Chapter 1: The Surprising Power of Atomic Habits
by John Allen · 15 things on Twos
- Changes that seem small and unimportant at first will compound into remarkable results if you’re willing to stick with them for years
- Habits often appear to make no difference until you cross a critical threshold and unlock a new level of performance
- “When nothing seems to help, I go and look at the stonecutter hammering away at his rock, perhaps 100 times without as much as a crack showing in it. Yet at 101st blow it will split in two, and I know it was not that last blow that did it - but all that have gone before” - Jacob Riis San Antonio Spurs
- We often expect progress to be linear
- The seed of every habit is a single, tiny decision
- Goals are about the results you want to achieve. Systems are about the processes that lead to those results
- If you want better results, then forget about setting goals. Focus on your system instead.
- Achieving a goal only changes your life for the moment
- We think we need to change our results, but in reality we need to change the system that cause those results
- Fix the inputs and the outputs will fix themselves
- “The score takes care of itself” -Bill Walsh
- It’s not about any single accomplishment. It is the cycle of endless refinement and continuous improvement
- “Habits like exercise, meditation, journaling, and cooking are reasonable for a day or two but then become a hassle” 😂