When I hear about a book, I note the name and author. When I hear about it two or three more times, I buy it. Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits and Break Bad Ones is just such a book. Not that I “needed to read it” nor was I trying to break bad habits, but I am always open to new ways of looking at the world.
An extremely easy to read book, author James Clear shares a personal story of how habits helped him achieve “remarkable results” (He shies away from the word “goals,” but you gotta have a destination or a “to be” state, so if you want to call this results vs. goals, so be it). He then shares the precise ways of how incremental habits help you achieve these results.
It’s not rocket science. It’s nothing I haven’t heard before BUT he shares his system in a highly practical and compelling way. He combines psychology, biology, and neuroscience to create an easy-to-understand template for making good habits stick and shift bad habits into good habits or leave them in the dust.
As I was reading the book, I was able to quickly note why a new habit I have adopted over the years would “work” and when one wouldn’t….as well as why I have failed to give up some of my “bad habits” (fess up, we ALL have them).
On the business side (go to www.atomichabits.com/business for the bonus chapter), I can immediately see the applicability to teams in the workplace. Teams have habits, routines, and rituals and it is worthwhile to have a frank conversation about the habits that support the business results and those that don’t….and what the team wants to do about it.
No one is an “overnight success.” Rather, that success is built on layers of small, incremental habits that contribute to mastery. I highly recommend this book – even if you don’t think you need it. You do.
KRISTIN ARNOLD, MBA, CPF | Master, CSP is a high-stakes meeting facilitator and professional panel moderator. She’s been facilitating teams of executives and managers in making better decisions and achieving greater results for over 20 years. She is the author of the award-winning book, Boring to Bravo: Proven Presentation Techniques to Engage, Involve and Inspire Audiences to Action.
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