Book Review: Atomic Habits and The Power of Small Steps

The self-improvement world is sometimes guilty of grandiose claims and oversimplification. The reality is, life is difficult, and change - which takes more than “3 easy steps!” - is generally incremental and hard-won. That’s why I found James Clear’s modern-classic book Atomic Habits such a powerful and refreshing read. Far from promising one-and-done revolutionary shifts, Clear’s approach involves the slow and steady growth that comes one small habit at a time.

Clear himself is a master of small habits. As a teen, he suffered a devastating skull injury when he was accidentally hit in the face with a baseball bat. His dreams of playing the sport professionally were derailed, but he was determined to take back control of his life with small habits like making his bed, improving his studying, and lifting weights. He believes that the accumulation of habit after small habit helped him eventually become a star college ball player while achieving academic success - all despite the tremendous set-back of his injury.

Why are small habits so powerful? Clear explains that “habits are the compound interest of self-improvement”. Like money in the bank, the value of each small habit increases over time. Walk a kilometer a day and not much happens. Walk a kilometer every day and you’ve got yourself a healthy habit. And as with good habits, same with the not so good: drink a glass of wine tonight and not much happens. Drink a glass every night …

So how does Clear’s method work? Drawing off the work of B.F. Skinner, he explains that habits are really self-reinforcing feedback loops consisting of a cue and a craving (‘the problem’), followed by a response and a reward (‘how we try to solve the problem’). The secret to building good habits, he believes, is to leverage what he calls “The Four Laws of Behavior Change” (make it obvious, attractive, easy, and satisfying) to hack the loop.

Imagine a mom of young kids. She’s busy all day and exhausted by 5 o’clock (the cue). She wants to relax before tackling dinner (craving) so she pours herself a glass of wine (response). As her shoulders drop a little, she associates the wine with coping with motherhood stress (reward).

Of course as we know, alcohol is a poor antidote to stress, and while the initial sense of relaxation feels like relief, the long term effects are anything but. How can she use the Laws of Behavior Change to build a better habit?

She could decide in advance that she will drink a cup of herbal tea at 5 o’clock instead of pouring a glass of wine, and leave the tea and kettle out as an obvious visual cue of her decision. Her favourite teas and a beautiful mug make it attractive, and she makes sure to keep the tea cabinet well stocked to keep things easy. She finds it satisfying to keep track of every day she sticks to her new habit, so she can invest the money she saves not buying wine into a beautiful bottle of sparkling kombucha at the end of the month. With time and repetition, slowly a new habit is born.

The book is packed with realistic examples and practical tools for implementing the Four Laws in everyday life and is a valuable resource for anyone rethinking and looking to improve their habits. He also explains how the inverse of these Laws can be leveraged for breaking bad habits (looking at you again, wine o’clock!)

Atomic Habits by James Clear can be purchased on Amazon or at your favourite bookstore.