Chapter 1: Atomic Habits

 

Atomic Habits 

What Chapter 1 of Atomic Habits says? Values and explanation. 

Everyone is aware of James Clear's book Atomic Habits. While the book goes through a turning point in the author's life, he has well explained the changes he made in the past or what observations he made that brought him to such a peak, where people get a handful of inspiration to incorporate it into their lives. 

I haven't read the complete book yet, hence I haven't developed a perspective toward it. However, I would like to share the key points from the chapters as I read them. 

Here are some of the values I felt the need to think about repeatedly to make myself feel like a princess from my heart. 

1. The aggregation of marginal gains: Searching for a tiny margin on improvement in everything you do. That means all these small improvements ultimately lead to big results. 

2. 1% Improvement: Okay, hear me out, 1%? You would 1% doesn't even make a difference. Well, it isn't particularly notable, and would barely see the changes it is making to your process but this 1% will be more meaningful in the long run. And the long run means it doesn't end until the day you die. 

Let's say you have been saving money every day maybe only ₹1 or 1$. On day 1 it looks like only a penny and wouldn't buy much but imagine after 100 days, after a year, or after 10 years?? 3K. And for that, you had to put only a dollar every day into the hole of your piggy bank.

Similarly, to achieve big results you don't have to take long strides, but taking baby steps every day will ultimately lead to your destination or even greater purposes that wouldn't even have imagined. 
So go, Little Rockstar! Don't go for a big change rather make some tiny adjustments and.. Job Done. 

3. 1% Errors: That being said, the principle is the same. It'll lead to a pile into a bigger mass. Those are your actions and doing them bit by bit will make a bigger result. If your actions are errors and lead you to downfall, at first you wouldn't notice but in the long run, these 1% chunks of errors will make a steep negative slope in your results. 

"Habits are the compound interest of self-improvement"

The habits might seem to make a very little difference but a slight change in your life can guide your life to a very different destination. 

A very important though I would always like to abide by: You get what you repeat. So you gotta choose your actions wisely!

4. What progress is really like: Here are some things that I marked in my book while reading. I'll list them out, and then we'll talk about it. LOL!

- Breakthrough moments are often the result of many previous actions, which build up the potential required to unleash a major change. 

- You expect to make progress in a linear fashion and it's frustrating how ineffective changes can seem during the first days, weeks, and even months. 

- Habits need to persist long enough to break through this plateau (Plateau of Latent Potential)

- Your work was not wasted; it is just being stored.

-The outside world only sees the most dramatic events rather than all that preceded it.

- Mastery requires patience. 

Remember that turtle who won the race despite being slow? Yes, we have to do the same. As James said mastery requires patience, I also believe those baby steps in the initial days might seem frustrating buttttt
when you reach that phase 'the threshold' phase, you know the ice will start melting (well, it is an inside joke for those who have read the first chapter). After all when it didn't seem that you did any work, those baby steps are what helped you make a jump today. And honey don't care about the people. They'll call it an overnight success, but only you know how much you had to grind it until you got that one piece right. 

Have ya heard of "Budhape Ki Punji"? It's a Hindi phrase which you gotta look into right now. Yall know the work is never wasted, it is being saved. But I say, you are saving it for your old age. 
Bruh! Who doesn't wanna get old having success in every way he can think of? 

This is what it is! 
If you want to get wrinkles yet be able to treat them, Do Not Stop Working!

All big things come from small beginnings. It is always the first step which is hard to make and if you were to able to do that you can climb the mountain. 

But I haven't climbed it fully yet, Let's meet again and discuss "The Plateau of Latent Potential" and "Systems". 

For now, let's sign off!