1. Atomic Habits
– By James Clear
A book review by Shilpa Desai

2. The most life changing
book that is released in
recent times – even if you
follow just 1%
 Small changes are often dismissed as they don’t
seem to matter. Saving little money every month
doesn’t make you a millionaire in three months, or
three years. Going to gym three days in a row will
help you lose no weight. This also leads to bad habits.
One unhealthy meal will not make you fat tomorrow.
One cigaratte will not give you cancer next week.
But when you replicate such poor behavior of tiny
mistakes and over number of days, that leads to
problem of poor health, poor financial situation and
poor relationships.
 “When nothing seems to help, I go and look at the
stonecutter hammering away at his rock – perhaps a
hundred times without showing a crack. Yet at
hundred and first blow when the stone breaks, I know
its not the last hammer and all those that had gone
before “
Atomic – means an extremely small
amount of a thing; the single
irreducible unit of a larger system.
Habit – a routine or practice
performed regularly; automatic
response to a specific situation

3. Goals ? Or System to achieve the goals?
 Goals are the results you want to achieve
– but systems are the processes that will
lead you to the results.
 So if you completely ignore the results but
only focus on the systems to achieve your
goals, will you still succeed?
 So if you are a cricket team coach and
instead of focusing on the winning the
trophy, if you just focus that your team
practices everyday, will your team win the
trophy?

4. Problems with goal
oriented mindset
 The losers have started with the same goals as the
winners. Just that they didn’t have the same routine,
rigor or the efforts that the winners had put. Michel
Phelps practiced on every Sunday while other kids
didn’t. That gave him 52 days of more practice than
other kids.
 Once you achieve your goal, it changes your life for
that moment. Also, when goal focused, you either
achieve it, or don’t. When you don’t, there is
disappointment. So your box yourself in a narrow
version of happiness. You are happy as long as your
systems are running.
 If all your hard work is for focused on a goal, nothing is
left to push once the goal is achieved.
The purpose of building the system is to continue to play
the game. True long term thinking is goal-less thinking. Its
not about accomplishing to create a cycle of endless
refinement and continuous improvement.
• Winners and losers have the
same goal
• Achieving the goal is only a
momentary change
• Goals restrict your happiness
• Goals are at odd with long
term progress

5. Why its easy to repeat bad habits and so
hard to keep up at the good ones
 What are the
layer of the
behavior
change?
Identity
Your self image or
your judgement
about yourself and
other
Process
• Implement a new
gym routine
• Practice everyday
Outcomes
• Lose weight
• Win a
trophy

6. Outcome based habit or Identity based
habit?
 Outcome – Process – Identity
 Focus on what you want to achieve
 Identity – Process – Outcome
 Focus on who you want to become

7. Stages of Habit
1 – Cue
2 – Craving
3 – Response
4 - Reward
PROBLEM PHASE
SOLUTION PHASE
How does this work in case of
• Pick up the phone when it buzzes
• Drinking tea when we wake up
• Buy a doughnut when we pass by the
stall in the mall
• Check the phone and social media
when feel stuck at work
• Switch on the light when enter a dark
room

8. How to create good habits or kick the
bad ones?
KICKING BAD HABITS
 1st Law - Cue – Make it invisible
 2nd Law – Craving – Make it unattractive
 3rd Law – Response – Make it difficult
 4th Law – Reward – Make it unsatisfying
CREATING GOOD HABITS
 1st Law - Cue – Make it obvious
 2nd Law – Craving – Make it attractive
 3rd Law – Response – Make it easy
 4th Law – Reward – Make it satisfying

9. How to create good habits or kick the
bad ones?
 Habit Stacking - Insert new behaviors in
current one.
 If you want to read more, when you make
your bed, add a book by the pillow.
 Eat healthy – serve vegetables in your
plate before you serve any other item
 Cue – implementation plan without
waiting for motivation.
 We often wait for motivation while what
we actually lack is clarity.
 “I am going to eat healthy” “ I will write
more” doesn’t work.
 What works is make a plan of what we
want to eat for dinner for the week and
buy the stuff two days in advance.
 Set up time and prepare your desk to write
every day.

10. How to create good habits or kick the
bad ones?
 People with best self control are the ones
who have to use it the least.
 You want to not buy junk food, go to a
different super market where you don’t
know which isle stores junk food.
 If you don’t want to spend lot of money
on new gadgets, stop reading the reviews
of the latest gadgets.
 Motivation is overrated – environment
matters more
 You want to drink more water through the
day, carry a bottle with you and keep in
front of you at all time.

11. How to create good habits or kick the
bad ones?
 Want to exercise ? Keep your gym bag,
water battle ready at night
 Want to improve your diet? Buy the
healthy stuff beforehand and keep
veggies in the fridge in the main
compartment?
Prime your environment for success. Same for
bad ones –
 Want to watch less TV ? Remove batteries
from the remote after you switch off and
keep them away.
 Don’t want to see your phone too
frequently? Keep it in another room
 Make it easy – remove the friction from
the habit formation

12. How to create good habits or kick the
bad ones?
 For every good or bad habit, there are
decisive moments.
 Read before each night – should be ‘read
a page’ before sleep.
 Do thirty minutes of Yoga is – take out your
yoga mat.
 Run three miles is – Put on your running
shoes.
Once you start doing the right thing, its very
easy to continue it. But the start should not
fee like a challenge.
 Two minute Rule – It should not take more
than two minutes to start a new habit
 The new habit should be a gateway habit
which will lead to a more productive path.