Atomic Habits by James Clear Presented by Shailesh Jain, Mirraw.com / ultraGenius.club

1. Atomic habits
James clear
Presented By: Shailesh Jain

2. surprising power of atomic habits
● British Cyclist has won Single Gold Medal in 100 years
● 5 years after they hired new coach, team dominated olympics.
● What really happened?

3. aggregation of marginal gains
● Searching for tiny margin of improvement in everything you do
● Breakdown everything you do and improve by 1%
● Dave (Coach) made small adjustments
○ redesigning their bike seats
○ rubbed alcohol on tires to have a better grip
○ riders asked to wear electrically heated clothes to maintain ideal muscle temperate
○ their team continued to find 1 percent improvements in overlooked and unexpected areas
● Habits are the compound interest of self-improvement (works for you or against you)
● Outcomes are a lagging measure of your habits
● Time magnifies the margin between success and failure. It will multiply whatever you feed it.

4. plateau of latent potential
● Habits appear to make no difference until you cross a critical threshold and
unlock a new level of performance.
● Similar to Stonecutter hammering away at his rock

5. forget goals, focus on systems
● Goals are important in setting a direction, but systems are best for making
progress.
● Problem 1: Winners and losers have the same goals
● Problem 2: Achieving goal is only a momentary change.
● Problem 3: Goals restrict your happiness. (Boolean)
● Problem 4: Goals are at odds with long-term progress.

6. goals Vs systems
Goals Systems
Results you want to achieve Processes that lead to those results
Good for setting a direction Systems are best for making progress
Eg: if you are a coach, your goal might be
to win a championship
Your system is the way you recruit players,
manage assistant coaches, and conduct
practice.

8. You do not rise to the level of
your goals.
You fall to the level of your
systems.

9. 3 levels at which change can occur
1. The first layer is changing your outcomes (eg. losing weight)
2. The second layer is changing your process (eg. implementing a new
routine at the gym). Most of the habits you build are associated with
this level
3. The third and deepest layer is changing your identity (changing your
beliefs, your self-image, your judgement about yourself)
Outcomes are about what you get. Processes are about what you do. Identity is about what
you believe.

10. Identity based Change
● The goal is not to read a book, the goal is to become a reader.
● The goal is not to run a marathon, the goal is be a runner.
● When you have repeated a story to yourself for years, it is easy to slide into
these mental grooves and accept them as a fact.
● Habits shape identity, and identity shapes your habits. It’s a feedback loop,
and a two-way-street.

11. Build Habits in 4 Simple Steps
Cue: you hit a stumbling block in project
craving: want relief from frustration
response: check phone for social media
reward: feel better

12. how to create good habit?
1. Cue – Make it obvious (easy triggers)
2. Craving – Make it attractive (What will you get?)
3. Response - Make it easy (Action that can be taken)
4. Reward - Make it satisfying (worth it)

13. 1st Law: make it obvious
● Pointing and Calling – a safety system designed to reduce mistakes.
● Habits scorecard
○ have a list of items to do
○ Write + for good habits, - for bad habits, = for neutral habits
○ Example: https://jamesclear.com/habits-scorecard

14. 1st Law: make it obvious
● Implementation Intention
○ I will [Behavior] at [Time] in [Location]
○ The goal is to make the time and location so obvious that, with enough repetition, you get an
urge to do the right thing at the right time.
● Habit Stacking
○ “After[Current Habit], I will [New Habit].”
○ You can also create larger stack by chaining many small habits together
○ Ex. After I take off my work shoes, I will immediately change into my workout clothes

15. 1st Law (cont): motivation is overrated
● Your habits change depending on the room you are in and the cues in front of
you
● If you want to make a habit a big part of life, make the cue a big part of your
environment.
● Design Your Environment for Success. Ex. If you want to send more
thank-you notes, keep a stack of stationery on the desk.
● Inversion: Make cues for bad habits, invisible.
○ Ex. if you cannot seem to get any work done, leave your phone in another room for a few
hours.
○ Self-control is a short-term strategy – not a long term one.

16. 2nd Law: make it attractive
● The more attractive an opportunity is, the more likely it is to become habit
forming.
● We imitate the habits of three social groups – the close (Family and friends),
the many (the tribe) and the powerful (those with status and prestige)
● Join a culture where your desired behavior is the normal behavior
● Inversion: Make bad habits unattractive
○

17. 3rd Law: make it easy
● Human behavior follows the Law of Least effort
● Reduce the friction associated with good behaviors
● Master the art of showing up - 2 minutes rule. Habits are the entry point, not
the end point.
● The best way to break a bad habit is to make it impractical to do.

18. 4th Law: make it satisfying
● We are more likely to repeat a behavior when the experience is satisfying.
● This law ensures that you will repeat this behaviour next time
● A habit tracker is a simple way to measure whether you did a habit – like
marking an X on a calendar.
● Never miss twice – if you miss one day, try to get back on track as quickly as
possible
● Inversion: make it unsatisfying

19. Summary:
● The holy grail of habit change is not a single 1 % improvement, but a
thousand of them.
● Small habits don’t add up – they compound.
● Success is not a goal to reach or a finish life to cross. It is a system to
improve, an endless process to refine.