The author makes several good points, but if I can be real with you, these are all things that I have been talking up for nearly 20 years long before I read this. This whole thing further is mostly fluff and I could have written this in half the words for sure, maybe less. ( )

Easy to understand and straightforward. Four laws of habits that helps anyone remove or create habits. Simple yet quite profound.
One of the biggest highlight of the book for me is when the author relates habit with identity. Habits stems from identity and also build up that identity. Someone who smokes everyday will consider themselves smokers. It’s their identity. This makes it harder for them to quit, since people tend to get attached to their identity. Usually when you are quitting, you say “I’m a smoker and I’m trying to quit”. However, the author argues that you should try to change your identity, or think about the identity you are trying to become, to remove habits effectively. Therefore, instead you should think “I don’t want to be a smoker” or “ I want to be someone who don’t smoke”. It will fasten up the process, and every time you have the urge but decide not to smoke, it will become a vote of confidence toward that identity. So to start good habit or remove bad habits, start thinking about the identity you want to be, or get rid of.
This idea is very eye-opening to me ( )

Desarrolla la idea del cambio y desarrollo de hábitos con pequeñas acciones. ( )

Since coming out six years ago, Atomic Habits has remained on several best seller lists, and for good reason. It’s a self-help book, yes, but it isn’t like so many self-help books that pontificate about things most people can’t control. James Clear’s observations and advice are based on solid social science and past experience. My most gratifying take away after listening to the audio version is that much of what I do already is right. More and more I kept saying to myself, “Hey, that’s exactly what I do!” I’m anxious to peruse the appendix of the book since throughout “Atomic Habits,” Clear, who is the narrator, pointed out that copies of various templates for tracking habits are available at AtomicHabits.com. I listened to the audio version of Clear’s book, and he narrated in a very effective way. I’m glad I took the time to listen to James Clear’s book, and I think there is something for just about everyone in it. ( )

Series Info/Source: This is a stand alone book. I borrowed this on ebook from my library.

Thoughts: I liked this and it does a great job of laying out a plan for developing good habits and getting rid of bad habits. Things are laid out step by step and very simply. I like that each chapter starts out with a historical anecdote about a historical figure and their habits. This made the book very fun and easy to read.

I was surprised at how readable this was. I speed right through it. It was entertaining and insightful. Nothing in here is rocket science and there are no huge revelations. However, there is some food for thought, especially around adapting your environment to support your habits. I realized I do a lot of that already without even realizing it. Just little things like laying out an outfit the night before so I can get going early in the morning without feeling stressed. Or laying my journal on my pillow in the morning so I don't forget to write in it before I go to bed.

I think the most intriguing part of this book to me was the portion about mind set. How you need to say "I am a person who..." rather than "I would like to be a person who..." I never really thought about how that would change your mindset, so that was interesting to me.

I also liked the idea of laying out your day as a list of habits. It lets you see what you actually do in a day and analyze that in a more objective way to see which parts of your day are sabotaging habits you want to develop and which parts are enhancing habits.

There is a lot of focus on organizing your surroundings, friends, and lifestyle around habits you want to enforce. All of this makes a lot of sense and, in general, this is just good common sense to follow. I think the points made about how developing habits takes time and you need to forgive yourself if you lapse are also important ones.

I think the hard part for most people is actually putting some of these skills into action and not just forgetting about this book as they move forward in life. Sticking with something consistently and long-term is always hard. It's especially hard with something like eating or exercise where you don't get the immediate gratification of instant success. This is discussed in this book as well.

My Summary (5/5): Overall, while there is nothing really new or earth-shattering here, this does lay out an easy to follow process for developing good habits in simple steps. There are some intriguing suggestions to help you analyze your surrounds and life to pinpoint why you continue with bad habits and have trouble developing good ones. I found this to be an easy and entertaining read and I think everyone would benefit from reading this because it does really make you sit down and think about your life and how you could improve aspects of it. I find myself thinking back to this book a lot in the weeks following reading it. ( )