Atomic Habits
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Things I Highlighted is a bulleted list of particular sentences in a book that stuck out to me. These cannot be viewed as general summaries of books, but rather parts of books that struck me in a way that demanded more of my attention. Typically I share one thing I highlighted from each chapter, so they will appear in the same order they appear in the book. This version of Things I Highlighted will cover Atomic Habits, a book written by James Clear that discusses the surprising power of tiny habits.
Atomic Habits
Introduction
Changes that seems small and unimportant at first will compound into remarkable results if you're willing to stick with them for years. We all deal with setbacks but in the long run, the quality of our lives often depends on the quality of our habits. With the same habits, you'll end up with the same results. But with better habits, anything is possible.
Chapter 1: The Surprising Power of Atomic Habits
Complaining about not achieving success despite working hard is like complaining about an ice cube not melting when you heated it from twenty-five to thirty-one degrees. Your work was not wasted; it is just being stored. All the action happens at thirty-two degrees.
Chapter 2: How Your Habits Shape Your Identity (and Vice Versa)
Each experience in life modifies your self-image, but it's unlikely you would consider yourself a soccer player because you kicked a ball once or an artist because you scribbled a picture. As you repeat these actions, however, the evidence accumulates and your self-image begins to change.
Chapter 3: How to Build Better Habits in 4 Simple Steps
Building habits in the present allows you to do more of what you want in the future.
Chapter 4: The Man Who Didn't Look Right
The labels "good habit" and "bad habit" are slightly inaccurate. There are no good habits or bad habits. There are only effective habits. That is, effective at solving problems. All habits serve you in some way - even the bad ones - which is why you repeat them.
Chapter 5: The Best Way to Start a New Habit
People who make a specific plan for when and where they will perform a new habit are more likely to follow through.
Chapter 6: Motivation Is Overrated; Environment Often Matters More
Environment design allows you to take back control and become the architect of your life. Be the designer of your world and not merely the consumer of it.
Chapter 7: The Secret to Self-Control
You may be able to resist temptation once or twice, but it's unlikely you can muster the willpower to override your desires every time. Instead of summoning a new dose of willpower whenever you want to do the right thing, your energy would be better spent optimizing your environment. This is the secret to self-control. Make the cues of your good habits obvious and the cues of your bad habits invisible.
Chapter 8: How to Make a Habit Irresistible
Desire is the engine that drives behavior. Every action is taken because of the anticipation that precedes it. It is the craving that leads to the response.
Chapter 9: The Role of Family and Friends in Shaping Your Habits
One of the most effective things you can do to build better habits is to join a culture where your desired behavior is the normal behavior.
Chapter 10: How to Find and Fix the Causes of Your Bad Habits
Every action is preceded by a prediction. Life feels reactive, but it is actually predictive. All day long, you are making your best guess of how to act given what you've just seen and what has worked for you in the past. You are endlessly predicting what will happen in the next moment.
Chapter 11: Walk Slowly, but Never Backward
If you want to master a habit, the key is to start with repetition, not perfection. You don't need to map out every feature of a new habit. You just need to practice it.
Chapter 12: The Law of Least Effort
The central idea is to create an environment where doing the right thing is as easy as possible. Much of the battle of building better habits comes down to finding ways to reduce the friction associated with our good habits and increase the friction associated with our bad ones.
Chapter 13: How to Stop Procrastinating by Using the Two-Minute Rule
The difference between a good day and a bad day is often a few productive and healthy choices made at decisive moments. Each one is like a fork in the road, and these choices stack up throughout the day and can ultimately lead to very different outcomes.
Chapter 14: How to Make Good Habits Inevitable and Bad Habits Impossible
The key is to change a task such that is requires more work to get out of the good habit than to get started on it. If you're feeling motivated to get in shape, schedule a yoga session and pay ahead of time. If you're excited about the business you want to start, email an entrepreneur you respect and set up a consulting call. When the time comes to act, the only way to bail is to cancel the meeting, which requires effort and may cost money.
Chapter 15: The Cardinal Rule of Behavior Change
With our bad habits, the immediate outcome usually feels good, but the ultimate outcomes feels bad. With good habits, it is the reverse: the immediate outcome is unenjoyable, but the ultimate outcome feels good.
Chapter 16: How to Stick with Good Habits Every Day
The first mistake is never the one that ruins you. It is the spiral of repeated mistakes that follows. Missing once is an accident. Missing twice is the start of a new habit.
Chapter 17: How an Accountability Partner Can Change Everything
Pain is an effective teacher. If failure is painful, it gets fixed. If a failure is relatively painless, it gets ignored.
Chapter 18: The Truth About Talent (When Genes Matter and When They Don't)
We all have limited time on this planet, and the truly great among us are the ones who not only work hard but also have the good fortune to be exposed to opportunities that favor us.
Chapter 19: The Goldilocks Rule - How to Stay Motivated in Life and Work
The only way to become excellent is to be endlessly fascinated by doing the same thing over and over. You have to fall in love with boredom.
Chapter 20: The Downside of Creating Good Habits
Mastery is the process of narrowing your focus to a tiny element of success, repeating it until you have internalized the skill, and then using this new habit as the foundation to advance to the next frontier of your development.