Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits and Break Bad Ones

“When you finally break through the Plateau of Latent Potential, people will call it an overnight success.” 

Mastery is a slow process that takes time. When you start a new habit, you often experience tangible gains quickly. However, there is a period where things seem to stagnate where improvement is less clear. Many people give up at this stage. If you push through, however, exponential gains come after this. Clear uses a melting ice-cube as an analogy. The ice has to hit a certain temperature before it melts, but the energy is being stored and things are happening behind the scenes. Persistence is key. Clear also highlights a key misconception that we tend to have about other people’s success. Because we do not see all of the work that went into getting to the level of mastery, success seems immediate. This can discourage us, causing us to give-up. 

“The San Antonio Spurs, one of the most successful teams in NBA history, have a quote from social reformer Jacob Riis hanging in their locker room: ‘When nothing seems to help, I go and look at a stonecutter hammering away at his rock, perhaps a hundred times without as much as a crack showing in it. Yet at the hundred and first blow it will split in two, and I know it was not that last blow that did it—but all that had gone before.’” 

In this quote, Clear lays out the central argument in his book, “mastery takes time” (Introduction, 17). Through the unexpected juxtaposition of an elite sports team and an early 20th-century activist, Clear catches out attention. By highlighting that the NBA team is inspired by the advice of Riis, Clear also shows how productivity and resilience is the same in every field, though the specific goals and identities are very different. In this quote, Clear reminds the reader that there are important takeaways from all of the anecdotes in the book, even if they are outside of the readers desired area of improvement. 

“Goals are about the results you want to achieve. Systems are about the processes that lead to those results.”

Throughout the book, Clear quotes scholars and experts. In this quote, he explains a distinction made by Scott Adams, the creator of Dilbert, on the difference between processes and systems. By drawing in anecdotes and advice from experts in various fields including chess, sports, and comic books, Clear demonstrates how good habits are more about showing up, creating good systems, and committing, rather than talent or genius. In this statement, Clear goes on to conclude that good systems are more important than the goal itself.

“When you fall in love with the process rather than the product, you don’t have to wait to give yourself permission to be happy. You can be happy anytime your system is running.” 

A focus on outcomes places the object of your desire in the future, creating a mentality that happiness is delayed until you reach the outcome. For example, the belief that once you have lost 10 pounds, you will be happy isn't a long-term solution; shifting the focus to a systems-first mentality provides a broader conception of happiness that allows you to feel successful and happy every time you work on your system. The reward comes from the workout or the healthy meal. This is both more satisfying and more sustainable.

“The purpose of setting goals is to win the game. The purpose of building systems is to continue playing the game. True long-term thinking is goal-less thinking. It’s not about any single accomplishment. It is about the cycle of endless refinement and continuous improvement.” 

When you set a goal, you are setting an outcome. However, self-improvement is a constant process. The more you master, the more you will want to master. Goals limit the horizon of your ambitions by tying them to one outcome. It is more productive to build systems that make you smarter, more focused, healthier, and more productive, as self-improvement is a life-long journey. The further you move along this journey, the more potential paths will open up. 

“The more pride you have in a particular aspect of your identity, the more motivated you will be to maintain the habits associated with it. If you’re proud of how your hair looks, you’ll develop all sorts of habits to care for and maintain it. If you’re proud of the size of your biceps, you’ll make sure you never skip an upper-body workout. If you’re proud of the scarves you knit, you’ll be more likely to spend hours knitting each week. Once your pride gets involved, you’ll fight tooth and nail to maintain your habits.” 

Understanding what motivates us is a powerful tool for self-improvement. Pride is a powerful driver of human behavior. While pride and prideful behavior are often framed negatively, Clear argues that it can be used in a productive way to help us become the best version of ourselves.

“Good habits can make rational sense, but if they conflict with your identity, you will fail to put them into action.” 

One of Clear’s foundational premises is that identity is central to habit formation. If your goals don’t align with who you want to be, you won’t implement them. Rather than focus on the goal or outcome, then, it is more productive to frame your habits as being aligned to your identity. For example, if your goal is to eat healthier, it is easy to drop the ball and order takeout after a long day at work. However, if you identify as the kind of person who supports local businesses, considers family meals important, and is an informed consumer, you are more likely to prioritize cooking at home even when you are tired. Identity is a powerful motivator. 

“Becoming the best version of yourself requires you to continuously edit your beliefs, and to upgrade and expand your identity.”

The more you improve, the more feedback you will get. A successful person is constantly integrating new knowledge into their identity so they can become the best version of themselves. Strengthening your best qualities and letting go of the habits that hold us back is an ongoing process that you have to remain committed to. 

“Meaningful change does not require radical change.” 

Radical changes are hard to implement and even harder to sustain. Because of this, many people struggle to both achieve and sustain their goals. However, meaningful change doesn’t require radical transformation. Sustaining small habits yields huge improvements over time. Self-improvement is a marathon, not a sprint.

“As the psychologist Carl Jung said, “Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life and you will call it fate.” 

Most of your behavior is automatic and nonconscious, which makes us feel like your impulse to act comes out of nowhere. Clear quotes the psychoanalyst Carl Jung, whose research on the unconscious mind argues that it is things that the individual is not aware of that shapes their actions. Until you are self-aware about your own habits and motivations, change will be difficult. However, the quote also suggests that the individual has more control over their behavior than they recognize. You need self-knowledge to direct your behavior.

“Give your habits a time and a space to live in the world.” 

Both time and space are important to form habits, as habits require both repetition and an environment to do them in. One method of ensuring you achieve your goals is to set aside a clear time and space to do your habit. Forming habits is hard. Planning and intention help make habits stick.

“Diderot’s scarlet robe was beautiful. So beautiful, in fact, that he immediately noticed how out of place it seemed when surrounded by his more common possessions.” 

In his discussion on how to start new habits, Clear describes the Diderot Effect, where a new possession creates a spiral of consumptions. The French philosopher Denis Diderot’s purchase of a beautiful robe inspires him to replace his old possessions, eventually leading to financial ruin. Clear uses this vivid anecdote to describe how one choice shapes your other choices, nothing happens in isolation. Being aware of how one choice triggers another choice is productive if you use it your advantage. Clear proposes habit stacking as a method of productively working with the Diderot Effect.

“Most people live in a world others have created for them.”

People tend to over-estimate the control that individuals have over their own lives. Many of your choices are responses to the environment. You become a consumer choosing between options that someone else has designed. One way of exercising more control over your own life is to consciously design your environment. While you probably lack the power to rearrange the cafeteria at your workplace, you can rearrange your kitchen to be more conducive to cooking, which will increase the odds that you will bring a prepared lunch, rather than buying lunch in the cafeteria

“Self-control is a short-term strategy, not a long-term one.” 

A common misconception about habit formation is that you need to improve your self-control. However, willpower requires a lot of focus and you expend energy every time you exercise self-control. It is much more efficient to remove the temptations by controlling your environment. Out of sight, out of mind.

“The normal behavior of the tribe often overpowers the desired behavior of the individual.” 

We tend to approach self-improvement as an individual process. However, the people who you are around strongly influence your behavior. If you are trying to quit smoking but you spend your time in bars with other smokers, quitting smoking will be exponentially harder because you will have to continually exercise self-control. In contrast, if you prioritize spending time with people who don’t smoke, you make a clearer choice about what kind of person you want to be (reinforcing your desired identity) and you will spend less energy resisting bad habits.

“You don’t actually want the habit itself. What you really want is the outcome the habit delivers.” 

Habits are a means to an end. Habits are rarely enjoyable, but the results that they make possible are enjoyable. Because habits offer delayed gratification, it is helpful to remove as many obstacles as you can. Ambitious goals like going to the new gym across town on a Sunday afternoon are more likely to fail than stopping into the gym on your block after work. Keep your habits simple and easy.

“Standardize before you optimize. You can’t improve a habit that doesn’t exist.” 

Successful habits are clear and precise. The ideal context to start a new habit doesn’t exist, but keeping goals manageable and habits stackable allows you to slowly create an ideal context around you. Habit formation might require some trial and error, but a clear sense of exactly what your goal is and the most effective way of meeting this goal is necessary before you start. Start small, keep your goals clear, and layer on complexity over time. 

“The human brain did not evolve for life in a delayed-return environment. The earliest remains of modern humans, known as Homo sapiens sapiens, are approximately two hundred thousand years old. These were the first humans to have a brain relatively similar to ours. In particular, the neocortex—the newest part of the brain and the region responsible for higher functions like language—was roughly the same size two hundred thousand years ago as today. You are walking around with the same hardware as your Paleolithic ancestors.” 

Clear draws from a wide variety of source material to develop his argument. In addition to anecdotes from successful people, Clear references brain structure and evolution. In this quote, he cites research on the human brain to explain why humans prioritize instant gratification.

“As mathematician and philosopher Alfred North Whitehead wrote, ‘Civilization advances by extending the number of operations we can perform without thinking about them.’” 

Automating your life is an effective way of building better habits. Technology is a powerful tool for self-improvement if you use it to consciously build better habits. The more you automate, the more time you have to focus on things that require focus. Spend your energy wisely.

“The French economist Frédéric Bastiat explained the problem clearly when he wrote, ‘It almost happens that when the immediate consequence is favorable, the later consequences are disastrous, and vice versa… Often the sweeter the first fruit of a habit, the more bitter are its later fruits.’”

Human brains are wired for instant gratification. Habits that contribute to self-improvement rarely feel good in the moment. Understanding how the brain prioritizes reward can help us commit to long-term thinking. Good intentions are not enough to form good habits because the brain cares more about the present than the future. However, success requires ignoring immediate rewards in favor of future rewards. 

“When you can’t win by being better, you can win by being different.” 

Talent matters and there is very little an individual can do to change your bodies and natural abilities. However, you can direct your energy in more productive ways. If you are struggling to stand out, changing the playing field can help you stand out. A great player builds a game where their skills are valued, and they can excel. Taking control of your life is a powerful way of working around your individual shortcomings.

“The greatest threat to success is not failure but boredom.”

Novelty is a powerful motivator. When you start a new habit, it is more exciting because it is unfamiliar. As you develop your habit (and improve your skills), the novelty begins to wear off. Introducing manageable difficulties into your habits will help us push ourselves and stay interested. 

“Professionals stick to the schedule; amateurs let life get in the way.” 

One of the core arguments in Clear’s book is the importance of schedule for self-improvement. The more structure you implement to support your goals, the more likely you are to meet them. Don’t wait for inspiration to strike, make sure you follow your routine.