From the “Habit Loop” to the “3 Levels of Change” James Clear provides an accessible and easy to read manual on habits. This book is actionable and practical while providing some context and frameworks to accompany the author’s opinions and ideas.
The “Habit Loop”, as described by Clear is made up of 4 parts:
- Cue / Trigger
- Craving / Motivation
- Response / Habit
- Reward
From a personal perspective, I find the study of habits really interesting and this is the second book on habits I’ve read (I read the “Power of Habit” by Charles Duhigg), I’m particularly interested in how habits are associated with parts of the brain that carries dopamine, ie. the hit of satitaction and anticipation of the reward.
Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones by James Clear
The most actionable part of the book, from my point of view, was “habit stacking”, where one can pair a new desired habit with a current habit or behaviour. The key times for “habit stacking” are when one wakes up or when one goes to sleep as we already have loads of habits with these daily actions. Such as “after or before my current habit, I’ll do this new habit”. Habit stacking can be very powerful when used in the right way and with very specific current habits.
Get 1% better each day and watch your good habits compound
The main laws as described in the book in order to build good habits are:
- Law #1 Make it obvious
- Law #2 Make it attractive
- Law #3 Make it easy
- Law #4 Make it satisfying
Quote
“Habits are the compound interest of self-improvement” James Clear