Thread by @ZaraKhan161

Cannot recommend #AtomicHabits by @JamesClear highly enough, it’s worth the hype. There were so many fascinating anecdotes and examples, and it has one of the best openings to a non-fiction novel I’ve read in a while.

Here are just a few of my key takeaways

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1/ Making just a small 1% improvement every day can lead to a significantly different outcome. 40-50% of our actions on any given day are out of habit, and the true influence of your habits is even greater than the numbers suggest.

2/ Even simply listing and calling out your bad habits can initiate change.

3/ An easy way to introduce a new habit is through ‘habit stacking’, essentially saying that immediately after a current habit that you already have, you will do your new habit.

4/ Introduce obvious visual cues into your environment e.g. having your guitar in the middle of your room if you want to practice every day. Make your habits easy and convenient, so you’re more likely to follow through on them.

5/ Surround yourself with people who have the habits that you want to have yourself.

6/ We can be so focused on figuring out the best approach that we never get around to taking action - often we get bogged down in planning, to avoid the risk of failure, when it isn’t necessary. Practice is more important than planning.

7/ The more immediate pleasure you get from an action, the more strongly you should question whether it aligns with your long term goals (delayed gratification tends to make you more successful).

8/ Implement habit tracking - keep a record and track your progress. Visual evidence of how well you’re doing and how much progress you’re making is beneficial. Try to have automated measurement, or record immediately after completion.

9/ Don’t miss a habit twice - rebounding from failure quickly matters more than the failure itself.

10/ Numbers aren't everything. ‘We focus on working long hours instead of getting meaningful work done. We care more about getting ten thousand steps that we do about being healthy. We teach for standardised tests instead of emphasising learning, curiosity, and critical thinking’

11/ I have to include this gem of a story just because I found it too funny. Potential idea for the next time procrastination is too tempting . . .