me a strange kind of satisfaction - satisfaction of unlocking a level of improvement in me. May be for the same reason, I feel that these books deserve more time and a specialized focus. "Atomic habits" all the more, since it talks about inculcating good habits which forms a cornerstone of one's life and a necessary key to attain success.

Primary premise of the book revolves around four ways of forming good habits:

1. Cue - make it obvious. Techniques that author suggests - habit stacking, make it visible, change your environment

2. Craving - make it attractive. Techniques that author suggests - temptation bundling, join culture (strava :))

3. Response - make it easy. Techniques that author suggests - reduce friction, optimize small tasks, progress gradually (2 min rule), automate 

4. Reward - make it satisfying. Techniques that author suggests - immediate reward, habit tracker, never miss twice

To make the book more interesting, author, in parallel, also covers how these same patterns can be used to break bad habits - cue(make it invisible), craving (make it unattractive), response (make it hard) and reward (make it unsatisfying). 

As expected from a non-fiction self-help, there were too many take-away points apart from the ones mentioned above. In fact, I fear I may forget many of them as time passes. But still, I will try my best to remember at least some of them which have potential to alter my life. 

For one, author's explanation of how forming good habits and improving just 1% everyday, finally at the end compounds. I really liked the example he quoted about an imaginary scenario of a flight going from LAX to NYC, ultimately reaching Washington DC due to a minor 3.5 degree tilt while taking off.

In another chapter, author mentions the reason as to why you should inculcate good habits. Many of us tag it to achieving goals - "I want to train because I wish to run a marathon". But author presents a counter point of tagging the reason to changing identity instead - "I want to train because I wish to become a runner (or lead a healthy lifestyle)". Once the reason tags to identity, there is no looking back.

I can confidently say that this one is must read for everyone. Looking forward to some fiction now :P

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