Do you have an ideal version of yourself in your mind but can’t seem to come anywhere near it?
We all have been there: you know habits are the root cause to make or break your life.
It's the foundation that you lay for yourself to achieve anything you want in life.
Here, books can be the biggest help to create a positive shift in your life. A well-known self-help book that triggers the same problem is Atomic Habits by James Clear.
If you are reading this, chances are, you only need an answer for: should I read atomic habits?
Atomic Habits is worth reading because it gives you practical, easy to implement tips on how to become a better person thanks to creating new habits that will lead you to success in any field.
Let's talk about it in details!
5 reasons why “Atomic Habits” will change your life
1. History
One of the things that have helped people grab the book's idea better is how the author focuses on “how” rather than “what.”
If you see a relatively new concept, you can rest assured that James will certainly clear out all of your doubts by presenting past examples from art, business, and science. This helps to see his techniques actually working, which, as a result, will motivate you to follow the same.
Instead of mindlessly ordering you to change your life, the book breaks down our long-term goals into tiny sections and focuses more on systems and how you can eventually get to your long-term goal.
An upper hand to this book is how honest the writer is about the difficulty level of performing a certain act to change your habit. This little factor helps you take the task as a challenge and be ready for anything that comes in your way.
2. It changes your perspectives
The idea behind the book is about shifting your perspectives and using a different philosophy to gain success.
Regardless of how big your goals are, it all starts by making tiny choices each day and thus create small, atomic habits.
The book goes deep into how boredom can lead you to quit doing the things you love and how you can keep things exciting and actually look forward to starting a productive new day.
The main reason why we always fail to break our stubborn bad habits is that it provides us a novelty. Therefore, we need to acknowledge that and develop rewards that can keep dopamine and improve the habit formation process.
Apart from this, James states, and I agree that the number one reason why people can’t sustain habits is that they focus on changing outcomes rather than changing identities.
Remember to run 5kms of the marathon. You need to be a runner first.
3. Realistic
Here's the main reason why you should read this book: unlike many other self-help books that motivate you during the reading and leaves you off completely clueless about how you can implement those high goals into your normal life.
However, this book uses a different approach.
It talks about how changing a dozen habits of eating healthier, wake up early, exercise more, stop protecting and reading every day, you don’t only start to see a change in your productivity level, but you become a whole new person too.
It makes it effortless to do this by keeping your addictive old habits and incorporating a few new ones into them.
Slowly and gradually, you will reach a point where you will start to gain unmatched motivation from doing the right thing to forgo the bad ones happily.
4. Progress is not linear
The faster we understand that we don’t see desired results right away, the better we will stay committed to ourselves.
This is also the leading cause of losing motivation as you quickly downgrade yourself.
To help grab the concept better, think of this progress as investments.
You probably won’t see big returns at first, but once you start rolling in, believe me, it will roll well. Many people get stuck in the trap where they see no results and confuse this as “no progress.”
Therefore, start indulging yourself in the profound value of worlds and truly understand what you have been doing wrong and how you can fix it to get to where you want to be.
5. Perfection is a Waste of Time
I’m sure you have had a list of new year’s resolutions covered in some of your notes that you fail to open after a few weeks.
This usually happens when you fail to stick to a particular task, and now you think the whole process has been ruined.
The truth is, you aren’t always going to get wins. Therefore, start doing things rather than waiting around for the perfect time.
When I say this, I mean doing it even if you aren’t good at it. Appreciate your small victories and understand that changing a single habit requires a tremendous amount of effort, and you’re only wasting all of this on perfection.
Decide what you want and go for it regardless of how many obstacles come your way.
How long does it take to read Atomic Habits?
Considering how the book is 320 pages long, an average reader with a speed of 250 words-per-minute (WPM) will most likely finish it in just 3 hours and 14 minutes.
Is “Atomic habits” the best book about habits?
We all have our preferences when choosing “the book” that will change our lives. I’d suggest you go through the book alternatives, read their summaries, and decide which book to go for.
1. The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business by Charles Duhigg
The book is undeniably the New York Times Bestseller for years before it has turned out to be read by anyone who wants to improve their life.
2. How to Win Friends and Influence People By Dale Carnegie
Unlike many other books that focus on creating new habits, this book focuses on existing projects and goals that can help you give a direction in life.
3. Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World by Cal Newport
This book focuses on ditching the norm and doing things that can create value by being unique in every way. Here you can expect the book to be all about choosing a specific skill and be so excellent at it to yield extraordinary results
