Atomic Habits

We all know habits are very powerful. We may not realize it, but most of what we do every day is due to many habits we have developed over a long period of time, so much so that we do not even think about these as we go about our routine. Sometimes as we become aware of some aspect of our life we want to change, we try to create new habits or change old ones with varying degrees of success. In his book Atomic Habits, James Clear lays out a simple and easy to apply formula for changing our habits.

One of the nuggets that most resonated with me, was the power of setting very simple goals. Clear suggests setting the smallest possible goals for any activity you tend to find difficult to start. The idea is that often the part that is the most difficult is to get started. Once you start the activity, the rest follows more easily. As an example, if you find it difficult to read for very long, set a goal to open a book and read just one page every day. More often than not, once you open the book, you will read more than one page. Even if you don’t, one page every day adds up before you know it.

Another tip he suggests is to make the habit attractive. For example, I am applying this to my goal of walking more everyday. During COVID, with working from home, my activity level has dropped significantly. And with the winter at its peak, going out is not an attractive proposition at all. The treadmill in the basement is an option, but I get bored within a few minutes even with an audio book or music. I decided to use my iPad to keep me entertained while walking. I downloaded an episode of my favourite show on the iPad, put it on the front console of my treadmill and watched the episode while I walked. This kept my attention from contactless watching the seconds trickle by and I got lost in the show. Before I knew it, I had walked for 35 minutes.