Why I bought it

I’m a bit of a James Smith fan and in the reading list at the end of his first book (Not a Diet Book) it suggested this was a must read. Also, James has a similar mindset to mine and he mentioned it changed his life. This was my first book of Lockdown.

My thoughts

It’s funny, Atomic Habits is about changing your habits and by reading the book, it has changed mine. Last year I read three books and I promised myself I would build a new habit. Like most, I had no idea how. I wrote all the changes I wanted to make in 2020 in December 2019 and I’ve managed to implement many. Thanks to this book. This book gives you easy to follow instructions on how to change and build your habits. How to recognise the habits you need to change and how to do this with relative ease. He also gives you access to a tracker via his website which is simple and again, easy to use in everyday life.

The Four Laws are the big important learn from this book

CUE – CRAVING – RESPONSE – REWARD

James explains the difference between good and bad habits. How simple changes can make a huge difference. He also explains how to build or remove a habit. He offers exercises and documents to help you through this. Towards the end of the book he talks about how to implement his teachings in both parenting and business and I personally feel that with the team I had I could have made some huge changes if I had returned. And when I finally have children, I will take some of the advice as well.

It genuinely is a great book giving simple instruction on how to utilise your motives to create habits. Most of our habits are automated and built overtime and small changes can make a huge difference.

One change made my day so much better – what was it – making my bed every morning. Why? Because every day I start my day by achieving something and every evening, no matter how it has gone, I return to a comfortable place which I look at and know I have made that positive change.

I have made changes. There are more to make, and one is to start a habit journal which is basically a normal journal but ticks of the habits I want to build into my day.

Every chapter has a summary at the end. This allows you to go over each in simple and quick terms and learn, review and reflect. It also makes it easier to go back to at a later date.

Who this is for

It’s a great book for anyone. This may be why it’s sold over a million copies and it’s an international best seller. CEO’s, Influencers and people like you and I have read this and used it. So it truly is for everyone as we all have habits.

If you feel you’d like to make some changes and/or want to develop some new skills but are not sure how, this is great first read. It also analyses our psyche and mindset which is also great to learn about and may lead you onto further books (Mindsets by Dr Carol Dweck…).

It is available in Audiobook, however I do feel being able to highlight pages and read the advice is incredibly important.

Short Extracts

‘Desire is the engine that drives behaviour. Every action is taken because of the anticipation that precedes it. It is the craving that leads to the response’

‘If you want to increase the odds that a behaviour will occur, then you need to make it attractive’

‘Temptation bundling works by linking an action you want to do with an action you need to do’

‘The 1^st Law of Behaviour Change, is to make it obvious’

Where to buy

Any good bookshop, or online store, will stock Atomic Habits. It’s published by Random House so major investment has been made to get it out to the masses.

Links

Click to find out more about James Clear or here for his Habits Academy

For more books, check out the Elusive Book List on Amazon or GoodReads. We will, of course, review more of these in time, but any questions feel free to drop us an email at bookclub@elusivegroup.co.uk or ask it directly on our Book Group.

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