Atomic Habits by James Clear — Book Review
on Book Review
The word Atomic has always excited me, especially while studying Physics. The essence of this powerful yet conceivable concept is so profoundly rooted in the dimensions we live in.
Atomic Habits by James Clear is a remarkable projection of this idea to solve one of the problems deeply rooted in us from the time immemorable. The Habits. I don’t necessarily see habits as a potential problem until, of course, when they lead us down a path to an identity that we deeply despise. Naturally, Atomic Habits are a double-edged sword. It can build an unimaginable empire for you or collapse the existing one to dust.
Seldom do we wonder why the heck we do this particular thing that particular way. What’s that replays itself in the same fashion, and we can’t recall why. Why is it so difficult to change despite our sincere efforts? Why are we so fixated on certain things a certain way, and how can we change them. And sometimes it’s another way around, and we wonder why the heck this works for someone, unlike the way it works for us.
The plot often changes, but the main character in our story is always us. In the end, we are the ones responsible for making anything happen. Whether it’s the change that you’re talking about or the destruction. The book is written to keep in mind the same idea that it’s our story and how we create an actionable set of activities to achieve whatever we want to through the simple yet powerful concept of Atomic Habits. If this sounds like you, then go for it, and very soon, you’ll realize how idempotent this concept is in our surroundings and how we follow it quite mindlessly. This book will open a whole new perspective on how you view your habits and how they help you get sharpen or dull.
When I was reading this book, I could relate to so many things mentioned by the author. During the chapter of The Surprising Power of Atomic Habits, my running routine kept on revolving and pausing in my mind while I was reading. Over then, I realized why I’ve been so successful in running than the rest of the resolutions in my dangling list. Running obviously didn’t come naturally to me and the initial days were and somehow are still a struggle. Sometimes it’s blinding mist or smoke or terribly cold. No doubt my mind doesn’t like it. Moreover, I didn’t succeed straight away. But when I did, I realized that this time it’s not my mind just wanting to run because of some status quo. Instead, it’s the identity it believes that I am, that is, an identity of an athlete who never skips workout whatever the weather or body has to say. It was the identity for whom my mind is ready to fight tooth and nail to keep. That day when the author mentioned this thing, it literally gave me a new perspective. It helped me understand myself regarding what works for me and what doesn’t. That day I knew that if I truly wanted something, I would have to become that person who deserves it. This might seem a simple concept to most of you, but it had always been a puzzle as to why something would come so naturally to me, and sometimes it another way around when despite my sincere belief and desires, I’d fail to achieve it. I’d use to thank my fate or the occasional motivation for things that somehow used to work for me. I never really tried to see that it was the system. Brilliantly designed differently for the things that felt natural as opposed to the one that seems like moving the mountains.
It’s the surprising power of Atomic Habits that compounds over time that often it looks overnight success to the rest of the world.
You don’t have to be great to start but you have to start to be great!
James Clear has painted a beautiful picture of Atomic Habits lifecycle in his book, and all that it takes to succeed and get the maximum out of the book into your real life is the commitment to trust your Atomic Habits!