Atomic Habits: The Life-Changing Book You Need To Read Now
Make tiny changes daily, even as small as 1% improvements.
It will inevitably lead to remarkable results over time.
I have a huge library (print and audio) of game-changing personal growth books on yoga, meditation, spirituality, and various approaches to developing one’s full potential. And yet, in 15 years of running Thrive Hot Yoga studios, I’ve never made a book recommendation to our yoga family—until now.
The book is called Atomic Habits by James Clear.
The premise is simple: making tiny changes daily, even as small as 1% improvements, will inevitably lead to remarkable results. The author shares moving stories, powerful insights, and easy-to-apply takeaways you can put into action immediately.
WHY THIS BOOK?
I’ll be totally honest: when I first acquired Atomic Habits, I felt resistance—it sat on my shelves for three years.
My inner push-pull narrative went something like this:
ME: “I want to improve my daily habits—this book sounds great!”
ALSO ME: “Nope—I’m just fine how I am—I don’t need some stranger telling me how to change my habits, so I’ll just pretend the book doesn’t exist.”
That said, if I could harness the power of a time machine, go back 30 years and deliver myself one thing, it would be the book Atomic Habits. Not a stock pick. Not a winning lottery number. It would be this book. I’m not kidding.
If you:
Are ready to take an honest look at how you spend your time and energy
Have any bad habits you want to stop for good
Have new good habits you want to make part of your life forever
Are ready to take a look at the beliefs you hold about yourself and your identity
This book is going to be worth its weight in gold for you.
“All it takes is 5 minutes a day to take some new action towards creating a new habit. Although, I’ll be honest, even that may take some effort at first. However, after doing this new action daily, all of a sudden, something interesting starts to happen. ”
All it takes is 5 minutes a day to take some new action towards creating a new habit. Although, I’ll be honest, even that may take some effort at first. However, after doing this new action daily, all of a sudden, something interesting starts to happen.
You begin to identify as the “type of person” who regularly does this activity (i.e., exercising for 5 minutes a day or preparing one healthy snack daily). It’s that identification principle that is so powerful. James Clear shows you how to make the shift from a person trying to do an activity (lose weight, quit smoking, learn Spanish) to the type of person who embodies those goals naturally (“I’m an active, non-smoker who speaks more Spanish all the time”).
Slowly but surely, you develop a sense of pride in these actions and naturally want to put more time into this new behavior. That idea of ‘I’m the type of person who does this’ takes over, and you actually WANT to do this behavior instead of feeling like you are just trying to make an effort towards it. These small efforts on a daily basis—even 1% improvements—start to increase over time into remarkable results in your life exponentially.
As your identity (beliefs about who you are) grows—your new habit becomes automatic—and vice versa.
This is a powerful message because of the simplicity and easiness of applying it to your daily life. When most people try to make a change, they try too hard, too much, or too drastic, and after a few weeks burn out or become resentful, and the old behavior takes over again.
WHY NOW?
Because January is here. And if there was ever a time to step into your best self, it’s right now.
Many of us use the new year as an opportunity for a fresh start, but the trick about January 1st and fresh starts is that research shows most people have forgotten or grown resentful of their new year resolutions by January 17.
However, once you read Atomic Habits, you will know why that happens and have all the tools you need (which are remarkably simple) to maintain whatever fresh momentum you want to kick off for 2023.
I’d love to hear what inspires you the most about this book. Send me an email: ian@thrivehotyoga.com.
I can’t wait to see what you are up to in 2023 and how you can apply Atomic Habits to your life!
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