The Power of Atomic Habits

We shape our habits and our habits shape us. You go to sleep late every day — that's a habit. Do you wake up early? That's also a habit. You always eat dessert after dinner? You play violin at 5 o'clock in the evening? You kiss your kids good-night every day? You get a bottle of wine every time you go grocery shopping? So many things we do without thinking much about them! Things that have become our second nature, our identity. Behaviours we would like to stick with or get rid of. At the end of the day, most of them are habits.

On the surface, a habit is a really simple thing. It's a behavioural pattern we repeat again and again in similar situations. When you want a routine to stick, you need to repeat it often, until it becomes your second nature. And if it's a bad habit you want to break, you just need to stop doing it and avoid repeating it in the future. Ah, if only it were that easy!

The good news is that you have already taken the first step — you are aware of your current situation and you've set a goal. Where people usually fail is in the implementation. How can you convert the desire to change into something that becomes part of you? Let "Atomic Habits" by James Clear to guide you in this thrilling quest.

There is a reason the book topped the New York Times best-seller list for 164 weeks. It explains how our evolutionary ancestry affects human behaviour and habits and provides practical tools developed by the author to help readers cultivate the habits and becoming the type of person they want to be.

James describes a habit as a loop consisting of four stages: cue, craving, response, and reward.

A cue is a trigger that initiates the behaviour, which is expected to result in a reward. Just yesterday, I came home from work and found my daughter eating an ice-cream. I was hungry, and that cue signalled that I could quickly deal with the hunger by grabbing an ice-cream!

A craving is a desire that follows a cue. I want an ice-cream! I start imagining how it melts on my tongue, its sweetness and texture. The urge for sugar rush kicks in, drowning out the reasonable voice in my head saying that perhaps I should first have a proper supper.

A response is the action. I rush to the kitchen, and grab an ice-cream from the freezer. I unwrap it impatiently and sink my teeth into the frozen flesh.

A reward is the outcome that satisfies a craving and reinforces a behaviour. The latter part is crucial, because reinforcement is what makes the behaviour more likely to be repeated in future. In my case, the reward was the pleasant taste of the ice-cream and no longer feeling hungry. Though the "Why did I just do it, instead of dining properly?" question pops up right after :). Indeed, you're truly free only when you are in control of your cravings!

Building a new habit requires creating this loop, while breaking a habit means breaking the loop. This "technical" task is a mere facade. To make it work, you've got to make the habit part of who you are, part of your identity, and it is not easy at all. That's why James recommends starting with "atomic" habits - small, but regular steps which nudge you toward your new self.

Note how he avoids the "goals" and the "results". Losing 5 kilos is a goal and an impressive result, but becoming a person who has healthy eating habits and regularly exercises is the mission.

The problem with a goals-first mentality is that you're continuously putting happiness off until the next milestone.

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The true question is: "Are you becoming the type of person you want to become?" The first step is not what or how, but who. You need to know who you want to be. Otherwise, your quest for change is like a boat without a rudder.

One small step at a time — eating sweets only once a day, then once every second day, then once every third day - as long as you stick to the rules, you've cracked it! Although, we've all been there trying hard and inevitably failing. That's when James introduces the framework called the Four Laws of Behavior Change.

In a nutshell, to build a new habit you need to:

• The 1st law (Cue): Make it obvious.
• The 2nd law (Craving): Make it attractive.
• The 3rd law (Response): Make it easy.
• The 4th law (Reward): Make it satisfying.

Contrary, to break a bad habit you need to invert the laws:

• Inversion of the 1st law (Cue): Make it invisible.
• Inversion of the 2nd law (Craving): Make it unattractive.
• Inversion of the 3rd law (Response): Make it difficult.
• Inversion of the 4th law (Reward): Make it unsatisfying.

James dives deep into these laws, shares examples, gives you tools — all so you don't have to rely on the scarce willpower, but rather build a system that actually helps you build and break habits. As you flip the last page of the book, you realise, that the only thing standing between you and that amazing future yourself - is just you.

One thing I'd add from my own mess-ups: breaking a habit isn't just about stopping — it's also about swapping. The cue and craving might be unavoidable, but you can tweak the response. (Disclosure: this is my experience, but not my original thoughts, they come from another book I love and recommend - "The Power of Habit" by Charles Duhigg.)

Habits, as James Clear says, are simply reliable solutions to recurring problems in our environment. But people who don't have their habits sorted? They're often the least free. Do you feel like your freedom was taken away? You can take it back — one atomic habit at a time!