Atomic Habits
Recently, I had the pleasure of reading Atomic Habits by James Clear. Like many people from my attention-deprived generation, I sometimes struggle with productivity and mindfullness. Bad habits also make it very easy to fall into a lazy slump whether you're struggling to finish that report at work or procrastinating from finishing that book that has been on your shelf for a while. James Clear attempts to correct these bad habits by breaking them down into their smallest bits and analyzing how we can change them into good habits. Below, you will find his suggested steps to create good habits.
Source: https://jamesclear.com/atomic-habits-summary
As you can see from the table above, the four laws of Atomic Habits are simplistic and straightforward. Make it obvious, make it attractive, make it easy and make it satisfying. By working through these laws and the general instructions associated with each of them, you can define habits that you want to enact as well as habits that you would like to prevent. The parallel side of this formula is shown below and can be used to knock out those bad habits from your routine.
Source: https://jamesclear.com/atomic-habits-summary
Once again, the laws used to prevent bad habits are very simple. Make it invisible, make it unattractive, make it difficult, and make it unsatisfying. I recently used this formula to prevent my bad habit of eating junk food. By eliminating junk food from items that I purchase from the store and only going to the store when I wasn't hungry, I made that bad habit invisible and unsatifying.
Every now and again, I see posts online criticizing Atomic Habits because it breaks from traditional advice or academic research around goal setting. While some of these critiques may be valid, it is important to consider that the best tools for improving your life are the ones that work. What Atomic Habits teaches most people is that they have the ability to transform their lives through small changes in their daily routines. The enormous success of the book and the many glowing reviews seem to have provided thousands with the confidence to put their best foot forward and change their lives. Therefore, I think it would be nieve to write off everything in this book without giving it a shot. If you do, you might realize that you could be the next person to transform your atomic habits.