[心得分享] Atomic Habits: Keep having small steps everyday and you will earn lots of reward in the future

 

Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones

作者： James Clear
推薦分數：⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

英文難度：⭐⭐⭐☆☆
（GJ的英文程度-英文指考75分，多益875分，單字量沒有高中多，口說可以表達自己但絕對不

到native）

I have heard lots of people recommending this book, including my current boss’s boss. It points out the basic facts and desires on how people can begin a new habit and last it. Just like how a stock can return you financial benefits after you keep investing in months by months. A habit starts by improving 1% day by day. Imagine how this changes your life after 365 days, you are around 37 times better than your current self. On the other hand, if you declined 1% day by day. After 365 days, you will be approximately 0 at the end of the year.

The first step to do this is cue, which means to make your habit obvious. What does it mean to make it obvious? Imagine smokers seeing pictures of lungs with cancer, they start feel anxious, then they will smoke. This is the cue effect. If you want to start diet, fill your refrigerator with vegetables and proteins rather than chocolates and sugars. If you want to start workout, choose a gym that you will pass by everyday you work rather than one that you have to specifically go to. Once you notice the cue, set a frame such as when I open my refrigerator, I will eat vegetables. Or when I turn off my work tablet, I will walk to the gym. Make the cues attached with others that you do routinely and then it goes to our second step.

Craving, make your habit attractive. The easiest way to do this is tie it with something you already liked. If you want to start workout, letting yourself to watch your favorite Netflix film after each workout will make your workout more attractive. But be careful not to tie it in an opposite way. For example if you want to save money but you reward yourself saving your money by not buying Starbucks this morning then you bought a sneaker after that. This will make this step totally useless. After that we go to our next step.

Response means make your habit easy. Create an environment where you start your habit and break your habit into achievable rate. Environment is important just like the cues in our first step. People around you and the place you get used to shapes the habit you will do. Imagine you start a workout in a place where people around you kept scrolling their smart phone, you will start the same things they do after couple of days. Also make your habit achievable by starting it everyday at least 2 minutes. You will find yourself at some point thinking, why don’t I implement my habit a little bit longer. Then it brings us to our last step.

Reward means to make your habit satisfying. Unlike attractiveness, we want to have results after we do something. But many habits don’t have this kind of characteristics, and we usually feel disappointed after doing it. Try to make a habit tracker, mark a X if you did a workout. Track your savings each day. Make your achievements visible are the easiest way we make our habits more satisfying.

The four steps help us start our habit but the biggest challenge to last it is boredom. Just like an ice cube, if our target is to melt it to water, the transformation won’t start at the exact temperature 0 degrees Celsius. Habits are the same, we need to stick to the four steps, cues, craving, response and reward and wait until we pass that exact point. We are what we improve everyday, and that’s what makes us greater than others.

“Atomic Habits” 2022/08/28