Atomic Habits

 Atomic Habits: An Easy and Proven Way to Build Good Habits and Break Bad Ones, by James Clear, 306 pages

This was a fast read. I usually despise  "business" self-help books like this but another author I enjoy recommended it. Ultimately, the advice here can be used for anything.

What caught my attention initially was the author's personal story in the introduction. As a young man, he's involved in a horrific baseball accident that puts him into a coma and on a ventilator. He rebounds, but his arduous recovery forces him to develop positive habits to ensure the return of his health and achieve his academic dreams. He attributes this system of habit-building to his current success. 

Bottom line: if you want to get started on a new habit, whatever it is, follow these 4 laws:

• Make it obvious
• Make it attractive
• Make it easy
• Make it satisfying

Each section of the book dives into these laws with abbreviated scientific studies, true-to-life vignettes, and tips on how to implement these laws while trying to solidify your new habit. One interesting trick is known as "habit-stacking," where you attach your newly desired habit to an already existing habit. For example:

1. After I (CURRENT HABIT), I will (HABIT I NEED). 

2. After (HABIT I NEED), I will (HABIT I WANT). 

So after you get back from lunch, you will call three new clients (need).

After you call three new client, you will check social media (want). 

For me, trying to make a new habit produce a dopamine hit seems to be the best way to add it to my schdeudle. If you can associate your desired habit with the reward center in your brain, you'll be on a surefire path to learning how to...knit? Skateboard? Juggle? Juggle your knit creations while skateboarding? Try it out and let me know how that goes. 

Recommended for adults.