Leadership Book Review Blog: Atomic Habits

Atomic Habits and the Status Quo

By Dani Lane

What is your status quo? Better yet, are you happy with it?

The status quo is your current state. It’s how much money you have. It’s how much you weigh or how far you can run.  It’s the number and strength of relationships you have. The status quo could be as complex as the balance of power in a negotiation or as simple as “Did I finally get that oil change today?” I don’t think we are ever content with our status quo. It’s our nature because we are hunters. Builders. Seekers. We chase dreams.  And short of lacking gratitude for the status you enjoy, there’s nothing wrong with that. You only have that iPhone because someone wasn’t happy with the status quo.  Think about it, though. Given that we spend our life in pursuit of goals, we probably spend an inordinate amount of time trying to figure out the “how”. I know I do. But recently, a friend recommended a book that put solutions to that struggle into crystal clear perspective.

The book is Atomic Habits by James Clear. (Yes, that “clear” in the preceding paragraph seems like a pun now, but that keeps happening to me now that I’m clear-ly an Atomic Habits convert!) Clear’s approach is to make habits--simple, easy habits--the steppingstones to achieving your goals. 

To me, “Atomic” has a double meaning. An atom is very small, yet it’s the foundation for a much larger system. It dictates our elemental nature.   Yet something atomic is powerful! Little habits, performed consistently and over time, provide explosive results.  I have always heard that it takes doing something 21 times before it becomes a habit. That may be true, but sometimes it’s hard to make something happen 21 times. How can you make sure it does?

Clear’s principles are the answer. Make it obvious, make it attractive, make it easy and make it satisfying.

In his book, Clear gives solid examples of how single, small habits have a compounding effect and give results down the road that seem to cost nothing. For example, if exercise is a step in your journey to lead a healthier life, but going to the gym to work out seems daunting, he suggests starting by simply going to the gym, even if all you do is just go to the gym. The trick is to keep forming the habit of going, and the next thing you’ll do is stay a little longer each time. Not only does this form the habit, it also allows you to identify with your goal. You become the person who goes to the gym every day. Even if it’s only for 10 minutes.

How do you make that obvious? You could start by setting your gym clothes out the night before. Attractive? You might save your favorite music, audio book or podcast for your time on the treadmill. How about easy? Picking a gym that’s on your way to or from work will make it easy and convenient. Finally, rewarding. For some, the act of completing a task might be reward enough. The endorphins that exercise produces will also allow us to feel rewarded.  But while we build that gym habit, it might take bundling the gym with a delicious, yet healthy, smoothie afterward. (Does it go without saying that bundling the gym with ice cream would be counterproductive?)

Now, one visit to the gym isn’t going to make you physically fit, but when combined with other single visits over time, the results will come. Just as one candy bar won’t make you fat, if you combine it with a consistent habit of candy bars, the results will come but they won’t be good. Clear also applies these same techniques in reverse to eliminate bad habits. Clear writes, “Decide the type of person you want to be. Prove it to yourself with small wins.”  Whether it’s making it to the gym, or NOT getting that ice cream reward, every small win proves you are that healthy, fit person.

As I was reading, nay, devouring this book, I kept going back to one time I successfully created a habit. It was a good habit, too. For years I was in pursuit of organization. I haunted catalogs, webpages and searched out processes that would help me keep my house in ship-shape, my schedule tight and shatterproof, and my mind free of clutter. I ran across a website called flylady.net. (Check it out; it’s still there!) One of her theories was that a clean sink became a clean kitchen. A made bed became a clean bedroom.

At the time, I was a working wife and mother, with my hand in a dozen activities on top of that. My house would decline into madness all week until Friday night and the clean-up would begin. Just being able to keep my bedroom clean would make a huge difference. But with all the “things” to do each morning just to get myself and the kids ready to leave the house, making that bed was really the very last thing I wanted to devote time to. But one weekend, I decided to time it. It took me exactly three minutes. Certainly I could spare 3 minutes while something in the kitchen was cooking or one of the kids was in the bathroom?

I started making the bed each morning. It routinely took three minutes and often less. Soon, I got hooked on getting that one thing checked off of my daily list. Even if the rest of the day was a total train wreck, I always had that one thing I got done. So was the FlyLady right? Did my tidy bed equate to a clean bedroom? Why yes, it did! I found that when the bed was made, I didn’t drop clothes on the floor. Putting clothes away was a second habit that I added to making the bed, or what Clear would call “Stacking”. When laundry was done, it was put away because that bed looked so tidy already. The closet door was closed because it might detract from the highlight of my house: a nicely made bed! That is one way the small, seemingly insignificant habit of making the bed compounded.

Making the bed was my first Atomic Habit, and I didn’t even realize it. First, it was obvious: there it was every morning as soon as I got up. It was attractive because after a certain point, it would be the only messy part of the room, so it ended up being the finishing touch. It was easy. It just took three minutes! Finally, it was satisfying. It was that first checked off item of the day which was like a pat on the head for a list maker like me. Making the bed was one little habit that put me on a path to developing routines that would save me time and effort later.

The biggest benefit of forming a habit, especially a small one, is that it becomes automatic.Something that we do automatically takes very little effort. Think about buckling your seat belt. It’s so automatic for us that we don’t even think about it. We’re buckling our seatbelt, but our mind is free to consider weightier matters. And so it can apply to other small steps we take to get where we want to go. We don’t have to waste time thinking about whether or not to do it, we just do it. Maybe that’s the most important concept I gleaned from Atomic Habits is that forming small consistent habits not only compounds but frees me from the time spent making all those decisions. It’s truly awe inspiring to realize that everything you want to do can be achieved by breaking it down into smaller, bite-sized steps that you incorporate into just being who you are.

Atomic Habits isn’t a long book, but it’s packed with valuable insight into the process of achievement through habits. And Clear also offers readers various supplemental material to use in getting started with the process. I also signed up for his Thursday 3-2-1 emails. In the veryfirst email, I copied two of his insights to post-it notes and put them on the mirror in my bathroom. “Do one thing every day that compounds” and “You’ll feel better once you getstarted”. I read those two messages each morning and it’s like the book just keeps on inspiring me.

What habits have you formed lately?