Atomic Habits

April 14, 2022, 10:11 a.m.

The secret of getting results that last is to never stop making improvements. It's remarkable what you can build if you just don't stop. It's remarkable the business you can build if you don't stop working. It's remarkable the body you can build if you don't stop training. It's remarkable the knowledge you can build if you don't sop learning. Small habits don't add up. They compound.
That's the power of atomic habits. Tiny changes. Remarkable results.

• It is so easy to overestimate the importance of one defining moment and underestimate the value of making small improvements on a daily basis. Too often, we convince ourselves that massive success requires massive action. 
• If you can get 1% better each day for one year, you’ll end up 37 times better.
• We often dismiss small changes because they don’t seem to matter very much in the moment. If you save a little money now, you’re still not a millionaire. If you of the gym🏋🏻 three days in a row, you’re still out of shape.
• We make a few changes, but the result never seem to come quickly and so we slide back into our previous routines.
• Unfortunately, the slow pace of transformation also makes it easy to let a bad habit slide, If you eat an unhealthy meat today, the scale doesn’t move much.
• Problem 1: Winners and losers have the same goals.
• Problem 2: Achieving a goal is the only a monetary change.
• Achieving a goal only changes your life for the moment. We think we need to changes our results, but the results are not the problem. In order to improve for good, you need to solve problems at the system level. Fix the inputs and outputs will fix themselves.
• Problem 3: Goals restrict your happiness.
• True behaviour change is identity change. You might start a habit because of motivation, but the only reason you’ll stick with one is that it becomes part of your identity.
• Process requires unlearning. Becoming the version of yourself requires you to continuously edit your beliefs.
• One of the best ways to build a new habit is to identify a current habit you already do each day and then stack your new behaviour on top. This is called habit stacking.
• For eg. Meditation. After I pour my cup of coffee each morning. I will meditate for one minute.
• Motivation is overrated; Environment often matters more.
• People often choose products not because of what they are, but because of where they are. The most common form of changes is not internal, but external: we are changed by the world around us. Every habit is context dependent.
• If you want to drink more water, fill up a few water bottles each morning and place them in common locations around the house.
• By sprinkling triggers throughout your surroundings, you increases the odds that you’ll think about your habit throughout the day.
• Dopamine is released not only when you experience pleasure, but also when you anticipate it.
• Whenever we are unsure how to act, we look to group to guide our behaviour. We are constantly scanning our environment and wondering. “What is everyone else doing?” The normal behaviour of the tribe often overpowers the desired behaviour of the individual. Most days, we’d rather be wrong with the crowd than be right by ourselves.
• Changing you habits means challenging the tribe, change is unattractive.
• The best is the enemy of good. If you want to master a habit the key is to start repetition, not perfection.
• Sticking to the habit of doing one push-up per day requires almost no energy to get started. The less energy a habit requires, the more likely it is to occur.
• When you start a new habit, it should take less than two minutes.