Book Review

BY DIANA MARIE

Every action you take is a vote for the type of person you wish to become. No single instance will transform your beliefs, but as the votes build up, so does the evidence of your new identity. This is one reason why meaningful change does not require radical change. Small habits can make a meaningful difference by providing evidence of a new identity. And if a change is meaningful, it is actually big. That’s the paradox of making small improvements.

(Atomic Habits, page 38)

Using a framework called the Four Laws of Behaviour Change, Atomic Habits explains to readers a simple set of rules for creating good habits and breaking bad ones. This book presents three (3) key lessons on how to build a habit in 4 simple steps.

3 Key Lessons From Atomic Habits A Building Better Habits In 4 Simple Steps

Lesson 1: Small habits make a big difference

If you can get 1 per cent better each day for one year, you’ll end up thirty-seven times better by the time you’re done. It doesn’t matter how successful or unsuccessful you are right now. What matters is whether your habits are putting you on the path toward success. Focus on getting 1 per cent better every day.

Lesson 2: Focus on your system instead.

Bad habits repeat themselves again and again, not because you don’t want to change but because you have the wrong system for change. You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems. Halt the repetition of bad habits in your system as you begin to adjust to better ones.

Lesson 3: Build identity-based habits

Your current behaviors are simply a reflection of your current identity. In this book the author says that, what you do now is a mirror image of the type of person you believe that you are (either consciously or subconsciously). Start building the positive identity you aspire to be.

BThe process of building a habit can be divided into four simple steps: cue, craving, response, and reward. The cues trigger a craving, which motivates a response, which provides a reward, which satisfies the craving and, ultimately, becomes associated with the cue. Together, these four steps form a neurological feedback loop that includes; cue, craving, response and reward, which ultimately allows one to create automatic habits. James Clear calls this cycle the ‘habit loop’.

The STEPS to create a good habit:

• The 1st law (Cue): Make it obvious.

• The 2nd law (Craving): Make it attractive.

• The 3rd law (Response): Make it easy.

• The 4th law (Reward): Make it satisfying.

James Clear, on page 22, says that “all big things come from small beginnings. The seed of every habit is a single, tiny decision. But as that decision is repeated, a habit sprouts and grows stronger. Roots entrench themselves, and branches grow. The task of breaking a bad habit is like uprooting a powerful oak within us. And the task of building a good habit is like cultivating a delicate flower one day at a time.” Go ahead. Transition to be a better you.

DIANA MARIE