Which is better when it comes to building habits? Taking an incremental approach or going all-in for a while? Today I’m comparing two approaches from the books Atomic Habits and Unhinged Habits. I’ll share the pros and cons for each one, and the biggest mistake I see people make that undermines progress. Plus, I’m sharing how I’m approaching my own experiment based on this information.

Links

Atomic Habits by James Clear

Unhinged Habits by Jonathan Goodman

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When my friend posted about a book I was considering reading, her review

was short and simple. And as soon as she said

Opposite of James Clear, my curiosity was

piqued. Now I'm talking about the book Unhinged Habits

by Jonathan Goodman. And as a fan of the

bestselling Atomic Habits by James Clear, I had to

know what my friend meant when she said this

is the opposite. So today I am discussing ideas

from these two books. How do they differ on this idea of

transformation and habits? And what are the

approaches that they take because they are in opposition to each

other, even though there are some things they have in common. Now, I will also

share about where I fall on this spectrum and

where I have gotten it wrong in the past and also seen

a other people get it wrong. So let's start with the core

ideas in these books that oppose each

other. Now, Atomic Habits. This one is about making

consistent incremental improvements that compound

over time. And I've got this picture that I took from

James Clear. This is from his website. And it's this idea that

making these tiny consistent incremental

improvements compound over time, just like a bank account.

Now what he says here is that over time, Even if it's

1% per day, eventually it'll be

37% by the end of, I think it's a year.

Now I'm going to read a quote from the book. I've got a

little. Got a little sticky here. And actually

two, I've got two quotes. So the first one, improving

by 1% isn't particularly notable. Sometimes it

isn't even noticeable. But it can be far more

meaningful, especially in the long run. The difference a

tiny improvement can make over time is astounding. And then

he goes on to say, people sometimes make a

few small changes. They fail to see a tangible result and they

decide to stop. They think, I've been running every different month,

so why can't I see any change in my body? Once this thinking

has taken over, it's easy to let good habits fall by the

wayside. But in order to make a meaningful, different habits

need to persist long enough to break through this plateau.

And he calls it the plateau of latent potential. Essentially

because this is a curve that starts out really slow, but then it

starts to really lift. This is where a lot of people will say, I'm just

not seeing these improvements. And so they give up. And I'm sure

that many of us are familiar, I know I have experienced

that, where it just doesn't feel like enough.

Now what is the difference when it comes to

Unhinged Habits. And what is this author saying?

So I don't have a picture, but I am going to read a couple of

quotes. So in Unhinged Habits,

there's a particular chapter called Define youe Season. It says, this chapter

offers a radical, almost unhinged alternative

to the myth of balanced improvement. A seasonal approach where

focused intensity on one priority replaces scattered

consistency across many. By embracing intense

seasons of growth followed by periods of rest or maintenance, you'll make

transformative progress in what matters most while keeping the guilt at bay.

This isn't about doing more, it's about doing less with

greater intensity at the right time.

Now, the other quote that I think is important to mention

in this, in this context is that he's essentially

looking at consistency versus intensity. However,

Unhinged Habits still references consistency. And

the author says consistency is undeniably important,

but it needs to flank periods of intensity stacked atop one

another. Focused on one aspect of your life you want to

measurably improve. And in the book,

just like in Atomic Habits, there's the example of running. Well, I'm running every day,

but I'm not seeing anything in this book. The author,

Jonathan, was a personal trainer, and so he does use the

example of a transformation for your health. That for

many people taking a period of intensity, say eight to 12

weeks, really committing to a program and

focusing on that, you will see faster improvements than if you say you

started going to the gym twice a week, which is something maybe you want to

do for the rest of your life. But if you just do that, you don't

see them quickly. So we talked about that. Now this idea is that

in the gym or with health, when somebody starts to

see transformation early, that can

actually be extremely motivating. Now, there's one other quote

that I think is really important to mention in this book. And I don't think

you'll be surprised that it stood out to me. And this is the author

being brutally honest, saying, for better or

for worse, my human brain craves novelty and excitement

and immediate gratification. Maybe I'm not strong willed enough

to overcome thousands of years of evolutionary physiology.

Maybe my mind is naturally weaker than others. If so, it is what

it is, right? Regardless, it's up to me to work with the

physiology that I've got. It's probably no surprise

that that is a quote that would stand out to me because I

do think how we're wired matters. And even if you

are someone, when you read different books by different authors, you can get A pretty

good sense that their style

lends itself to the book they're writing. This is how they operate,

it works for them. So they write a book and they share with other people

how that works. In essence, this is

personal. There's a very good chance you have tried both. I

know I have. I've tried the consistency, I've tried the intensity.

And I think there is room for both.

But there's also a very good chance that you have a preference.

And I don't think you should feel judged if

one way works better than you or the other. And it's not necessarily

an either or. And there might be things in your life for which this intensity

followed by consistency might work really well for you.

And then there are other areas of your life where actually just straight up consistency

is gonna work. Now what I wanna do is let's look at some of the

pros for both of them. So an

advantage to atomic habits is that you focus on

establishing it's a sustainable practice. Or

as James Clear likes to talk about, it's a system. And that can

last over the long haul. So it's sort of this idea of start the way

you want to finish. And let's use the example of going to the gym

twice a week. So if you can make it twice a week over the long

haul, you'll probably be healthier than someone who just shows up to the gym for

a few months, then stops for six months, et cetera. So having something that is

sustainable over the long haul is great. And because the

atomic habits focus on having these systems in place

that you can repeat over, over a long period, it does mean you

can focus on multiple habits at one time and sort of

build them in a way where they fit into your life and then you

can continue on fitting them into your life. Now, an

advantage or a pro to the unhinged approach is that you do

see progress faster, which can be very motivating

for people. And the emphasis on this

transformation through this intense season of your life

and then flipping to maintain, that can be an

effective way to keep up what you've gained. So with the gym example,

if you do gain strength or increase your muscle mass,

change your body composition, then later you can go into

more of that consistent, maintain phase. And it doesn't require the same

level of intensity. As long as you continue with your

good habits now consistent, there are some

disadvantages. So atomic habits, we already talked about this idea that sometimes you aren't seeing

results and you start to question the effort. Is this worth

it? I Don't see any payoff. And sometimes with this

incremental approach, if you are not going all

in, it might feel like you're not really committing or giving it the

attention that you think it needs in this moment. And so it also might

play with some mindset things around is this even really a priority?

Now? A con for the unhinged habit is that it does,

as he said, focus on this and do less

of the other things. So you need to deprioritize other

practices in your life during that season and you

might start to resent maybe how much time it's taking. If you

are really, really, really zeroing in on this and this is the season, it's taking

up a lot of your time, you might start to hate that you're saying no

to other opportunities as a trade off for this period of intensity.

The other thing is that you have a high risk of, let's call

it a post intensity drop off, which is a

mistake that I know very well and it's a mistake that I've seen a lot

of other people make with these periods of intensity.

Now, in case you couldn't guess, I am a person who naturally

gravitates to go sort of all in. I love a grand

plan. I usually like to name my plants. I love this

focus. And maybe it's hyper fixation, but in

many cases I do experience a transformation from

these seasons of intensity in my life. They can be very

fulfilling and I can get really into it. But there

is a big but it can come with this risk which is the

maintain. It's that part where you're staying consistent afterwards.

And that is where I am naturally wired to kind of get into

the really intense. I like this. This is novel, this is exc. But

then when it becomes, dare I say, boring or that

maintenance phase, it just doesn't thrill me and it's a little bit harder to keep

up. I get so focused also on the plan for

the intense period that I don't spend any time

coming up with an off ramp. And this is something

that you need in order to ease yourself back into consistent

practices so you don't lose everything that you built

towards during that. Now, I'll use a personal example

for both me, but also as a practitioner. So over

the years, because of chronic health and autoimmune diseases,

I have played around with my diet. I've done a lot of

elimination diets, which I have learned so much, a tremendous amount

about what works for me and what maybe deters against my

health. And during Those periods, I was full

on. I was all in, full, full on. But as soon as those periods

were over, because I hadn't come up with an off ramp of

what does this look like long term? What does this look like sustainably? Everything

kind of crumbles and falls apart. And that is where

I tend to go wrong. But also, I worked in nutrition, I was a practitioner,

I had my own clinic and or I was part of a

clinic. And when I was seeing clients for nutrition,

the same thing would happen to them if we didn't come up with a plan.

And the other thing is if it's something like an elimination diet, which can be

used therapeutically of learning what works with your

body and what doesn't, pulling out all those foods as soon

as that intense period is done, a lot of people feel like, okay, now

I'm just gonna just have all the things I've been missing. So without

that off ramp, you can undo or hinder or harm

what you have spent all of this time and effort on. Now I

truly believe that either option can work.

And really what they have in common is they both require

intention. You need to know what your outcome is. You need

to think about what you need to do and what your goals are, what

are you actually aiming for, and whether you go with a more

consistent, more consistency approach, the atomic

habits style, or a more seasonal

intensity and then consistency approach, both cases

you can apply the momentum formula. And one of

the things, I bring this up because it's something I am thinking about in

my life right now after reading this book. It got me reflecting a lot on

what has worked, what hasn't worked, and what has the

potential for me, but also needs work. And I bring this up because

when it comes to creating a plan, whether that's just straight up

consistency going atomic habits or whether that's going

for intensity followed by consistency, in both cases

you need to think practically. So, so what is the actual method? What am

I doing? What's my system? I know Atomic Habits talks a lot about

systems, so what are the things I need to do in order to improve?

Whether it's 1% or whether it's intense, but

also thinking about how do I make this personal? And that's where

mode comes in. How do I have this work for me? And

we took that quote, or I read you that quote from Unhinged Habits around

this is what works for my brain. I think that's really

important, but not just during the intensity, but also afterwards,

what is going to suit me long term. I know that Sometimes I struggle

with boredom if it's just a maintaining thing that can get dry.

So how do I incorporate an off ramp, a plan for maintaining

that also includes something that personally suits me

and also mindset. Mindset is so important and for this we can think about what's

the perspective I need for whatever it is I'm doing.

So if we are taking an incremental approach, what is the perspective

so that I stick with this even when I'm not seeing

progress right away? How do I handle any doubts

that creep up so I don't self sabotage? Now, if you are

going for a more intense period, you might have to say, how do

I take a perspective or mindset where I don't feel

like I'm resenting the other things that I'm letting go of during this period and

I'm intentionally choosing this season and, and this is something, a choice I'm

making instead of taking on a mindset where you feel like you're missing out

on all these things that make you want to jump off and say enough of

this. And then for that off ramp, what's the mindset of how do I

transition so that I am not self

sabotaging on the back end? What's the story I'm

telling myself when it comes to maintaining these improvements that

I've made and what does the next season look like because you don't want to

let go of everything that you've built. And a lot of this is really important

mindset work. And if we take that example for nutrition, the number

of people who had this kind of all or nothing, I am on the plan,

it's intense or I'm off and then everything falls,

falls apart and crumbles. And then people end up feeling like garbage within a few

weeks. So we don't want to swing so wildly. We want to

think about that off ramp. Now, for me personally,

I am going to be approaching a season, an

intentional season of intensity. And I

say that with quotes because the

experiment for myself is actually around

my rehabilitation for some injuries related to

hypermobility. I've shared it before, but in

the fall I was diagnosed with hsd, which is hypermobility

syndrome disorder. And it is where a

deficiency in connective tissue causes a lot of injuries, but it also causes

other problems with different organs in my body. And, and this can make

it really difficult. And I've worked with a lot of practitioners, many who are just

not very familiar with how to deal with HSD or

the other one, Ehlers Danlos syndrome, or eds. They're

very, they're very linked. And what I have done is

actually registered for a program that is specifically

designed for people with HSD and eds,

and I will be going through that program. Now, the thing about the program, the

reason I say intensity, is that these

programs are deliberately low and slow

because of the chance of injury. Now, I

have decided though, that there are other habits or

practices or hobbies that I enjoy, but I'm going to

kind of ease off a little bit on those in order to really dedicate

time to making this a priority. Because I know if I can build that

foundation and really zero in on that, then I can start to

reduce the chance of injury. If I were say, to take more

of the 1% incremental approach, then

I just might not be able to get to the place I want to be

in the same time period. So I really am motivated by this idea of

that transformation, especially if it means that I can start to

reduce the chance of injury. And this means saying no

to other things and just not feeling guilty about it because I'm

intentionally choosing the season. However, there are

two plans that are required. One is during this season of

intensity. So for me, over the next two months. So as I

record this, this is. We're just starting April. It's April and May.

And I have told the people close to me that I am doing this

so that I can set expectations and I can start to make decisions

that say, yes, this is something I'm focusing on and I can say no

to some of the things that might get in the way of that.

But I need a second plan which is my off ramp and that is

really paying attention over the next two months. How do I keep this

consistently? How do I maintain the progress that I've experienced

and what does this look like on the maintain on the back end

where it's a part of my regular routine, but it's just not as intense.

And like the example with fitness,

once you have built up a certain level, then it is easier to

maintain because you've kind of built up that. That foundation. And so that's something

that I really looking to do. But I'm going in with

this mindset that I need to have a plan

and it needs to be personalized to me and I need to have

that good perspective around what does this look like

both during. What's my mindset during the intensity, but also what is

my mindset after the fact so that I can maintain it. Both

require that intentionality and that is something that I'm looking to

do. Because really regardless whether you go

consistent all the way atomic habits or whether you

choose something that's more intense seasons followed by those

periods of consistency, both of them need intention, but

both of them you can have momentum and keep it.