Change your Habits, Change your Life [Book Review]

One of my favourite all time go-to self-help book, Atomic Habits by James Clear. The book left such an incredible impact when I first read it and I find myself making references to it consistently. It was first introduced to my B-School accountability partner, Jobena, and I am forever grateful to her for which I probably wouldn't have discovered it.

Atomic Habits essentially focuses on tiny habits delivering big results, overtime, sometimes years. I like the concept because it is akin to the yoga practice. It is a daily grind. You wake up and practice the same sequence everyday, six days a week. At times it may not feel like a lot, but overtime you start to notice the change in yourself.

Changes that seem small and unimportant at first will compound into remarkable results if you are willing to stick to them for years.

Indeed the small daily stuff matters. They seems trivial and negligible but done repeatedly, they can create an impact. I also like the concept that James advocated on focusing on the systems and not the goals. 

If you want better results, then forget about setting goals. Focus on your system instead.

In yoga practice, your goal might be to attain a certain pose. You system is how often you practice, how much time you are investing in each session and communication with your teacher. Both are important but having systems in place is about making progress, creating endless refinement and continuous improvement.

James also made it clear that habits are built incrementally overtime, not overnight. To master a new habit / something, you start with repetition not perfection. Just get your reps in. So true!

Each time you write a page, you’re a writer.

This is one book that I see myself coming back to in time to come and I hope the same for you too!