By the time I laid my hands on Atomic Habits, the internet had already declared it a self-help genre cliché. I’m not big on self-help books because mostly I believe they are written by privileged men who never did laundry or looked after a child while building what they claim to have built in life; plus I am low on implementation motivation as well. Still, I bought Atomic Habits because I wanted my husband to read at least one book in his lifetime and he said fiction doesn’t compel him. Well, you could guess how that blew up in my face and I ended up digesting how the trajectory of life can be reset through minute alterations of lifestyle on an everyday basis, simply because I didn’t want to waste what was apparently a New York Times bestseller.
Everyone knows what Atomic Habits is about; there are hundreds of videos on the internet explaining James Clear’s approach to a more accomplished life. I expected the book to be preachy and idealistic but I actually didn’t mind the elaborate description of the habit forming approach; I don’t know how much I’m taking from this book but I do like James Clear as an author. He’d perhaps make an excellent teacher too. Pretty much every lesson in the book starts with anecdotal evidence which he leverages to drive his point home and that to me is the highlight. It tells you that James Clear has written this book with a lot of clarity and not an idealistic perspective of life; unlike many authors of the self-help genre I’ve come across in the past and ended up disliking. Of course, he also stands in stark contrast to the social media wellness influencers who love to set the standards too high and make a reasonable life look practically impossible.
Atomic Habits and its ideals are still a little too preachy for me but I decided halfway through the book that I like James Clear. I like how he breaks down concepts and strategies into extremely realistic, digestible elements, and how intentional and precise his digital identity is. For someone with the right kind of implementation motivation, this book certainly could be a game changer. Clear’s website and its contents are truly well curated too and certainly something I enjoyed more than the book. So in summary, Atomic Habits has been a win for me because it introduced me to James Clear and to what a well-thought-through and well-honed-through-the-years identity in the digital world looks like.
Having said that, I would still recommend Atomic Habits to someone who struggles with discipline and structure in life and is intentional about getting better. Just because I am low on implementation motivation, doesn’t mean the world level bestseller won’t be beneficial for others. After all, all the productivity influencers in the digital world have declared it a holy grail for a better life. I am not one to refute that. I know this commentary hasn’t exactly been a ‘review’, because it didn’t intend to; but I wanted to present my perception of the book that I never really thought I’ll get through but surprisingly did. I think I’ll trust the productivity influencers a little more and possibly turn to some more self-help genre books like The Psychology of Money. A change of prejudice is a good thing.
The 1% better everyday rule | Despite the mentioned ‘low implementation motivation’, I’ve adapted the 1% better everyday approach that James Clear has so practically described in Atomic Habits on this blog. This space used to be a laid-back hobby platform but I’ve always wanted to be more professional about it. I’ve been working on making it better for years now but the strategies mentioned in the book certainly have come in handy in the regard. As an avid blogger himself, James Clear connects exceptionally well to the blogger-writer audience. Here’s his blog, in case you’re curious.
Leave a Reply