Atomic Habits – Tiny Changes, Remarkable Results is a guidebook for “changing habits” or new habit programs to become permanent habits for us, which creates positive changes in our lives. Anyone who is looking for changes or Personal Transformation must follow the methods in this book.
Have we ever behaved like this?
The first group of people have many goals, but after a while they stop or do not succeed.
For example, they want to be thin or lose weight. On the first day, they set a big goal, starting with a big exercise set. After a few days, they stop.
Or have a goal of wanting to be a marathon runner like P’Toon and P’Koi, plan big that you must be able to run a marathon within one year, but after that, you can run a few times and have to give up because you feel that it is not fun, too tiring, or give up because it is too difficult to actually do.
Or if you want to improve yourself, set a goal to read one book a day, attend various online seminar classes, etc. The result is that you don’t even read half of the book before giving up, and when you don’t even get halfway through the online course, you say you can’t do it anymore.
“Focusing on being a goal setter but not paying attention to how to reach the goal, no matter what, you will never reach it.”
And there are many more examples that have similar symptoms. This is the problem of people who like to have goals and focus on setting goals to make them look good, without focusing on the process of implementation at all.
Let’s take another example, group 2.
“Do a little at a time, but do it often. No matter how difficult the goal is, you can reach it.”
Wanting to be thin or losing weight, this group of people only has a goal of being physically strong. They set a simple goal, a small goal each day, that is, they must do some easy exercise by jogging and walking around the village for about 20 minutes every day.
A year later, more than half of them were half marathoners (21 kilometers). They enjoyed running and it became part of their daily life. Now, they are not only strong, but they are also professional runners.
Or if they want to be good at it, to develop themselves in order to have more opportunities in their careers, this group of people set a small goal each day to choose a book related to self-development (related to their careers or subjects they are interested in) to read 20 pages a day, every day.
After a year, it turned out that they were able to finish reading an average of 14 books a year. Some people finished up to 20 books. As a result, one-quarter of these people changed jobs and got a new job with higher income and position than before. Another one-third continued working at the same place but were able to create a side job and earn extra income from developing themselves by reading books throughout the period of one year.
In comparison, the first group of people, whose problems are similar to most people, have a better chance of success and achieving their goals with realistic results.
Why can one group of people do it but another group can’t?
“The reason why our lives don’t go anywhere is because of our habits.”
Our habits are created by us. James Clear, author of Atomic Habits – Tiny Changes, Remarkable Results, says, “Habits are double-edged swords that can be either useful or harmful.”
For example, in terms of weight loss, we want to lose weight, but our habits are to eat greasy, fried, sweet or unhealthy foods. No matter how much we exercise, it is not beneficial. So we see fat people who try to exercise, no matter how much they exercise, it is not very effective. This is because these fat people do not correct their bad habits.
James Clear also added that habits are like interest that accumulate through continuous self-improvement. Building a new good habit by just 1% every day will yield huge results in the long run.
For example, if we improve ourselves by 1% every day for a year, the result is that we will improve almost 38 times more than before. So if we continuously develop new skills, little by little, in a year we will instantly become experts in that subject.
Let’s try practicing English seriously. In the past, the admin tried it. Using the same method as James Clear recommended. In just the 7th month, I could speak fluently and read several times faster than before.
Let’s say that if we want results or want a better life, we should focus on the process or method of practice more than setting goals and including in terms of changing behavior, creating new habits.
Because habits cause many actions that show our identity, such as being lazy and liking to study close to exam time. The result is that the grades are not good. The reason for this is because we have cultivated the wrong habits from the beginning.
Or we have to bring a huge pile of work home to do almost every day. The result is insufficient rest, stress, and other health problems. The cause is that we have a habit of procrastinating and spend most of our time on non-productive activities at work, etc.
“If nothing changes, nothing will change.”
If we are not satisfied with what is happening to us now, we need to fix our habits by changing our behaviors related to that matter by focusing on what we want to do or be, not just what we want.
Because habits are behaviors that are repeated long enough to become automatic actions
, we can change our habits to solve problems or life’s challenges that we encounter. By using a little energy and effort each day, we can create new habits with much better results.
In his book Atomic Habits – Tiny Changes, Remarkable Results, he says there are four simple rules we can use to create good habits :
Rule number 1 makes it obvious.
This article talks about understanding the origin and process of habit change. We must always be mindful and know what our bad habits are before changing them.
Another interesting thing is “ Habit Stacking ”, the development of habits because no behavior or habit occurs alone. There must be a situation, factor, or activity that occurs first every time, such as after waking up, immediately picking up the phone to check the message, or before going to work, having to stop and buy coffee first, etc.
Therefore, we can use the technique of building on habits by adding new habits, building on old habits or behaviors, such as after waking up, do some light exercise for 10-15 minutes, then pick up your phone to check your messages, etc.
“Behavior is a function of the interaction between the individual and his or her environment.”
In a village where many houses look exactly the same, they have a problem with very high electricity consumption. But there is one house that uses 30% less electricity than its neighbors, even though the houses are the same size and have the same electrical appliances.
But the only difference is the location of the electricity meter. The house that saves up to 30% on electricity has its electricity meter installed in front of the house and can be seen at eye level. The other houses have their meters installed higher than eye level, so they cannot see the amount of electricity used each day.
Seeing the electricity meter readings every day in front of you is a trigger for behaviors and habits to conserve electricity. This is another example of the importance of environment in forming new habits. James Clear also adds that it is easier to form new behaviors in new environments because we are not fighting the same factors that might resist the change to new habits.
Rule number 2: Make it attractive.
What should we do to make that behavior become a habit that we can’t stop?
We need to make it attractive. The more attractive an opportunity is, the easier it will be to form the new habit we want. James Clear says that it is the expectation of a reward, not the final achievement, that motivates us to take action. The higher the expectation of a reward, the more dopamine is released. For example, a reward that we want (but haven’t got yet) causes us to have expectations, so we must perform one or more behaviors to get it.
There is also talk about a technique of combining incentives that makes habit formation more appealing, namely, pairing a behavior we want to do with a behavior we must do. For example, after playing a game we like for 1 hour (a want to do), we must immediately exercise for 20 minutes (a must do).
“Genius is not born, but is learned and practiced.”
Saszló Polgar’s family experimented with the development of three children, and they became successful chess prodigies. He filled his house with chess manuals, photos of famous chess players, encouraged his children to play and compete with each other, and participated in tournaments where they could join. Eventually, all three children were successful. The eldest began playing at the age of four, and within six months she was beating adults. The second became the world champion at the age of only 14. The youngest was the youngest player, at the time 12, to be ranked in the top 100 in the world.
Environment and family support have a great impact on changing habits and success. This is because humans tend to imitate behaviors, whether they come from people close to them, such as family or friends, or from the majority of people in society or people in power, etc.
“We can make good habits, which are hard to build, more appealing if we learn to learn them and associate them with positive experiences.”
If any behavior earns us respect and admiration (a positive experience), we will find that behavior appealing and we should refrain from bad habits that have a negative impact on us.
Rule #3 Keep it simple
Repetition is one of the most important steps in initiating new habits and building new behaviors and habits. Every new habit has its own learning curve.
For example, if you want to be a half marathon runner (21 kilometers), of course, in the beginning, when you start to build your habit, you have to put in a lot of effort and determination. You have to go out and run for 20-30 minutes every day. You will definitely feel discouraged. But since running doesn’t take long, the problem of giving up is very rare. This is different from people who set goals and go all out, which is to run a lot in the beginning. They can only do it for a few days and then get injured and give up. If we do it little by little, after 15 days, we will feel like, hey, running is easy and we don’t get tired as easily as before. Sometimes we can easily extend the running time from 20, 30 to 40 or 50 minutes. And when we run every day for more than a month, running every day will be programmed to become our automatic habit immediately.
“The duration of any behavior is not as important as the number of times we do it.”
James Clear says that we need to adjust the environment to encourage new behaviors and reduce the barriers that prevent good behaviors, so that new behaviors and habits can easily form.
Rule number 4: Make it pleasing
Behavioral change is making the behavior more pleasurable because we tend to repeat the same behavior if it gives us satisfaction and happiness.
Our brain prioritizes behaviors that are immediately rewarded over future rewards, so things that are immediately rewarded tend to be repeated. Conversely, things that are immediately punished tend to be avoided.
Consistency is important, so don’t break the rules or quit halfway. Quitting halfway can make it harder to get back into good habits, or take longer to get back into shape. For example, some people stop exercising every day after getting back into shape. Then, not long after, they gain weight quickly, requiring them to start exercising again, but this time it will be harder to program the new habit.
“The greatest obstacle to success is not failure, but boredom.”
Whenever a new habit becomes a regular habit, it becomes less interesting, less satisfying, and we start to feel bored. Therefore, we must always find new activities or create new motivations. For example, we used to be able to run only a few kilometers. Once we can run, we gradually move on to 5 kilometers, 7 kilometers, 10 kilometers, and so on until we reach a marathon.
Who should read this book?
Atomic Habits – Tiny Changes, Remarkable Results has a Thai version. Atomic Habits because life can be better than it is, translated by Mr. Praparot Yongmanitchai, is considered a guide to changing habits and will help us have a better life. In the book, there are examples or methods that are very simple, which we can easily apply to ourselves.
Price and where can I buy it?
This book costs 285 baht with 328 pages. You can read it continuously, one chapter a day, comfortably. It is a program to create a habit of loving to read. For anyone who wants to be a better version of themselves, open your mind and try reading it, and try to follow the methods and advice from this book. Then your life will change completely.
This book is available at leading bookstores nationwide or can be purchased online here: ATOMIC HABITS because life can be better than it is.
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