Animated summary of Atomic Habits by James Clear.

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About James Clear
James Clear has been researching habits and decision-making for many years. He made his name as the author of one of the fastest-growing email newsletters in history. This newsletter grew from zero to 100,000 subscribers in just two years. Today, his newsletter has over one million subscribers, and the articles on his website receive ten million hits each year. His work frequently appears in publications including The New York Times, Forbes and Business Insider. His first book, Atomic Habits, has sold millions of copies and has been translated into more than 50 languages. He’s a speaker about habits and continuous improvement at major companies such as Cisco, Honda, Intel and LinkedIn. He’s a former athlete and a contributor to Against Malaria Foundation.

Introduction
In Atomic Habits, James Clear argues that big goals shouldn’t be your main focus in life. Instead, you should be utilizing frequent, repetitive actions and systems to help develop habits that stick.

The significant changes you want to make in your life depend more on creating small habits than sizable shifts. For example, suppose you want to get in shape. In that case, your best bet is eating slightly better, exercising regularly, and getting enough sleep. Instead of wasting your time setting unachievable goals with drastic changes, all you have to do is make one minor change daily. This theme runs throughout Atomic Habits. The quality of your life depends on the quality of your habits. Some habits are small like an atom. As these atomic habits accumulate, they can make a significant impact in your life.

The Fundamentals – Why Tiny Changes Make a Big Difference
What Are Habits?
All big things come from small beginnings. The seed of every habit is a single, tiny decision. But as that decision is repeated, a habit sprouts and grows stronger. Roots entrench themselves and branches grow. The task of breaking a bad habit is like uprooting a powerful oak within us. And the task of building a good habit is like cultivating a delicate flower one day at a time.”

– JAMES CLEAR
Habits are small, everyday behaviors that we perform automatically, with little or no thought. Habits are also powerful. We are what we do every day. In this way, habits form our identity. So, when repeated daily, even the smallest actions have a considerable effect.

That said, positive change requires patience. But you can be confident that good habits keep you on the right trajectory, even if you don’t see results right away. Making significant changes in your life through habits doesn’t require significant upheaval. Tiny changes to your behavior are often enough to lead to the desired results.

Why Is It Hard to Build Good Habits?
Conditioning
Habits are built through conditioning. In effect, we tend to repeat satisfying behaviors until they become automatic. For example, when you were a baby, you would have sucked your thumb to calm yourself. This calming feeling was the satisfying consequence that encouraged you to repeat the behavior. This is why bad habits can be so hard to break and replace with good habits.

Fortunately, you can also use conditioning to help build good habits. As adults, we can engage with habits like going on a morning run because we get an endorphin buzz and feel more productive.

Minor Improvements
We fail to create good habits because humans tend to convince themselves that massive success requires massive action. It is easy to underestimate the value of making minor improvements, like going on a morning run each day. But the benefits will accumulate since the habit is repeated daily.

Clear shows us why incremental changes can have a big impact. He explains that 1% of personal improvement each day means you’ll be 37 times better by the same time next year. Here’s the math: 1.01 to the power of 365 days is 37.78 (in other words, 37 times better). That’s how small, everyday improvements become atomic habits that help you reach your goals.

Chapters

00:00 Intro
01:06 About James Clear
01:56 Introduction to Atomic Habits
02:46 The Fundamentals - Why Tiny Changes Make a Big Difference
03:56 Why Is It Hard to Build Good Habits?
07:06 Forget About Goals, Concentrate on Systems
08:16 Goals do not create long-term progress, but systems do.
9:00 Habit Loops
11:19 How to Form Good Habits
13:34 How to Keep Your Habits on Track
17:19 Advanced Tactics
18:34 Final Summary of Atomic Habits

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