Old notes from the book: Atomic Habits
3 min readDec 18, 2022
- I made a point to keep my room neat and tidy. These improvements were minor, but they gave me a sense of control over my life. I started to feel confident again
- The aggregation of marginal gains. 1% BETTER EVERY DAY or 1% worse every day for one year. 0.99 ^365 = 00.031% better every day for one year. 1.01³⁶⁵ = 37.78. Imagine if you eat junk food one day it won’t hurt but you set a precedent for your own self that you can do it and if you do it over a couple of months you’re unhealthy. If you do designing/exercising/meditating for one day or one month you’ll still feel not confident about it but when it is done over months and months you become someone who you’re not.
- Your outcomes are a lagging measure of your habits. Your net worth is a lagging measure of your financial habits. Your weight is a lagging measure of your eating habits. Your knowledge is a lagging measure of your learning habits. Your clutter is a lagging measure of your cleaning habits. You get what you repeat.
- Winners and losers have the same goals. Goals don’t matter, the system does. You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your system.
- Imagine two people resisting a cigarette. When offered a smoke, the first person says, “No thanks. I’m trying to quit.” It sounds like a reasonable response, but this person still believes they are a smoker who is trying to be something else. of their former life, not their current one. They no longer identify as someone who smokes. Most people don’t even consider identity change when they set out to improve. They just think, “I want to be skinny (outcome) and if I stick to this diet, then I’ll be skinny (process).” They set goals and determine the actions they should take to achieve those goals without considering the beliefs that drive their actions. They never shift the way they look at themselves and don’t realize that their old identity can sabotage their new plans for change.if you never change the underlying beliefs that led to your past behavior. You have a new goal and a new plan, but you haven’t changed who you are.
- The ultimate form of intrinsic motivation is when a habit becomes part of your identity. It’s one thing to say I’m the type of person who wants this. It’s something very different to say I’m the type of person who is this.
- Progress requires unlearning. Becoming the best version of yourself requires you to continuously edit your beliefs, and to upgrade and expand your identity. The evidence accumulates and your self-image begins to change
- “Hey, maybe this is who I am.” If you finish a book, then perhaps you are the type of person who likes reading. If you go to the gym, then perhaps you are the type of person who likes exercise. If you practice playing the guitar, perhaps you are the type of person who likes music.
- Once you have a handle on the type of person you want to be, you can begin taking small steps to reinforce your desired identity. I have a friend who lost over 100 pounds by asking herself, “What would a healthy person do?” All day long, she would use this question as a guide. Would a healthy person walk or take a cab? Would a healthy person order a burrito or a salad? She figured if she acted like a healthy person long enough, eventually she would become that person. She was right.
