H is for Habits

***I’m going to try to post something every day in the month of November. I definitely may not- it’s just a goal and I’m not going to be upset about missing it! Hopefully in my spare time, I can come up with a post per day. My prompts are going to be the letters of the alphabet. I will write about something that starts with the day’s letter- think Sesame Street meets the blogsphere. Of course there are more days in the month of November than there are letters in the alphabet. I’ll cross that bridge if I come to it!***

More specifically, this is about the book Atomic Habits by James Clear. 

I had heard some buzz about this book and decided to check it out virtually at the library for my Kindle. The book was not immediately available, so I had to go on a wait list for it. The book became available about a week ago. I read it quickly and enjoyed it quite a bit. In fact, I liked it so much that I bought a hard copy of it. I don't think I’ve purchased a book this year. To purchase a book, I have to like it A LOT!

Regarding habits, I don’t really (or didn’t really before this book) think about my habits too much. Like probably the vast majority of people, I can easily identify numerous habits of mine. Some are good and contribute to bettering my mental and physical health, some are not good and negatively impact me and some habits seem to be neutral. I don’t feel I have any habits that are terrible or destructive nor do I feel like there's a habit that I should do everything in my power to break.

With those sorts of "meh" feelings about my habits, it surprised me that I liked the book as much as I did. Here is what I liked about it: I liked learning more about the nature of habits including how they form and what they do to people's brains physiologically, I liked reading of studies done about habits (I generally like reading about studies- the ones about habits in this book were particularly interesting) and I liked the very practical advice for forming good habits and banishing bad ones.

From the book, “Whenever you face a problem repeatedly, your brain begins to automate the process of solving it. Your habits are just a series of automatic solutions that solve the problems and stresses you face regularly.”  The author posits that the process of building a habit can be divided into four steps: cue, craving, response and reward. He lists four laws of behavior change including the step to make a behavior a habit as: make it obvious (cue); make it attractive (craving); make it easy (response); make it satisfying (reward). To break a bad habit, do the opposite: make it invisible (cue); make it unattractive (craving); make it difficult (response) and make it unsatisfying (reward). 

Of course, he goes into a good amount of detail with examples for the above statements and he also promotes the idea of making small, 1% changes (hence, atomic) that over time lead to mastery or at least vast improvement of a skill or area of practice. Small improvements due to small changes can seem insignificant but over time, lead to sustained change for the better. 

In summary (I feel like I am going a book report for school...), I liked this book quite a bit. I like the author’s writing style- it’s like he’s having a conversation with you, not talking down to you. I feared the book was going to be Girl, Wash Your Faceish with regard to platitudes and stating the same thing over just in slightly different ways. Instead, I found new insights and information coupled with practical advice in each chapter. I didn't agree with everything the author said- for instance, on the topic evolution, but I could overlook the differences. 

I bought a hard copy of the book for two reasons, the uses of which conflict. I'm tempted to reread the book and put some of the tips to practical use. This would likely entail highlighting sections of it, underlining sections, etc. The other reason that I bought it is to give it away. If I give it away, I can hardly give away a highlighted, obviously used copy. (I suppose another solution would be to buy a copy for those whom I would like to give a copy of it to and keep the one I just bought :).) I would like for my kids to have a copy of this book and to read it. Not because they have a bunch of bad habits- their habits are likely similar to many of their cohorts- and/ or they're just like everyone with some bad habits and some good ones. However, being as young as they are, I want to assist them in any way by helping to equip them with techniques that can lead to positive changes that will last their entire lives. While you can teach an old dog new tricks, why not teach young dog new tricks? (So to speak.)

I noticed this on Amazon when I ordered the book- I have never seen that many reviews of anything on Amazon...

Oh dear, after I wrote the line about being worried that the book was going to be like Girl, Wash Your Face, I was on Amazon again and saw this... EEKS!! Note that I did not read Girl, Wash Your Face but people whose opinion I trust regarding the content of books had few things good to say about it. I have also been to Rachel Hollis' social media pages and know that... she and I have very different world views/ takes on things. Anyway, I still recommend Atomic Habits!