One of the things hat that i've found with habits is that people can't take on too many of them at once. The key insighde here is you can make the first two minutes automatic. So, whatever your ambitious plan is, maybe it's like, 30 books a year, and that becomes, read one page. Or maybe it's due yoga four days a week, and that become, take out my yoga mat. And the core idea is that you're just trying to scale it down so that it's something that's so simple to do that it's not intimidating.
This week on the podcast, I speak with James Clear, the author of Atomic Habits: An Easy and Proven Way to Build Good Habits and Break Bad Ones. James is an expert on habit formation who offers not only theories backed by science, but also practical strategies that will help you achieve powerful, atomic-level results.
On this episode, James and I had a really productive discussion on a range of topics from the journey of putting the book together, how alarm clocks fail me (or I fail alarm clocks), turning off the internet router at 10 PM to keeping the beer at the back of the fridge and Crossfit.
Talking Points
Designing and Defining Atomic Habits: Two main lenses to look the book through
The two-minute rule in scaling down a habit and actually making it stick
Importance of slowing down and awareness for effective behavioral change
Having a variety of small things organized toward the same goal
Solutions for setting up efficient timing
Strategies for building good seasonal habits
Tools to make habits stick and break through biases
The three reasons/meanings behind the use of the term “atomic”
Creating a journal that makes it easier to build habits that is useful but not fixed
Quote
“Many of our behaviors are socially reinforced… When the social reinforcement is so strong, we overcome the obstacles in our environment. The key insight there is you want to join a tribe, a group where your desired behavior is the normal behavior. Because if it’s normal in that group, then it’s going to seem attractive to you to do it even if it’s not convenient.”
Relevant Links
Atomic Habits: An Easy and Proven Way to Build Good Habits and Break Bad Ones by James Clear: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich | Amazon
The 4-Hour Work Week by Tim Ferris | Amazon
Baron Fig’s Clear Habit Journal
Use Freedom to Block Websites, Apps, & the Internet
Facebook Newsfeed Eradicator
Distraction-free YouTube (Chrome extension)
Trello.com
James Clear
@jamesclear on Twitter
@james_clear on Instagram
James Clear on Facebook
I learned a lot from reading Atomic Habits and through my conversations with James and I’m sure you will too. And make sure to catch the next episode where I have Joey Cofone as my guest for a back-to-back habit tracking and intentionality goodness.
Want to discover some of the books mentioned on the podcast? Check out Scribd, my reading app of choice.
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