Foundational Thoughts on Atomic Habits by James Clear
Why is it so easy to overestimate the importance of one defining moment and underestimate the value of making small improvements on a daily basis?
Because improving by 1% each day isn't particularly notable, sometimes it isn't even noticeable. But it can be far more meaningful, especially in the long run.
Here's how the math works out.
If you can get 1% better each day for one year, you'll end up 37 times better by the time you're done.
Conversely, if you get 1% worse each day for one year you’ll decline nearly down to zero.
What starts as a small win, or a minor setback accumulates into something much more.
On any given day our actions may seem to make little difference. It’s only when looking back years later that the value of good habits and the cost of bad ones becomes strikingly apparent. The same way that money multiplies through compound interest, the effects of your habits multiply with repetition.
Being mindful and appreciative of that can be difficult to do - day in, day out. And yet, it’s so easy to often dismiss the small changes because they just don't seem to matter very much in the moment.
One of my favourite metaphors James references in Atomic Habits is this:
“The impact created by changing your habits is similar to the effect of shifting the route of an airplane by just a few degrees.”
Imagine you were flying from Los Angeles to New York City. If a pilot, leaving from LAX, adjusts the heading just three and a half degrees south, they will land in Washington DC, instead of New York. Such a small change is barely noticeable at takeoff, the nose of the airplane moves just a few feet. But when magnified across the entire United States, you end up hundreds of miles apart.
Our personal daily habits are no different. A slight change in your daily thoughts, movements, actions and intentions can guide your life to a very different destination.
Making a choice that is 1% better or 1% worse seems insignificant in the moment. But over the span of many moments that make up a lifetime, these choices determine the difference between who you are and who you could be, what is and what could be.
Emotional and mental wellness, physical strength, meaningful connections with those that matter, healthy food practices and successfully honouring boundaries with work are the product of small daily habits, not once in a lifetime transformations.
Something to think about… we'll continue with more thought from Atomic Habits next week.