Atomic habits-5 min summary

 Atomic habits are written by James Clear.

The reasons why we need to read this book:

1. To understand the power of habit.

2. To understand how habits work.

3. How to break bad habits?

4. How to master certain task?

If you are finding the answers to these questions then this book is definitely for you.

Let's first understand the importance of good habit:

Good habits are the tiny changes that make a big difference. 1%  better every day. Habits get compounded by self-improvement. Which in the long term will give you tremendous results.

whereas 

If bad habits repeat, they will make your life more difficult.

Most of us will face problems when we want to make a new habit. Our habits are short-lived. This book provides a step by step system of how habits could be formed. 

Let's get started and learn the technique of making good habits efficiently: 

1. Remember habits shape your identity. Choose the habits carefully that you want to make. 

2. There are 4 simple steps to learn about habit-building or bad habit breaking.

Cue: The cue triggers your brain to initiate a behaviour. It is a bit of information that predicts a reward.

Craving: It is the second step, and they are the motivational force behind every habit.

Response: The third step is the response. The response is the actual habit you perform, which can take the form of a thought or an action.

Reward: The first purpose of rewards is to satisfy your craving. Your brain is a reward detector. Rewards close the feedback loop and complete the habit cycle.

Let us understand these four steps by understanding one example i.e. 

1. Cue: Your phone buzzes with a new text message.

2. Craving: You want to learn the contents of the message.
3. Response: You grab your phone and read the text.
4. Reward: You satisfy your craving to read the message. Grabbing your phone becomes associated with your phone buzzing.

How to Create a Good Habit              How to Break a Bad Habit

Cue: Make it obvious.                           Cue: Make it invisible.
Craving: Make it attractive.                  Craving: Make it unattractive
Response: Make it easy.                        Response: Make it difficult.
Reward: Make it satisfying                   Reward: Make it unsatisfying.

Let's discuss these steps one by one:

To make the cue obvious: 

1.   Give specific location and time to your habit.

2.   Do the new habit after some old habit. 
3.   Environment plays a very important role: Add cues to your environment. Example: if you want to drink more water. Make the cue (water bottles) visible to your eyes.

On a similar note if you want to leave a bad habit. Make the cue invisible. For example: if you don't want to use  social media then make your phone invisible for some time.

To make the cravings attractive: 

The second law of habit-forming is to make it attractive: habits are dopamine driven. When dopamine rises motivation for doing a specific action increases. So the aim is to combine action with what you want to do and what you need to do. After [CURRENT HABIT], I will [NEW HABIT]. and After [HABIT I NEED], I will [HABIT I WANT]. 

for example: If you want to check Facebook, but you need to exercise more: 

1. After I pull out my phone, I will do ten burpees (need).

Similarly, for changing the habit make it unattractive. 

To make the response easy:

The 3rd Law of Behavior Change is to make it easy. Human behaviour follows the Law of Least Effort. Reduce the friction associate with your habit. When you start a new habit. It should take less than two minutes to do it this is what we called a two-minute rule.  

for example, You are more likely to go to the gym if it is on your way to work. 

Inversely, for breaking a habit, make it difficult. 

To make the reward satisfying:

The 4th Law of Behavior Change is to make it satisfying. We are more likely to repeat a behaviour when the experience is satisfying. The human brain evolved to prioritize immediate rewards over delayed rewards. The Cardinal Rule of Behaviour Change: What is immediately rewarded is repeated. What is immediately punished is avoided.

One of the most satisfying feelings is the feeling of making progress. A habit tracker is a simple way to measure whether you did a habit—like marking an X on a calendar. Habit trackers and other visual forms of measurement can make your habits satisfying by providing clear evidence of your progress. Don’t break the chain. 

Similarly, try not to repeat a bad habit.

So these are some points I have taken from the book. There a lot of ideas, techniques and examples given in the book to improve habit-forming skills and how James himself created these skills over the period of time. 

REVIEW: This book is really helpful if you find it hard to make new habits and it happens with all of us. The only way to master a skill is basically the habit of doing it regularly without breaking the chain. Habits + Deliberate Practice = Mastery Reflection. Maybe these steps seem easy to read but a lot when you have to apply these on daily basis to improve your habits.

Often people ask, How many days it would take to master a habit? Instead of days, they should ask how many repetitions would take to master a habit. If you want to build a habit, do it again and again.