Habits that Build Momentum: Atomic Habits by James Clear

Learning to walk as a child. It takes courage and a committed heart to get to the goal. The ups and downs and the lying there and getting up again. It eventually got me to the place of momentum came in the manner I could walk.

Same with habits. It takes the in-betweens of falling and getting back up again. A place where it feels like there is hardly movement.  The habits we aim for can shape our identity.

The book Atomic Habits by James Clear gives us ways when habits are established, the unwanted ones stick around.

Eating unhealthy junk food, too much television, smoking, gossiping, and procrastinating.

So, it is about a system and not the goals. Action plan to see the plan you want to see. When it comes to habits, they work for you or against you.

Let’s be honest, who wants to see another thing working against their progress? I believe James Clear is helping us to see there is no need to build an unhealthy relationship with habits. We want to see outcomes that will transform our lives.

An analogy shared in Atomic Habits was an onion. It has three layers.

1.      Outcome- Based Habits

2.      Change in Your Processes

3.      Identity- Based Habits

These three layers yield our identity. The best version of yourself awaits you with one step of editing your beliefs.

The Pros of Atomic Habits are:

·        There are chapter summaries.

·        Strategies

The Cons of Atomic Habits

·        It can be too lengthy.

The various strategies can be overwhelming (narrow to one to 3 to implement for good habits)

It will take sacrifice and much suffering that leads to progress.

Don’t delay getting started with implementing the new lifestyle you want for the upcoming year.

Regina