Atomic Habits

Atomic Habits Full chapter Introduction

Why do so many of us fail to lose weight? Why can't we go to bed early and wake up early? Is it because of a lack of determination? Not at all. The thing is, we are doing it the wrong way. More specifically, it's because we haven't built an effective behavioral system. James Clear finds that it takes four steps to form a habit. Cue, craving, response, and reward are the pillars of every habit. This book summarizes the four laws that correspond to the four steps to help you quickly build good habits or, counterintuitively, break bad ones.

Overview | Chapter 1

Hi, welcome to Bookey. Today we'll unlock the book Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones.

Imagine you're sitting in a plane, flying from Los Angeles to New York City. Due to a mysterious and undetectable turbulence, your aircraft's nose shifts more than 7 feet, 3.5 degrees to the south. After five hours of flying, before you know it, the plane is landing. However, it’s not landing in New York City, but in Washington Dulles International Airport, which is 225 miles from your destination!

A minimal change over time can make a significant difference, and the direction of an airplane is a straightforward example. In the same way, a slight change in your daily habits can steer your path to a completely different destination. That's the incredible power of habits.

Everyone wants to control their lives and not be led by the nose by bad habits. We'll make New Year's plans, vow to lose weight or quit smoking, keep reading or running, but these resolutions will often come to naught. Is it because of a lack of determination? No, we are doing it the wrong way. More specifically, it's because we haven't built an effective behavioral system. James Clear finds that it takes four steps to form a habit. Cue, craving, response, and reward are the pillars of every habit. This book summarizes the four laws that correspond to the four steps to help you quickly build good habits or break bad ones. There isn't just one way to develop good habits, but this book presents an ideal path the author knows. It's suitable for everyone who is seeking a step-by-step approach.

The author of this book is James Clear, a habit researcher and author of the New York Times bestseller. Over 500,000 people subscribe to his email newsletter, and his website receives millions of visitors each month. Clear is the founder of the famous The Habits Academy, which is the leading platform for individuals and organizations that are interested in developing better habits in life and work. More than 10,000 leaders, managers, teachers, and coaches have graduated from The Habits Academy.

Next, we'll go through this bookey with you in three parts:

Part one: The fundamentals of behavior change;

Part two: The four laws of behavior change;

Part three: Inversions of the four laws.