# Top Quotes and important points from Atomic Habits Atomic Habit, a book by James Clear is a must read for anyone wanting to change or create a habit. It provides very practical ways to build good habits and break the bad ones. Together with different strategies and tools to form a new habit, it also contains a range of mind striking quotes and points. Among them, there is one particular that I keep remembering: > A genius is not born, but is educated and trained. I doubt I will ever forget this one. Below I have listed some of the quotes and points which I thought were important; chapter by chapter. ### Introduction - We all deal with setbacks but in the long run,the quality of our lives often depends on the quality of our habits. - With the same habits, you’ll end up with the same results. But with better habits, anything is possible. - It is so easy to overestimate the importance of one defining moment and underestimate the value of making small improvements on a daily basis. ### How Your Habits Shape Your Identity - Are you reading books and learning something new each day? Tiny battles like these are the ones that will define your future self. - Becoming the best version of yourself requires you to continuously edit your beliefs, and to upgrade and expand your identity. - The real reason habits matter is not because they can get better results (although they can do that), but because they can change your beliefs about yourself. ### How to Build Better Habits in Simple Steps - The ultimate purpose of habits is to solve the problems of life with as little energy and effort as possible. ### The 1st Law: Make it Obvious - There are no good habits and bad habits. There are only effective habits. - The process of behavior change always starts with awareness. You need to be aware of your habits before you can change them. ### Motivation is Overrated; Environment Often Matters More - Small changes in context can lead to large changes in behavior over time. ### The Secret to Self Control - Once a habit is formed, it is unlikely to be forgotten. - People with high self control tend to spend less time in tempting situations. It's easier to avoid temptation than resist it. ### The 2nd Law: Make it Attractive - The more attractive an opportunity is, the more likely it is to become habit-forming. ### The role of family and friends in shaping your habits - The culture we live in determines which behaviors are attractive to us. - We tend to adopt habits that are praise and approved of by our culture because we have a strong desire to fit in and belong to the tribe. - A genius is not born, but is educated and trained. - One of the most effective things you can do to build better habits is to join a culture where (1) your desired behavior is the normal behavior and (2) you already have something in common with the group. - The normal behavior of the tribe often overpowers the desired behavior of the individual. Most days, we’d rather be wrong with the crowd than be right by ourselves. ### The 3rd Law: Make it Easy - Walk slowly, but never backward. - The most effective form of learning is practice, not planning. - If you want to master a habit, the key is to start with repetition, not perfection. ### The law of least effort - Business is a never ending quest to deliver the same result in an easier fashion. ### How to stop procrastinating by using the two minute rule - The two minute rule states, "When you start a new habit, it should take less than two minutes to do." ### The 4th law: Make it satisfying - We are more likely to repeat a behavior when the experience is satisfying. - The cardinal rule of behavior change: What is immediately reqarded is repeated. What is immediately punished is avoided. - To get a habit to stick you need to feel immediately successful, even if it's in a small way. - The vital thing in getting a habit to stick is to feel successful—even if it’s in a small way. - In the beginning, you need a reason to stay on track. This is why immediate rewards are essential. They keep you excited while the delayed rewards accumulate in the background. ### How to stick with good habits everyday - Habits need to be enjoyable if they are going to stick. - One of the most satisfying feelings is the feeling of making progress. - A habit tracker is a simple way to measure whether you did a habit - like marking an X on a calendar. - Habit trackers and other visual forms of measurement can make your habits satisfying by providing clear evidence of your progress. - Don't break the chain. Try to keep your habit streak alive. ### How an accountability partner can change everything - An accountability partner can create an immediate cost to inaction. We care deeply about what others think of us, and we do not want others to have a lesser opinion of us. ### The truth about talent (When genes matter and when they don't) - The secret of maximizing your odds of success is to choose the right field of competition. - Genes cannot be easily changed, which means they provide a powerful advantage in favorable circumstances and a serious disadvantage in unfavorable circumstances. - Play a game that favors your strengths. - Genes do not eliminate the need for hard work. They clarify it. They tell us what to work hard on. - Until you work as hard as those you admire, don’t explain away their success as luck. ### The Goldilocks rule: How to stay motivated in life and work - The greatest threat to success is not failure but boredom. - As habits become routine, they become less interesting and less satisfying. We get bored. - No habit will stay interesting forever. At some point, everyone faces the same challenge on the journey of self improvement: you have to fall in love with boredom. - Stepping up when it’s annoying or painful or draining to do so, that’s what makes the difference between a professional and an amateur. - Anyone can work hard when they feel motivated. It’s the ability to keep going when work isn’t exciting that makes the difference. - Professionals stick to the schedule; amateurs let life get in the way. ### The downside of creating good habits - Habits + Deliberate Practice = Mastery ### Little Lessons from the Four Laws - Happiness is simply the absence of desire. I wasn't sure if anyone would be interested to read these types of blogs so I had ran the Twitter poll and got some decent response, so here we are! I had written down these points just so I can look at them in the future because I liked them, I hope you enjoy reading them as much as I enjoyed noting them down. If you have come this far, Congratulation! You have reached the end of the blog. Thank you for reading.