Atomic Habits - A Book Review and My Daily Habits

Hello! It’s Sarah here :)

I recently finished reading Atomic Habits, by James Clear. I’ve seen this book on recommended reading lists of many leaders and influencers, so I thought I'd give it a try. Although I have written many reviews as a #Yelper for restaurants, this is my first take at a book review.

Disclaimer: I’m not a bookworm nor do I consider myself a great writer. So don't think too highly of my opinion please! In this post, I will touch on the general overview of the book, what I liked and disliked about this book, and how I implement these habit building tactics into my daily life. I’ll do my best not to spoil too much of this great book!

Book Review

General Synopsis

We all have big goals in life and sometimes, we find ourselves stuck or not being able to accomplish them. James Clear, the author of #1 New York Times bestseller, Atomic Habits, states that the problem lies within the system, not you. It starts with small, atomic changes in your daily life that will help reform your system of habits. Eventually, these atomic habits will help lead to a more enhanced and accomplishing life that you strive for. James Clear outlines 4 steps– or rather laws– that lead to behavior change:

1. Cue// Make it obvious

2. Craving// Make it attractive

3. Response// Make it easy

4. Reward// Make it satisfying

Likes Again, since I’m not a huge reader, I appreciate how each topic is straight to the point and does not add any fluff. In addition, James Clear adds a summary at the end of each chapter that helps relate back to the laws. I’m really just applauding how organized this book is at this point, but that’s what makes this book so easy to read. All of the topics covered in this book are highly applicable to any aspects of your life. These steps helped me realize some habits that I was not so proud of and provided an easy guide on how to fix that.

Dislikes

To be honest, none!

How I Implement Habits In My Life

My Habits Before I Read Atomic Habits

• My general daily routine looked like this: Wakeup 1 hour before going to work → brush teeth, wash face, get dressed, make my bed → breakfast + reading news briefings → work → lunch → play on my phone and take a nap (this can last for 2-3 hours)/go back to work → workout/shower → dinner → socialize with roommates, play on my phone → sleep.

Although I had an established morning routine, my afternoons and evenings would feel wasted because I would just spend a lot of time on my phone or just procrastinate doing random stuff.

• The Problem: Sleep has been my biggest issue. Throughout the day, I was constantly tired and had brain fog. I couldn’t really give my 100% focus on my work. I knew playing on my phone in my bed was making me procrastinate to sleep. I think I like the dopamine-like feeling of finding something interesting on social media every time I scrolled and going down the rabbit hole from there. I also knew that I was stressed from my actual job, which kept my mind awake at night. I believed that social media helped distract me from my reality. But in the long-term, it was affecting my overall sleep and mood… Making my day a rather unproductive one. Since I’ve been having health issues and been working basically part-time from my job the past couple months, it has been a drastic change in my daily life… From working 12-15 hours a day reduced to half of that. As someone who can get deeply absorbed into work and love progression, I was feeling somewhat depressed that I felt stuck in my current position at work, which made me feel even more tired, stressed, and anxious. There are also other things that I wanted to do in my free time but I struggled to find the internal motivation to do them. These include: studying Chinese, being more active on my food Instagram, and starting a blog. So here are the three main issues that I wanted to fix: sleep, procrastination, and my internal dialogue.
  

• The major habits that I appreciated before reading this book include keeping a clean room, having an established morning routine to help jumpstart my day, and working out. I also write down a list of things I need to complete in a daily checklist.

Implementing Atomic Habits Into My Current Life:

• My *new* morning routine: Wake up at 5:20am → Brush teeth, wash face, make bed → Eat breakfast and read news briefings at my desk → Study Chinese for 15 mins → Get dressed and head to work
  

• 1st Law - Make It Obvious: I implemented habit stacking: I will [BEHAVIOR] at [TIME] in [Location]. After I [CURRENT HABIT], I will [NEW HABIT].

I will study Chinese in the morning before I go to work at my desk. After I make my bed, I will eat breakfast and read the news. After I finish my breakfast and reading the news, I will study Chinese for 15 mins.

Although I already had an established morning routine, adding Chinese to my morning routine did not require a whole lot of effort. In fact, this has helped create a nice stream flow of habits that prepped my brain for work. I like to think of it as a nice warm-up.

• 2nd Law - Make It Attractive For me, studying Chinese is something I truly enjoy, where now, it has become a motivation ritual. Doing something I enjoy right before a difficult habit, which is going to work and studying nuclear engineering. Therefore, studying Chinese helps set up my mood to study for something harder.
  

• 3rd Law - Make It Easy: The location, my desk in this case, is important here because I’m trying to associate my desk as a place to be productive. Read the news, study, and make content. I always keep my desk clear, have sticky notes and my checklist on the right side of my desk, and something to drink on the left side of my laptop (also helps ensure I drink enough water before my workout at the end of the day). I am designing my environment to achieve optimal productivity by reducing friction before I launch into my future actions. And going back to the 1st law, my desk also serves as a cue to be productive with my time. I’m sure some people might say, “Studying Chinese for 15 minutes isn’t going to make you fluent.” First off... gurl I know. But if you don’t practice, you’ll lose it. Here, I’m implementing the “two-minute rule” — obviously 2 minutes will not get me anywhere with studying, so I study for 15 minutes. If it’s easy to spend 20 minutes watching a show, then it should be easy to study for just 15 minutes. And it is.
  

• Afternoon/Evening Routine: Come back from work → Eat lunch and play on my phone in the loft area, not in my bed *I dedicate this time where I allow myself to “procrastinate” on my phone in my day* → If I’m tired, nap for 30 minutes in my bed → Go to my desk and work on content for 3 hours → Workout between 5/6pm → Eat dinner and catch up with roommates → Brush teeth, wash face → Set alarm, read book in bed → Sleep NLT 10pm
  

• 4th Law - Make It Satisfying Honestly, the only thing that gets me through my time at work is earning a nice nap and laze around after a productive morning. It’s a nice reward after I complete my habit.
  

• Here’s how I address my sleeping problem: Like the desk, I am re-associating my bed to just sleeping, not being on my phone or just staying awake in general. If I want to play on my phone or watch a show, I will do so in the loft area or in the living room. Brushing my teeth and washing my face cues that I am preparing to go to bed. At the same time though, my mind tends to still be active. Instead of being on my phone, I now read my book and help tire my brain out. If I do feel stressed or have a lot on my mind, I keep my daily checklist next to my bed so that I can immediately write it down. Writing it down will help me (1) remember to complete it, (2) make a commitment to address it the next day, (3) and sleep more peacefully. Since implementing this change, I fall asleep within the next 15 minutes vs 30 minutes - 1 hour now! I am less dependent on taking melatonin and feel less stressed. I now wake up more refreshed and less groggy throughout the day. Also, not only am I addressing my sleep issue, but now I am now allocating a designated time to read more books.

To summarize, this is how my change in behavior for sleeping works:

1. Cue: Brushing my teeth, washing my face, and setting my alarm.

2. Craving: I want to fall asleep but my mind is still running.

3. Response: I read a book to tire my brain. If I have anything else on my mind, I jot it down on paper.

4. Reward: I can sleep peacefully and quickly.
   

Conclusion

As I was reading this book, I slowly implemented new tactics to build my good habits, break bad ones, and reform my old system that was not working for me. Now I find myself in a better headspace, more motivated to do what I want to do, and feeling more accomplished despite some of the current setbacks (addressing my last problem)!

With my new system, I strive to improve myself by 1% each day, even if I don’t have lofty or big goals at the moment. To my avid goal lovers out there, let me rephrase that last part just a little more. There are things I want to do and be in my life, but they are goals that I will not achieve overnight. That is why I strive to improve myself 1% better each day– to get 1% better at running faster and lifting heavier, to get 1% better at expanding my knowledge by reading a book, to get 1% better at becoming a better writer, etc. All of these habits contribute to my success to become the person I want to be in the future. (Here is an article from James Clear that discusses why you should focus on creating a system of good habits rather than setting goals.)

I definitely recommend this book to anyone, whether you already have good habits or not. Start by creating habits on an atomic scale in order to enhance our lives to become a more productive and happier one.

Have you read this book? If so, what “atomic” habits or changes have you made in your life? Let me know in the comment section below! :)