The purpose of this review is to give a general outline of the book Atomic Habits so that you can make a decision if it is right for you. In my opinion, it has multiple angles that can make it a worthwhile read for teachers. This book can inform and alter how we approach our teaching, our finances and our personal lives. That is enough to convince me. But I’m also very sensitive about a teacher’s free time! So, I’ve done my best to review the book and connect it to the those focal points (teaching, finance and personal life) to better give you an idea on whether or not you should pick it up for yourself!
James Clear, the author of New York Times Bestseller Atomic Habits: Tiny Changes, Remarkable Results, may have a lawsuit coming (this is only a joke)! Dr. Leo Marvin, played by Richard Dreyfus in What About Bob?, had it first with his book Baby Steps!
Go ahead and watch the clip below and you’ll see a few surface similarities. Digging a little deeper, however, we’ll find that one is slightly more substantive than the other.
Also, side note, it just dawned on me that in my last two posts I’ve now referenced Richard Dreyfus movies. In the last post, The Dip Your Toes Investing Strategy For Beginners, we saw a much younger version of Richard Dreyfus in the clip from Jaws.
Getting back to reality, there are a few similarities in the premise. The general idea is that making small, incremental changes to our daily routines, can add up to life-changing outcomes over time.
The difference between the two is that one of the books is a movie prop while the other one gives potentially life changing advice, based on years of research and analysis. It also gives practicable steps on how to enact these changes in our own lives.
Immediately, I connected to the personal finance aspect of this concept. This is similar to the premise of financial independence. Making small changes to increase income and savings, investing (to take advantage of compounding interest and the lifelong upward trajectory of the market), and giving it time for all these benefits to accumulate, can lead to life-altering amounts of savings.
But, as I read more, I couldn’t help connect the ideas presented to my own personal life and the goals I have for myself.
Finally, there was a clear connection to our lives as teachers as well. This book can inform everything from how you set up your classroom to the routines you implement for the year. It can also impact, directly or indirectly, the lives of your students.
Ultimately, this book gave me new insight into how I think about habits and their impact on our lives. It reinforced ideas I already had, and taught me plenty that I didn’t yet know.
Some General Pearls of Wisdom from Atomic Habits
Ultimately, to get the full value out of a book, we have to read it ourselves. It puts everything in context and helps crystallize our understanding on a deeper level.
Here, I’ve cherry picked a few “pearls” to give you a feel for what you might find within. These, in general, helped me better understand some of the forces at work with regards to daily routine.
Pearl #1 – Motivation is Overrated!
I had this one all wrong. Essentially, I was under the assumption that people that have habits I aspire to have (healthy eaters for example) just have an inhuman amount of will power. The book debunks this idea.
Will power, might work for a few days, the author tells us. But it is a terrible long term strategy.
“Self control is a short-term strategy, not long term one,” he explains.
He goes onto explain that, ultimately, if you aspire to achieve a level of being, you have to view yourself as that person. In other words, you need to alter your own identity.
“Incentives start a habit, identity sustains a habit,” he writes.
Instead of “being on a health kick” I am “a healthy eater/person.”
Just reading the concept that will-power is a horrible long-term plan was very eye-opening for me. This is one such pearl of wisdom, in a sea of many, that you can find in this book.
Pearl #2 – Why Habits are so Important
Another element I found very interesting from the book was how he reasoned that habits are a product of hundreds of thousands of years worth of “training” (my word not his) passed down from our primitive ancestors.
In other words, at one point in the evolution of humans, habits equaled survival. We needed to recognize cues and crave a change so that we could respond to the cue and get rewarded.
Those bolded words are the 4 stages he outlines to creating habits (cue, craving, response, reward).
This idea of habits being so ingrained in our nature, makes perfect sense to me, but was also worthwhile for me to read explicitly.
Habits, whether good or bad, are a powerful force passed down over hundreds of thousands of years. This is not to be trifled with. You can see how impactful they can be either way (positively or negatively) in our lives.
“Habits are a double-edged sword,” he tells us.
Appreciating the overwhelming power of habits helped me understand how important it is for me to harness this power for good!
The alternative is rather concerning to say the least. Here’s a quote illustrating this idea. “But when we repeat 1 percent errors, day after day, by replicating poor decisions, duplicating tiny mistakes, and rationalizing little excuses, our small choices compound into toxic results.”
Habits can have a profound impact on our lives. Understanding why they are so important (from both historical and practical perspective) was very instructive.
Pearl #3 – Don’t bank on the Overnight Transformation!
There are is a lot of input in our day to day lives that give us a distorted view on how long change should take. It could be a 2-minute movie montage of someone training really hard. Maybe it’s a “big reveal” on some home improvement show. Whatever the case, we are bombarded with an unrealistic message that “change happens overnight.”
Rationally, we know that it doesn’t. Nevertheless, these seemingly fast transitions can still distort our understanding of reality. It certainly has for me.
“Often times results don’t come quickly enough, so we revert to old habits,” he writes.
Personally, this is a message I can stand to hear over and over again. Patience is a virtue I am still working on. Creating realistic expectations within a given period of time would be a valuable practice for me. It might also help me from bailing on certain plans so quickly.
A better, more realistic understanding that “success is the product of daily habits, not once in a lifetime transformations,” as James Clear details, would serve me well.
I appreciated reading this idea and reinforcing it in my own knowledge.
Those few “pearls” give a general feel of the types of understandings you may achieve by reading this book. But I also want to focus on how this book can relate to our financial lives. Afterwards, we should also look at how it can positively impact our lives as teachers as well.
Atomic Habits and Personal Finance
I wrote about this above, but for me, there was a direct correlation between Atomic Habits and personal finance.
Over time, small financial gains can accumulate and add up to massive returns.
The author, James Clear, even writes directly to this concept.
“If you’re a millionaire but you spend more than you earn each month, then you’re on a bad trajectory… Conversely, if you’re broke, but you save a little every month, you’re on the path toward financial freedom…”
Connected to this quote is another which reads, “Good habits make time your ally. Bad habits make time your enemy… You get what you repeat.” While this is a generic quote about habits in general, it can certainly be applied to personal finance as well.
Throughout the book he smatters examples of how small financial changes can accumulate over time for big results. This is a message I directly connect with and one that I have heard time and again in my financial independence journey. It’s also a big reason why I’m writing myself.
I believe these practices can be life changing.
It can have a profound impact on our financial futures and give us options for our careers much earlier than the typical trajectory.
Apart from this overall premise, James Clear provides other tidbits that also connect to our financial well-being.
One such example was his writing on the “Diderot Effect”. Apparently Diderot, a cash-strapped French Philosopher in the mid-1700’s received a windfall of cash which helped him pay for his daughter’s wedding.
It also helped him pay for a beautiful new robe.
It was such a wondrous robe, in fact, that it made everything else he owned look drab and dreary. Little by little, he bought the finest things and “upgraded” all of his possessions.
This phenomenon, known as the Diderot Effect, is pretty common.
“The Diderot Effect states that obtaining a new possession often creates a spiral of consumption that leads to additional purchases,” Clear notes.
As you might imagine, Diderot probably used up a considerable amount of his wealth to feed his newfound interest in material possessions.
And if I may, it reminds me a great deal of “lifestyle creep,” which can similarly have a caustic influence on your long-term financial outlook. I have a post, for your consideration called Don’t Let Lifestyle Creep Eat Away at your Savings.
Another, extremely powerful concept, mentioned in the book that can apply rather simply to our finances is the idea of “automating your habits.” With finances we can completely automate our savings so we don’t have to add it to the endless list of decisions a teacher makes in the day. If you wanted to, you could, for example, have a certain percentage of your paycheck go into a 403b retirement fund and be automatically invested in a fund of your choice.
In this way, you take an hour or two to set it up but you know that you are taking care of yourself down the road and you don’t have to think about it again.
One final concept I’d like to note was when the author related the building of habits to the accumulation of wealth. James Clear noted a Greek parable known as “Sorites Paradox”.
This guy (in the video below) absolutely knocks it out of the park with his inspirational explanation. He connects it perfectly to Atomic Habits, personal finance and habits in general.
Give it a watch, and I’ll summarize it below as well…
If you watched then you already understand this. But essentially, in the book, the author highlights one iteration of Sorites Paradox and connects it to money.
“Can one coin make a person rich?” the book asks. It continues. “If you give a person a pile of ten coins, you wouldn’t claim that he or she is rich. But what if you add another? And another? And another? At some point, you will have to admit that no one can be rich unless one coin can make him or her so.“
Later, this gets connected to habits accumulating and becoming life changing as well. I’ll get to that next.
For now, with regards to finance, I really like this concept. Small, seemingly trivial amounts of money, when saved and invested, can eventually grow to life changing amounts of wealth.
If this idea interests you, as it does me, I have created a post called Investing Basics Made Simple, for you to look over and see if it’s a match for you…
Next, let’s look at how Atomic Habits can affect our lives as teachers as well. Similar to finances and personal habits, this book affirmed some of the knowledge I had learned, while also opening my eyes to new concepts that will inform my teaching practices going forward…
Atomic Habits and Teaching
While reading, I found innumerable ideas and concepts that I could apply to my teaching. These ideas, if enacted, would benefit both me as a teacher as well as my students. Below, I have highlighted a few to give you a feel for what you might encounter in the book.
The Goldilocks Rule
This, in the teaching world, is known as the “zone of proximal development”. Basically, we are trying to find that just right place where a student is challenged just above the place where they be 100% independent.
In the book, James Clear makes an exaggerated example of playing tennis (or some sport you are reasonable competent in) against a 3 year-old and then competing against Roger Federer or Serena Williams.
While playing against the 3-year old you are obviously more proficient and the exercise could tend to be rather dull. For the other example you are up against a world-class player and quite clearly overmatched.
In both cases, there is little for you to gain. But, the book explains, if you were to find that player that is right at your level, and you find yourself going back and forth with them, suddenly “your focus narrows.” You are locked in and “fully invested in the task at hand.”
If this were a student, you could see how being at this level might benefit them greatly.
But finding the “zone of proximal development” or applying the “Goldilocks Rule” to a class of 22 students, of widely varying ability, is no small task.
Still, reading about it and picturing myself playing tennis against my 3 year old who can barely hold a racket, and Serena Williams (where I’d want to hide behind my racket), is a worthwhile exercise. It’s one of many found in this book.
Make Bad Habits Difficult
This is another idea that can be applied to your personal life as well. If I want to eat less junk food, for example, perhaps the bowl of M&Ms on the counter isn’t the best idea?
Similarly, in class, if there is a “tendency” of some or all of your students that you want to dissuade them from, then make it difficult.
For me, this is making me rethink how I will go about the use of Chromebooks in the classroom. We have a cart with a lock and each student has a personal Chromebook.
When utilized correctly, these can be an invaluable learning tool. They can also be a major distraction and a huge pain in the the you know what!
It seemed like daily that I would be wondering aloud why a student had their Chromebook out at such and such a time? They were clearly off topic and it was clearly a major distraction. It was also a constant battle and a nuisance.
However, we did use them for other subjects and I allowed the students to keep them in their desks. I figured it was more efficient.
But no more! From now on, that Chromebook cart will sit beside my desk and it will be locked. After each sanctioned use, students will put them away, and the cart will get secured once again.
I’ll absolutely explain the reasoning behind this to my 5th graders. I will also explicitly inform them on the importance of good habits. The end result will be, at the end of each use, they will know that the Chromebooks are stored in the cart by my desk and locked.
For them to access these powerful distractors, it will become exponentially more difficult! Conversely, I will make good habits way more accessible. Having good books readily available comes to mind.
This will help them focus on the task at hand and save me some grief in the process.
There are many ways that I can redesign my classroom to promote good habits and dissuade distracting ones. Realistically, I’ve already had this understanding and probably did some of this on my own. Nevertheless, when reading about it and understanding the absolute importance of habits, I’ve now elevated it much higher up on the list of priorities!
“Gateway Habits”
Usually at the beginning of the year, students write down their goals both personally and academically. Then, shortly after, I usually review these goals with the students individually and we discuss how to make them a reality.
If I’m being honest, I have mixed results with these. Often times, new items of higher priority arise and I don’t have time to revisit these goals and reinforce them as much as I’d like.
After reading Atomic Habits, I have a new outlook on this process. For starters, there is a whole section of the book labeled “forget about goals, focus on systems instead.” In essence, this section highlights why it’s way more powerful to create positive habits that point you in the right direction rather than setting a fixed goal.
But another idea I’d like to implement is this idea of “Gateway Habits”. Essentially, once I identify a positive habit with my student, there are steps we can take to make it a reality. We can start by designing exceedingly attainable steps that are simple to achieve. These start the student down the road to building positive habits that will positively impact their lives over time. Slowly, as we find success with these habits, we can build on them.
“The vital thing in getting a habit to stick is to feel successful,” Clear writes.
Let me apply this to an example. If a student decides they want to read more in class, the first steps might be to get a book from their cubby and place it on their desk. Or maybe they only read for 1 minute to achieve their goal. Slowly, and incrementally, we’ll add to it so that by the end of a 180 day school year we might have a nice little habit on our hands.
Adding some of the other ideas, perhaps each time the student takes that daily step towards a habit, they put some sort of token in a jar that they keep (to make it visual). At a certain point, perhaps the class cashes in those tokens for an extra recess (to make it enjoyable).
Perhaps, I set aside a part of each day that is dedicated to all of the students working towards their individualized habits? This could be a small window of time after they eat their snacks for example…
This is just one idea I got from the book on how I can structure our daily routines. Through practice and explicit instruction, I believe I can help my students understand the power of building positive habits in their lives. By taking them through the process, setting aside the time for them to work on these habits, and explicitly teaching some of the ideas found in the book, I’m confident this could have a lasting positive impact on their lives.
And like you, having a positive impact on students is a major reason I got into the teaching game in the first place.
Interesting Tangents
While reading I found many thought-provoking topics that piqued my interest. Here is one such example, where James Clear cited “Goodhart’s Law.”
The book cites Goodhart’s Law which states, “When a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure.”
The author then connects this idea to our world of standardized testing.
“We teach for standardized tests instead of emphasizing learning, curiosity, and critical thinking… we optimize for what we measure.”
While this might not describe every school in our country, it’s no stretch to say that it describes a lot of them. I find this idea very concerning, and I was glad to see that this opinion is reaching beyond the insular world of education…
So, like I said, just one of many interesting tangents that can be found in this book.
Do I Recommend this Book?
This probably comes as no surprise, but I absolutely recommend this book for teachers. For me, this has “Summer Reading/Professional Growth” written all over it.
I am all about teachers unwinding on the beach and reading the fun, “candy” books, as I like to call them. But usually, there is one book we read over the summer that makes us better professionally as well.
This book fits that category perfectly in my mind. The concepts in this book are great for a new school year and starting fresh with new ideas. Ideally, I would want to implement these concepts from the very beginning to better ensure that they take hold.
The added benefit that this book has the potential to have a profound impact on my personal life and financial life makes it a must read in my humble opinion.
I got this book from the Library and there was 1 available (out of 63) in our system. I’m a big fan of libraries, but I can also see why people like to have certain books on hand.
If that is the case for you, and you prefer to own a book, then I would greatly appreciate you supporting me, at no extra cost to you, by clicking on this affiliate link here: AtomicHabits.
I will only promote products that I personally vouch for and this is one such instance.
For book purchases, I like to use “Better World Books” for my class purchases. Their mission is to “bring literacy and opportunity to people around the world.” They also salvage books that would normally end up in landfills and sell them at a very favorable discount.
They are great for buying a classroom set of books at a great rate. To access great savings and support my mission to aid teachers click this affiliate link to make your purchases at Better World Books.
Because Atomic Habits is relatively new, they only sell new copies. Still, I prefer that they get my money than a lot of other major distributors that I can think of…
But, like I said before, I think the library is a great option as well and just as happy if you go that route or you purchase from a local bookstore…
In Summary
The book, Atomic Habits, provides a lot of value to its readers. If utilized correctly it can have a remarkable impact on your personal, financial, and professional selves.
James Clear, the author, has a reader-friendly way of pulling you into a concept, with an interesting vignette or anecdote. Before long you find yourself nodding your head and reaching for a pen so you can “write this stuff down.”
For me personally, it was a helpful reminder to never stop learning and never stop trying to improve. Rather than making massive home run swings, I want to be content with “hitting singles” and making those small, positive changes that add up over time.
As Clear writes, “Success is the product of daily habits, not once in a lifetime transformations.”
With our finances, we can see the upward trajectory of these small changes in our net worth. And sometimes, we can also see these measurable differences in our personal and professional lives as well. Losing weight or running farther, come to mind.
But other times we can’t necessarily measure the results. Nevertheless, I want to “cast a vote,” as the author says, for the person that continues to learn and improve. Whether that’s as a father, husband, teacher, friend, or something else, I find this idea appealing.
After reading Atomic Habits, it is apparent to me that by putting systems in place and building habits that put me on an upward trajectory, I can come closer to realizing my full potential as a complete, well-rounded person, one baby step at a time.
If your interested, the author has his own website at Jamesclear.com where you can find all sorts of useful articles on topics beyond habits, such as focus, motivation, life lessons, and more!
Thank you all for reading. As always, I’m interested to hear your thoughts below. Have you read this book already? Did you have any take-aways that spoke to you? If you haven’t read it, is it now on your list? Drop a comment below or feel free to reach out and contact me any time.
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