August has arrived, and 2021 ,will seem like a distant memory, as will many of the resolutions and plans and promises and action points that you and your friends and families made! Despite starting with the best of intentions to learn a foreign language, change career, start your own business, etc., it’s true to say that for the vast majority of people, they will have already fallen off the wagon. The textbooks are now gathering dust and the gym kit is lying at the bottom of the wardrobe.
Considering how smart and equipped we are, how come we can’t keep new habits going beyond a month? Why can’t we stop our bad habits either? This is a question that Atomic Habits by James Clear seeks to address. With over 3 million copies sold and featuring in many bestseller lists, we decided that this was the perfect time to read it and see if it offered reliable strategies to help us achieve our goals.
- Beware of the motion vs. action trap
When you’re in motion, you’re planning and strategizing and learning. Those are all good things, but they don’t produce a result. Action, on the other hand, is the type of behavior that will deliver an outcome. — James Clear
Motion is all about planning and learning and theorizing. Action is all about deliberate practice to deliver an outcome. It’s all too easy to fall into the trap of being in motion, of fooling yourself into thinking you’re making progress towards something.
Don’t just talk, start doing!
- We live in a delayed return environment
In modern society, many of the choices you make today will not benefit you immediately…You live in what scientists call a delayed-return environment because you can work for years before your actions deliver the intended payoff. — James Clear
It used to make sense to place a premium on instant gratification. Our very survival often depended on it. So, our brains evolved over time to prefer quick hits of pleasure to the kind of satisfaction one might get from long-term accomplishments. How deeply you understand and design your life around the simple fact that most of the decisions you make on a daily basis will not immediately benefit (or harm) you is going to be one of the primary factors in determining your success in life.
Remember, pay now to play later!
- Winners and those who fail have the same goals
And if successful and unsuccessful people share the same goals, then the goal cannot be what differentiates the winners from the losers. — James Clear
Having goals is not enough. If it was, we’d all be winners. But we know that’s not the case. We all set goals for ourselves. How many of us actually see them through? Whether we succeed or fail depends on the quality of the system we develop to help us make progress once we’ve chosen a direction.
As James Clear writes in the book, “You do not rise to the level of your goals. You rise to the level of your system.
If and when you achieve goals, it’s not because you set them, it’s because you set up the proper system to achieve them. If you want to see results, i.e. achieve your goals, you should worry far more about your system than anything else.
We strongly encourage you to pick up a copy and read the rest for yourself. If you’re struggling with your habits, this is very much a book for you. We think it’s a book that can in fact change your life. Do check your favorite online or offline bookstores for a copy.