'Learning one new idea won’t make you a genius, but a commitment to lifelong learning can be transformative!'

Atomic Habits | James Clear

Just one little step at a time!

‘You get what you repeat’, seems to be the mantra that sums up the essence of Clear, James Clear’s Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones, published in the year 2018.

Suchmuch is its inspiration for us readers.

In fact, instead of being called a self-help book, it would do well to call it a transformative book rather!

Yup! Suchmuch is its impact on us readers.

James Clear acknowledges the theory of “stimulus, response, reward” by B. F. Skinner in the 1930s and its recent ‘version’, the “cue, routine, reward” in The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg.

But I personally feel that he owes a lot of what he’s written to Edward Lorenz and Stephen Hawking as well, who, unfortunately go unacknowledged anywhere in the book! 

Again that was quite a personal observation at that!

Added, the book’s charm lies more in its style than its substance!

Suchmuch the style and suchmuch the charm of the book on us readers.

Like his self-help counterpart Cal, who’s given us the four-rule strategy to get a firm footing on his thoughts better, Clear has also given us a similar four-rule strategy to get a firm hold onto his ideas!

Indeed there’s more to Clear and more to Cal than meets the eye! ;-)

For the observant reader though!

Too often, we convince ourselves that massive success requires massive action. Whether it is losing weight, building a business, writing a book, winning a championship, or achieving any other goal, we put pressure on ourselves to make some earth-shattering improvement that everyone will talk about,

says Clear, and adds up to say that, our habits transform us for the better, slowly yet steadily!

Clear gives this clue and cue with his premise –

1% BETTER EVERY DAY!

Habits, hence, are the compound interest of self-improvement, says Clear and continues -

The same way that money multiplies through compound interest, the effects of your habits multiply as you repeat them.

Although they might seem to make little difference on any particular day as such, the impact they deliver over the months and years could be really really amazing!

Hence, it is only when looking back two, five, or perhaps ten years later that the value of good habits and the cost of bad ones becomes strikingly apparent,

he opines.

And for this, Clear, James Clear, has yet another positive premise –

It doesn’t matter how successful or unsuccessful you are right now. What matters is whether your habits are putting you on the path toward success.

Adds he –

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.

Clear puts forward more on his concepts through the catchphrase, ‘Positive Compounding’.

Personally, a simpler catchphrase would be, ‘One step at a time!’

Says Cal –

Accomplishing one extra task is a small feat on any given day, but it counts for a lot over an entire career.

Knowledge compounds. Learning one new idea won’t make you a genius, but a commitment to lifelong learning can be transformative.

Furthermore, each book you read not only teaches you something new but also opens up different ways of thinking about old ideas.

How-o-how he’s true-o-true on this! ;-)

Nope! I ain’t gotta unwrap more from this lovely read!

But if I’ve real got to sum up in one catch-line, the essence of the book, it would be -

Success is the result of daily habits, not huge transformations!

In addition, here’s giving y’all, some little-lovable quotes from the book, that’s sure gonna help you hook on to Clear’s read, yet-a-bit-a-better!

And well, these quotables could very well be flexed up giant-size and put up in front of any many places like wedding halls, meeting halls, shopping malls, market places, schools, colleges, universities etc, instead of blowing up a pavapatta mortal’s picture giant-size in vanakkam pose on flex-board mode! ;-)

So here goes –

If you want to predict where you’ll end up in life, all you have to do is follow the curve of tiny gains or tiny losses, and see how your daily choices will compound ten or twenty years down the line.

Are you making it into the gym each week?

Are you reading books and learning something new each day?

Tiny battles like these are the ones that will define your future self.

Time magnifies the margin between success and failure. It will multiply whatever you feed it. Good habits make time your ally. Bad habits make time your enemy.

It’s only by making the fundamentals of life easier that you can create the mental space needed for free thinking and creativity.

One of the most effective things you can do to build better habits is to join a culture where your desired behavior is the normal behavior.

New habits seem achievable when you see others doing them every day.

Surround yourself with people who have the habits you want to have yourself. You’ll rise together.

So why wait?

Rise up! Together! Right away at that! ;-)

All the best folks!

image: jamescleardotcom