Book Notes: Atomic Habits

August 2023

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Notes

Small habits compound over time. Just 1% better will result in 36 times better after one year.
Visualise as a plane shifting a few degrees, will result in a very different destination
Positive compounding: productivity, knowledge, relationships
Negative compounding: stress, negative thoughts, outrage
There is a critical threshold for habits to appear
Forget goals (results..can be shortsighted, forced, success or fail), focus on systems (process that leads to results…reliable, long term, commitment)
Identity-based habits - when offered a cigarette “no thanks, I am trying to quit” vs “no thanks, I am not a smoker”
Pointing-and-calling raises level of awareness
Habit scorecard to raise self-awareness
Implementation intention I will BEHAVIOUR at TIME in LOCATION (specific commitment beforehand)
Habit stacking and the Diderot Effect - spiral of consumption that leads to additional purchases. Each action becomes a cue that triggers the next behaviour.
Environment matters. Cues in your environment affect your behaviour.
Habits can be easier to change in a new environment as it helps you escape the triggers that nudge you toward your current habit.
Once habits are formed, they are difficult to break. Making it invisible helps, avoiding is better than resisting
Dopamine is not just pleasure but motivation, learning, memory, punishment, aversion and anticipation.
“You’re more likely to find a behaviour attractive if you get to do one of your favourite things at the same time” - temptation bundling
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Humans are wired for instant gratifications and inability to think about long term effects of habits. As a result, it is important to build instant gratification into habits to build for a long term goal. E.g. cooking at home instead of eating out and putting aside the saved money for a trip