Why Atomic Habits?

James Clear’s Atomic Habits is the first of several books that we summarized in our new BookBoards video series. (Make sure to check out our summary of Dan Pink’s “The Power of Regret”, which came next.) I chose Atomic Habits first for reasons that hit close to home.

All In, All the Time

I’m a very “all-in” type of person. Whether I’m reaching for a work goal or trying to master a new hobby…  there are never any half measures with me. (Just ask my husband and close friends.)

The down side of having that trait is that victories can feel hollow. It’s hard to enjoy a hard-fought work win when you look up to find that your house is a complete disaster, you’ve put on ten pounds, and your family has forgotten what you look like.

(I’m exaggerating, but only just.)

I’ve always tried to strike that work-life balance, but there just never seemed to be enough time to do it all.

The Freedom of Habits

In the book Atomic Habits, James Clear opened up my mind to a new way of thinking. I realized that maintaining all the different aspects of my life didn’t have to represent a monumental effort. I just needed to set up the right system of small habits, and that would free me up to focus on my more essential tasks.

It’s a work in progress but I have been managing to stick to my health plan, meditate daily, keep a tidier home, and go for daily walks with my husband… Even while working toward an aggressive deadline.

I felt so inspired by the book that I wanted to share some of James Clear’s big ideas with you, in the form of this video. I hope you’ll enjoy it.

Summary of Atomic Habits by James Clear

We tend to think we have to make massive changes to hit our big goals. But actually tiny habits, repeated again and again, can have a major, compounding impact, even when the result isn’t visible right away.

Some people worry that adopting too many habits will restrict their freedom. In fact, it’s the opposite. When a lot of your choices become automatic, you free up your brain to work on more essential tasks.

The Habit Loop

Let’s take a look at the four components of a habit loop: 

• The cue attracts your brain’s attention to a potential reward and prompts a craving for that reward. 
• The craving gives you the motivation and the desire for a change. 
• The response  is the action you take to satisfy the craving, and 
• The reward is the benefit you receive from taking that action. 

All these elements have to line up for a habit to stick.  

The Four Laws of Behaviour Change

The first law of behaviour change: Make the cues visible

Here are a few tricks to make your habit difficult to ignore. 

• Set an “implementation intention” for where and when you will act.
• Create a habit stack. Identify something you already do every day and use it to cue a new habit you want to adopt.
• Design your environment so that it draws your attention to the actions you want to take.

The second law of behaviour change: Make it attractive

The idea is to develop a craving to act. For example, you can

• Create a motivation ritual. Before a difficult habit, do something you enjoy, in order to create a positive association.
• Use “temptation bundling”. That’s where you pair a hard habit with something you like to do.
• Join a culture that you already relate to and where the behaviour you want to adopt is the norm.

The third law of behaviour change: Make It Easy

How can you make it easy so that you’re more likely to act? You can:

• Prep your environment in advance for when you’re ready to practice your habit.
• Place your habit along your natural daily path,

Also – when you’re starting a new habit, remember that showing up is more important than the habit itself. Make your habit easy enough so that it takes less than two minutes to complete. Standardize before you optimize.

The fourth law of behaviour change: Make It satisfying

If you make the habit satisfying, you’re more likely to repeat it. The Cardinal Rule of Behavior Change tells us that “What is rewarded is repeated. What is punished is avoided.”

The problem is timing: Positive habits yield results that feel great in the long term… but often feel quite hard at first.

The solution? Set immediate rewards to keep you motivated while you wait for the longer-term rewards to kick in. One way to do that is to track your habits so that you can feel the satisfaction of marking them done, and feel motivated to maintain your streak.

Breaking Bad Habits

The four laws of behaviour change can also be used for breaking a bad habit by making it:

• Invisible
• Unattractive
• Difficult to act on
• Unsatisfying

Why You Should Still Read the Book

There is so much more to this book than we could ever cover in this short whiteboard animation, including:

• How to choose the right habits for you
• The secret to results that last
• A ton of great examples and tips that you can act on right away.

Read it for yourself, so that you can create your own system of tiny changes that will lead to remarkable results. 

A Word of Thanks

Sending a big, warm shout out to Jon Kay, whose sketches were the basis for the video’s visuals.

I’ve worked with many illustrators, but Jon always stands out. It’s not just that he’s an amazing cartoonist. (I mean, just take a look at his fantastic comic series here to see his talent in action.)

Jon’s also a pleasure to work with and extremely generous about sharing his creative ideas for making the finished video even better. And I’m not the only one who thinks so: Browse Jon’s portfolio to read all his glowing customer reviews. And check out some more of Jon’s whiteboard animation examples in our portfolio.

Thank you, Jon. You’re a gem.