James Clear

This book was recommended and five-starred enough times in my circles that I had to read it for myself. There's a lot of solid advice here, particularly about the many ingredients involved in building good habits and breaking bad ones. Each angle has its own potential for, not immediate success or failure, but increasing or decreasing your odds of success as you attempt to build/remove a habit. I'm enjoying the negative reviews that sound like "Oh? Self-help? So you think you're BETTER than show more me??" If you've got all the habits you want, then this book won't be very useful!

I don't think using fallible real-world examples is a flaw for Clear - if anything, they demonstrate that, yeah, these processes can be difficult. He acknowledges that people lean toward the path of least resistance, and that includes choosing rest/dormancy over active, daily improvement. The actionable steps and examples are meant to put readers in a position to try the process for themselves. Your mileage may vary.

Having said that, the external resources that get brought up (hire an assistant, enlist a friend, pay an online service) stretch some of the advice beyond "social reinforcement" into "make your problem someone else's problem." Nevertheless, there is a lot more valuable, practical advice here than in many other self-help books I've seen. show less

Most of the advice in Atomic Habits may seem like common sense but really it is the advice that you don't think to take. There are a myriad of tricks you can use to get ahead in life. Clear makes it abundantly easy to adopt many of them and he writes in a tone that is easy going and never didactic (he even throws in a Game of Thrones reference). Here are some of my favorites: think of getting ahead as a game, complete with competitive strategies and a well-defined playbook; reframe your why show more (saying "I do not smoke." instead of "I am trying to quit.") and you can learn a great deal by watching other successful people (what are their habits?). This last Clear advice is probably my favorite because I have always believed in what I call the Particle Theory. I honestly believe people come into your life for a very specific reason. When they leave your life as they often will, it is because you have used up their purpose or that reason for being in your life; you have gotten all that you could out of that relationship. I believe you will unconsciously pick up habits and personality traits from the people closest to you, whether you like it or not. How influential that person is to your life determines how steadfast the habit or trait will be.
If you are short on time, Clear also includes chapter summaries that are well thought out and detailed. show less

As I believe I’ve mentioned in other reviews, I have a deep aversion to most books that fall within the “self-help” genre, largely for theological reasons that are too difficult to explain here. That and the fact that most books in this genre seem boring, repetitive, and, at the end of the day, not all that helpful. However, I feel that Clear’s book proves to be an exception to all those objections. It was enjoyable, fresh, and above all truly helpful.

Obviously, a book on the power show more of habit to shape our lives and how to shape our habits is not plowing any new ground in the “self-help” world. In fact, throughout the book, Clear gives credit to his forebears in the field, showing both how he builds on and moves beyond others’ work. (At the end of the book, he helpfully provides a “For Further Reading” section.) The unique strength of Clear’s work is his combination of behavioral modification and cognitive psychology approaches. He does a very good job of not simply explaining how habits work but why habits work in that way. One thing that I particularly appreciated (given my research interests in other areas) was the way that he accounts for the role of emotion in our decision-making processes.

The core insight is obvious. True and lasting improvement happens not all at once but in dozens, hundreds—even thousands—of incremental steps. Our daily habits are the “atoms” of our life and identity. Clear’s goal is to prove that the goal is not RADICAL change but MEANINGFUL change, change that moves you closer to the person that you desire to be.

Perhaps one of the reasons I enjoyed this work more than others is that it was a fast read. Let’s just say that Clear’s style lives up to his name. His prose is easy; each brief chapter follows the same template; he keeps lists to four items or less; he maintains a near-perfect balance between “fact/idea” and “meaning/application.” He includes fascinating details from the burgeoning field of neuroscience and brain studies as well as providing helpful illustrations (many of them personal).

As a theologian/working pastor, I couldn’t help but make continual applications to Christian spiritual formation. The so-called “spiritual disciplines” (e.g., prayer, meditation, fasting, etc) are, at the end of day, habits. Discipleship is really a process of developing spiritual habits. However, this similarity highlights one HUGE difference between Clear’s approach and a Christian view. I reject Clear’s claim that the pursuit of good habits is rooted in our PRIDE in our identity. For Christians, our pursuit of good habits must be ultimately rooted in our humble pursuit of being identified with Christ. We are not trying to develop our OWN identity but to assume HIS identity.

As surprised as I am to say this (given some of my earlier unrecorded comments while passing through the “Self-Help” section of my local Barnes & Noble), this was a genuinely good book. Perhaps not quite a great book but genuinely informative, enlightening, and helpful. In fact, it was good enough that I’ve added a “Personal Growth” section to my own annual reading log; Clear helped me recognize that this category of writing, when done with the level of skill and relevance he demonstrates throughout, is valuable. Reading books like his is a habit I need to develop. show less

Chock full of logical explanations of the psychology of habits. Lots of terminology describing how and why they take control of us. And detailed strategies of how we can take control back. BUT...I felt this was more of a reference book that was smart, made good sense, and could be helpful to some.

I just didn't feel it. And because many habits have emotional components that run deep, brainy reasoning may not work on many others.

Changing cues, environment, motivation as well as making it show more inconvenient to prevent our acting on our habits are all good ideas. But people and habits can be stubborn and resistant. I know I need something that appeals more to my feelings to get me to just stop my bad habits.

Book is well-written and includes excellent summaries at the end of each chapter. For those people who are practical and logical Atomic Habits may just be the habit-breaking read you need. show less