Atomic Habits

Atomic Habits
James Clear
Atomic Habits SuperSummary 1
Table of Contents
S UM M A RY 3
C H A P TER S UM M A RIES & A N A LYS ES 5
Introduction-Chapter 3 5
Chapters 4-7 9
Chapters 8-10 14
Chapters 11-14 17
Chapters 15-17 21
Chapter 18-Conclusion 25
K EY FIG URES 29
James Clear 29
TH EM ES 30
The Habit Loop 30

The Importance of Identity 31
Systems Versus Goals 32
IN D EX O F TERM S 33
Atomic 33
Compound 33
Latent Potential 33
Valley of Disappointment 34
Yo-Yo Effect 34
IM P O RTA N T Q UO TES 35
ES S A Y TO P IC S 43
TEA C H IN G UN IT 45
Introduction-Chapter 3 48
Downloaded by Nini February - ninifeb14@gmail.com

Do not distribute. Copyright © SuperSummary 2023
Chapters 4-7 48
Chapters 8-10 49
Chapters 11-14 50
Chapters 15-17 50
Chapters 18-Conclusion 51

Summary
James Clear’s Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits and Break Bad
Ones is a guide to adopting good behaviors through incremental changes to your everyday
routines. Avery first published the book in 2018, and this guide refers to the ebook edition.
The book has unique pagination, with the page numbers beginning again at the start of each
new chapter. Clear likely numbered his book this way because of his emphasis on “atomic,” or
small habits, compounding into larger, positive changes over time. In the same way, each
individual chapter is set apart by its own pagination and combines into a larger book.
In Atomic Habits, Clear suggests that bad habits are the result of unconscious cues triggering
unproductive behavior. Drawing from neuroscience, sociology, psychology, sports, and the
arts, Clear outlines strategies for reinforcing habits that enable you to reach your full
potential. Success is not a singular goal, but a process of gradually improving and refining
your craft. Establishing good systems is the best way to succeed.
The first section, “The Fundamentals: Why Tiny Changes Make a Big Difference,” explains why
habits are so important to achieving your goals, especially small, incremental changes.
Success requires long-term investments in growth, and the payoff isn’t immediate. Building
good systems that support positive habits is the best way to achieve your goals. The
following sections are structured around the Four Laws of Behavior Change: Make It Obvious,
Make It Attractive, Make It Easy, and Make It Satisfying. Make It Obvious argues that behavior
change starts with an awareness of your habits, both good and bad. For most of your day, you
run on autopilot, and as a result, you often miss the cues that initiate the cravings that trigger
action. Often, a lack of motivation is merely a lack of clarity. Making it obvious brings focus
and transparency to your life which is knowledge you can apply to form better habits.
Make It Attractive charts how human brains respond to rewards, work, and punishment.
You’re more likely to establish habits if there is some kind of reward that encourages you to
keep the habit going. In Make It Easy, Clear posits that it is easier to remove temptation than
to avoid it. Structuring your life so that the habit is easy to implement facilitates sustainable
habit formation. The more your environment triggers positive habits, the more automatic your
habit becomes. Make It Satisfying outlines the importance of making your habits as enjoyable
as possible. Short-term rewards give the encouragement you need to reach your long-term

goals. Clear concludes with “Advanced Tactics: How to Go from Being Merely Good to Being
Truly Great,” which outlines strategies to maximize advantages that correspond to your
personality, genetics, and natural gifts.

Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Introduction-Chapter 3
Part 1: “The Fundamentals: Why Tiny Changes Make A Huge Difference”
Introduction Summary
Atomic Habits opens with Clear’s discovery of the power of small changes. In his sophomore
year of high school, Clear was hit in the face with a baseball bat, breaking his nose, fracturing
his skull, and shattering his eye sockets. After his recovery, Clear struggled to return to his
peak baseball performance. Despite many setbacks, he stuck with baseball and slowly
improved. Eventually, Clear joined the baseball team at Denison University.
At Denison, Clear established good habits like keeping his room clean, going to sleep early,
and studying. After his traumatic health experience in high school, habits allowed Clear to
regain a sense of control over his life. Over the course of his degree, he achieved good grades
and continued to improve as a baseball player. Upon graduation, he was selected as the top
male athlete at Denison University and was named to the EPSN Academic All-America Team.
Clear’s takeaway from his experiences is not that he is exceptional, but rather that he fulfilled
his potential. Atomic Habits is designed to help other people fulfill their potential by building
good habits.
Chapter 1 Summary: “The Surprising Power of Atomic Habits”
Habits are the routine, often subconscious behaviors that you repeat regularly. Rather than
focus on goals, Clear argues that you need to focus on building better systems. In 2003,
British Cycling, the governing body for professional cycling in Great Britain, hired Dave
Brailsford as its performance director. Before Brailsford was hired, the performance of the
British team was underwhelming: no British rider had won the Tour de France in over one
hundred years and only one British athlete had won a gold medal at the Olympic Games since
1908. Brailsford’s coaching method was called “the aggregation of marginal gains” (Chapter
1, 2) where athletes looked for tiny margins of improvement in everything they did. This
involved diverse methods, including designing new seats for the bikes, testing fabrics to be
more aerodynamic, comparing massage gels for muscle recovery, training in hand washing to
reduce the chances of getting sick, and optimizing mattresses for ideal sleep cycles. At the

2008 Beijing Olympics, the British Cycling team won 60% of the gold medals in road and track
cycling events, a remarkable improvement. Later that year, Bradley Wiggins won the Tour de
France, the first of five Tour de France victories in six years.
Clear opens with this analogy to pose the question that drives his book, “how did this happen?
[…] Why do small improvements accumulate into such remarkable results, and how can you
replicate this approach in your own life?” (Chapter 1, 3-4). Clear’s answer to this question is
what he calls “atomic habits,” small changes that accumulate over time. Clear uses
compound interest as an analogy: the payoff is delayed but getting 1% percent better every
day will eventually lead to a huge increase. If you get 1% better every day for a year, you will
become 37 times better than when you started. Understanding your habits is essential
because, while good habits can help you reach your goals, bad habits get in your way. Habits
are a “double-edged sword” (Chapter 1, 8). It is important to be aware of how your habits
contribute to, or hinder, self-improvement.
Chapter 2 Summary: “How Your Habits Shape Your Identity (and Vice Versa)”
Improving your daily habits is one of the most impactful ways of enhancing your life.
However, bad habits are easy to repeat and good ones are hard to form. Once habits are
established, they are hard to break. As an example, Clear introduces Brian Clark, an
entrepreneur who chewed his fingernails. Regular manicures helped break his habit.
Manicures made his hands look nicer, and he didn’t want to ruin his manicure by chewing his
fingernails. By changing his habit, he stopped chewing his nails.
Clear identifies three different types of change: outcome change, process change, and identity
change. Outcomes are results like publishing a book, getting a promotion, or winning a
competition. Process describes habits and systems that form routines. Identity is the deepest
level of change: your worldview, your values, self-image, beliefs. To build sustainable habits
that improve who you are, you need to focus on identity-based changes, not outcome-based
habits. The focus should be on who you wish to become, not what you want to achieve.
Identity is formed by your habits, it is your “repeated beingness” (Chapter 2, 11). Habits are
how you embody your identity.
To become the best version of yourself, you have to continually refine your beliefs and your
values to expand your identities. Habits are particularly powerful because they can shift your
beliefs about yourself. For example, when offered a cigarette, one person might decline by
saying, “I’m trying to quit,” while another person says, “I’m not a smoker.” Both individuals do

not take the cigarette, but the declarative claim of “I’m not a smoker” makes an identity-based
argument that smoking is no longer a part of who they are. In contrast, the person who is
trying to quit still identifies as a smoker. Negative identity beliefs can impact your ability to
change. If you identify as someone who is a smoker, is bad with names, or is always late, you
reinforce these behaviors. Your old identities can sabotage your new plans.
Chapter 3 Summary: “How to Build Better Habits in 4 Simple Steps”
In Chapter 3, Clear turns to the question of what habits are and why you form them. A habit is
a behavior that you repeat often enough that it becomes automatic. Habit formation is a
process of trial and error as the brain figures out how respond to new situations. He opens
with a study from the late nineteenth century that tracked the behavior of cats. In 1898, the
psychologist Edward Thorndike conducted an experiment using a device called the puzzle
box. Cats could escape through a door to get food by simple actions like pressing a lever.
Thorndike observed that cats would explore for a few minutes until they found the lever.
Over time, the cats began to associate pushing the lever with escaping the box, and the cats
became faster at escaping. At first, it took an average of one and a half minutes. By the end, it
was 6.3 seconds. Thorndike concluded that “behaviors followed by satisfying consequences
tend to be repeated and those that produce unpleasant consequence are less likely to be
repeated” (Chapter 3, 2). When you stumble across a reward—running reduces stress or video
games relax us—we process the chain of events that lead us to the reward. Like the cats
escaping from the box, you streamline the process, so the useful action is reinforced, this is
how habits are formed. Initially when you start a new habit, your brain is very active, but as
you develop habits, it becomes more unconscious. Behaviors become “mental shortcuts”
(Chapter 3, 4) that are repeated.
Building a habit is a process of four steps: cue, craving, response, and reward. They are
divided into two phases. The first is the problem phase, where you find cue and craving. The
second part is the solution phase, which involves response and reward. First, a cue triggers
your brain to initiate a behavior. In this stage, you are looking for rewards. Cravings are the
motivation or desire behind habits that inspire us to act. The response is the act of
performing the habit, either as a thought or a concrete action. Responses are dependent on
the amount of effort required to get the reward. It is also contingent on your ability. Finally,
you get the reward, which is the outcome of every habit. Rewards satisfy your craving, but
they also teach us patterns of behavior. All four stages are required for a habit to form.

Introduction-Chapter 3 Analysis
The core argument in the first section is that habits make day-to-day life easier, and in doing
so, they create more freedom in our lives. Routine doesn’t limit us, rather, it frees up mental
space that gives us the potential be creative, free thinking, and growth oriented. By framing
routines as something positive, Clear encourages the readers to shift their mindsets. This is
an argument that Clear repeats throughout the book.
To develop his analysis of habit formation and sustainable, continual self-improvement, Clear
uses atoms as an analogy. Atoms are the building blocks of molecules and form the
foundation of the universe. As the smallest unit that matter can be divided into, atoms
describe something so small that it is essentially indiscernible. Atomic habits are the building
blocks of significant changes; these blocks are smaller and often imperceptible changes.
However, once you cross a critical threshold, the small, cumulative changes are apparent.
Patience is important to improving systems. To predict where you will end up in life, pay
attention to your daily choices. Productivity, knowledge, and relationships compound, but so
do stress, negative thoughts, and outrage.
Breakthrough moments are the outcome of previous smaller actions. Improving by 1% is a

tiny, often imperceptible change, but if you get 1% every day for a year, you are thirty-seven
times better than when you started. The accumulative effect of improvement is where you see
the payoff. The most powerful outcomes are delayed. Humans are driven to seek dramatic
results and huge payoffs. Improved habits show us results over months and years, which can
be difficult to see in daily life. However, the cumulative effect is important.
To show how atomic habits develop over time, Clear begins each chapter with an anecdote of
an individual or organization that demonstrates the long-term payoff of hard work. In the first
section, for example, he introduces the reader to British Cycling, a study on the psychology of
cats, and someone with a habit of chewing their fingernails. Through these diverse case
studies, Clear grounds his argument in specific scenarios.
Habits run your life, but you rarely notice them. Becoming more aware of your habits is
important because if good habits make us better over time, bad habits make us worse. The
consequences of an unhealthy dinner, ignoring your family to work late, or procrastinating on
a major project are easy to ignore because they are rarely immediately felt. However, the
accumulation of missteps turns into bad habits, which creates toxic results. Success is the

result of daily habits. Clear argues that your position in life is a result of lagging measures:
one’s net worth reflects financial habits, one’s knowledge is a reflection of learning habits, a
messy house is a reflection of cleaning habits, leading him to conclude “you get what you
repeat” (8).
Chapter 1 establishes Clear’s theory of small, incremental change. Clear’s argument can be
summarized by the thesis, “You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of
your systems” (Chapter 1, 19). Change is hard because you try to change the wrong things. To
build good habits and eliminate negative ones, follow the Four Laws of Behavior Change:
make it obvious, make it attractive, make it easy, and make it satisfying. To break a bad habit,
follow the inversions of the Four Laws of Behavior Change: make it invisible, make it
unattractive, make it difficult, and make it unsatisfying. Breaking down complex processes
into clearly defined steps is one of Clear’s methods to become more aware of how and why
you repeat certain habits.
One of the core arguments is the importance of identity. Individuals have beliefs that guide
them. If your behavior isn’t aligned with how you understand yourself, changes won’t last.
Goals and systems have to be accompanied by identity shifts. Pride is helpful in habit
formation, for once you are proud of things, they become part of your identity. There is a two-
step process for implementing your new, desired identity. First, decide the kind of person who
you want to be. What are your values and principles? Then, prove to yourself that you are that
person through small wins. Every day, you make choices about who you are. Therefore, you
can improve who are.
Chapters 4-7
Part 2: “The 1st Law: Make It Obvious”
Chapter 4 Summary: “The Man Who Didn’t Look Right”
Human bodies function on autopilot. Because of this, you often aren’t aware of cues that
initiate habits. However, it also means that you can notice opportunities without your
conscious attention. For example, a paramedic attending a family gathering noticed that her
father-in-law didn’t look quite right. She told him he needed to go to the hospital, where
doctors found a major artery was blocked, which placed him at risk for a heart attack. His
daughter-in-law’s intuition led to a life-saving surgery. Because the paramedic had years of
exposure to patients with heart failure, she unconsciously recognized the change in blood

distribution to the face caused by blocked arteries. This wasn’t a pattern she could articulate,
but she knew it instinctively. This unconscious process of filtering and analyzing information
is found across industries. Human brains are effective at noticing what is important and
pulling relevant cues. This is both useful and dangerous, as you often don’t notice your habits
until someone points them out to you. The more you repeat patterns, the less likely you are to
question them.
While unconscious knowledge can be lifesaving, doing things on autopilot has its downsides.
The more regularly you do something, the more likely you are to make mistakes. Clear then
turns to the Japanese railway system, one of the most efficiently run transit systems in the
world. Conductors in Tokyo have a system called Pointing-and-Calling, where conductors
point at different objects and say the command out loud. The system is designed to increase
safety and decrease mistakes by making repetitive tasks more conscious. Before the train
leaves the station, staff members point at the platform and say, “all clear.” Each step is
identified, pointed out, and named out loud. The system reduces errors by 85% and accidents
by 30% by making an individual more aware of what would typically be a nonconscious habit
done on autopilot. Conductors must use their eyes, hands, mouth, and ears, making them
more likely to notice if something is wrong.
If you notice bad habits in your life, Pointing-and-Calling can be an effective deterrent. For
example, if you crave junk food but are trying to cut back on how much you eat, pointing to it,
and saying, “I am going to eat this bag of chips” out loud can make the consequences of your
actions more real. Likewise, if you say tasks that you need to accomplish, you can increase
the odds that you will actually follow through. Behavior change starts with awareness.
Chapter 5 Summary: “The Best Way to Start a New Habit”
The most common cues for acting out habits are time and location. Understanding this can
help you implement good habits by initiating cues that trigger habits. Implementation
intentions create a link between a time and a place with an action. Researchers in Great
Britain did a study on building better exercise habits. The 248 participants were divided into
three groups. The control group was asked to track how often they exercised. The second
group tracked their workouts and were asked to read material on the benefits of exercise.
They were called the motivation group. The third group was asked to formulate an exercise
plan in addition to the tracking and motivation of groups one and two. By writing out a
sentence—called an implementation intention—the participants made a plan about where and
when to act. In the first and second groups, 35-38% of participants exercised at least once a

week. There was no meaningful distinction between the motivation group and the control
group, suggesting that motivation did not have a strong effect. In contrast, 91% of the third
group exercised at least once per week. Implementation intentions are incredibly effective at
helping individuals act. The format for the intention is, “When situation X arises, I will perform
response Y” or I will [BEHAVIOR] at [TIME] in [LOCATION]” (Chapter 5, 3). Research shows that
if you make a plan, you are more likely to follow it through.
Habit Stacking, a strategy for implementation intentions by the Stanford professor BJ Fogg, is
particularly effective. Habit stacking pairs a new habit with a current habit. For example, after
I pour my morning coffee, I will meditate for one minute. Clear references a famous historical
example of how habits trigger other habits. Denis Diderot, an Enlightenment philosopher, was
well known as the writer of Encyclopédie, but despite his scholarly reputation, he lived in
poverty. He sold his library to Catherine the Great, Empress of Russia to pay for his daughter’s
wedding. With his new wealth, he also bought a scarlet robe. The robe was so beautiful that
his other possessions felt inadequate. He began to decorate his apartment with higher-quality
goods. Today, this is called the Diderot Effect, where a new possession sparks a chain
reaction of other purchases.
The Diderot Effect is significant because it shows us that actions are cues that trigger
subsequent actions: you decide what to do based on what you were previously doing. By
tying your desired behavior to something you already do, you increase the odds that you will
implement your new habit. Through habit stacking, you can create a positive manifestation of
the Diderot Effect. The habit stacking formula is: After I [CURRENT HABIT], I will [NEW HABIT].
Chapter 6 Summary: “Motivation is Overrated; Environment Often Matters More”
Environment is crucial to habit formation. You often choose to buy products because of
where they are: products that are more easily available are more likely to be purchased. Anne
Thorndike, a primary care physician at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston designed a
six-month study to improve the eating habits of people visiting the hospital cafeteria. The
drinks were rearranged to include water in all drink locations. Over three months, soda sales
decreased by 11.4% while bottled water sales went up 25.8% percent. By shifting the location,
people’s habits improved. Habits are dependent on environmental context.

Visual cues are important catalysts for habit formation. Half of the brain’s resources are
dedicated to sight. Changes in what you can see impact what you do. It is important to be
architects of your environments to ensure that you support positive habit formation.
Redesigning your environment to have stronger visual cues is very effective. Habits are linked
to where they occur, and it’s important to develop separate contexts for different habits. For
example, if you struggle with sleeping, only go to your bedroom when you are ready to sleep;
this sends a cue to your brain that bedrooms are for sleeping. Clear suggests that “every
habit should have a home” (Chapter 6, 17). Over time, the context surrounding the behavior
becomes the cue.
Chapter 7 Summary: “The Secret to Self-Control”
Bad habits are not a result of moral weakness or a lack of self-control. For example, 20% of
U.S. soldiers stationed in Vietnam during the Vietnam War were heroin addicts and 35% had
tried heroin. In response, President Nixon developed the Special Action Office of Drug Abuse
Prevention to promote prevention and rehabilitation. Lee Robins, one of the researchers,
found that only 5% of soldiers who were using heroin in Vietnam relapsed within the year, and
only 12% relapsed within three years. This research challenged conventional wisdom on
addiction, as roughly 9 out of 10 soldiers eliminated their addiction. At the time, heroin
addiction was considered an irreversible problem. Instead, the study showed that a change in
environment could produce a change in behavior. The cues surrounding soldiers in Vietnam
triggered heroin use. Most people who leave rehab go back into the same environment where
they developed their habit, making it harder to change.
Disciplined people who have positive habits are better at structuring their lives to remove
temptation. A more disciplined environment makes it easier to practice self-restraint.
Behavior change techniques often fail because they increase anxiety or shame, which drives
people to their coping strategy.
Bad habits promote further bad habits, and often, bad habits are the result of “cue-induced
wanting” (Chapter 7, 6): you want something because you noticed it. You don’t tend to forget
habits, so resisting temptation is ineffective for unlearning the habit. Instead, you must “cut
bad habits off at the source” (Chapter 7, 7) by reducing environmental cues. The inversion of
the 1st Law of Behavior Change is thus “make it invisible.” The secret to self-control is making
the cues of your bad habits invisible. Resisting temptation is hard, but avoiding it is easier.

Chapters 4-7 Analysis
Part 2 introduces a surprising insight: motivation is less important than repetition and
routine. Rather than relying on inspiration or a burst of energy, it is more effective to make a
plan and simply follow it through.
Your responses to cues are often unconscious, so it feels like the urge comes out of nowhere.
Behavior change begins with awareness. Clear quotes the psychologist Carl Jung, who
reflected, “Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life and you will call it
fate” (Chapter 4, 7). This is a very important component of Clear’s argument: you can improve
your life dramatically, but first, you have to be aware of how you sabotage ourselves. For
example, he suggests that you develop a Habits Scorecard by making a list of your daily
habits. This is an effective way of becoming more aware of your behavior. Once you have
written out your daily tasks, each behavior is classified as good, bad, or neutral. How the
tasks are classified will be contingent on the individual goals.
Clear reminds us that there are no bad habits because all habits serve us in some way which
is why you repeat them. It is more productive to think of effective habits. Framing habits by
how they benefit long-term change is a more useful way of identifying which habits you
should maintain. To do so, it is productive to return to the question of identity and whether
these habits create or maintain the person you want to be. The goal of creating the list is to
gather information. Approach the process without judgement by simply noticing your
patterns. Once you have a better sense of what you do, you can begin the process of
changing.
Clear reflects that many think they lack motivation, but they actually lack clarity. This is a key
insight in his book and highlights the importance of Making it Obvious. Clear writes, “Give
your habits a time and a space to live in the world” (Chapter 5, 6). This also helps us reflect on
what times and places will be the most successful for implementing your goals. For example,
you may want to exercise in the morning, but if your mornings are chaotic, this will not be
successful. Awareness of your behaviors, habits, and routines helps us identify the most
effective times to implement new habits. Clear suggests making a list of your current habits.
Dividing the list into two columns: daily tasks (wake up, brush teeth, drink tea) and things that
happen every day (the sun rises, the phone rings) helps you locate the most optimal times
and places to stack habits.

Throughout the chapter, Clear makes suggestions for small changes people can implement in
their day to day. For example, he suggests starting new habits on the first day of a week,
month, or year. While there is no difference between starting a habit in January or in June,
levels of hope tend to be higher when it feels like a fresh start. Habits also need to be very
specific: Too often the cues are vague—goals should have instructions on how and when to
act. For example, the prompt “I will do ten push-ups at lunch” is unclear. “I will do ten-push
ups next to my desk when I close my laptop for lunch” is more effective because it is more
focused.
Being specific about your intentions also helps direct your energy to the things that are the
most useful. Often, you run out of time to accomplish your long-term goals because you get
distracted by small tasks. Being clear about intentions makes it clearer when you need to say
no to things. One of his key takeaways is that if you are struggling to form a new habit, go to a
new place. It is easier to build a new routine in a new context. Through an emphasis on small,
actionable changes an individual can make in their daily life, Clear gives readers the tools they
need to reach their full potential.
Chapters 8-10
Part 3: “The 2nd Law: Make It Attractive”
Chapter 8 Summary: “How to Make a Habit Irresistible”
Society is structured to make life more attractive. The human brain goes wild when it
experiences exaggerated stimuli which promotes excessive consumption. Other animals
show similar behavior. In the 1940s, Niko Tinbergen performed a series of experiments on
herring gulls. Adult herring gulls have red dots on their beaks that chicks peck at when they
wanted food. Tinbergen created fake cardboard beaks which the baby gulls pecked at. The
larger the dot, the more the chicks pecked at it. This heightened response to exaggerated
cues is called supernormal stimuli, and it creates a stronger response in the brain. The human
love of junk food, for example, reflects the high reward that human brains places on salt,
sugar, and fat. These are calorie-dense foods, which would be useful for hunter-gatherer
societies who had uneven food supplies. Today, it is easy to gain access to food, but your
brain still rewards the stimuli like it is scarce. Companies exploit this to make products more
attractive to consumers by optimizing products or adding dynamic contrast through a variety
of sensations, like crunchy and creamy. This encourages people to eat more.

Clear suggests temptation bundling: linking an action you need to do with something that you
want to do. Temptation bundling connects to Premack’s Principal, which states that “more
probable behaviors will reinforce less probable behaviors” (Chapter 8, 17). The formula is:
After I [current habit], I will [habit I need]. After I [Habit I need], I will [habit I want]. Temptation
bundling is a way of connecting something you have to do with something you want. This will
increase the dopamine response, and with it, your motivation to act.
Chapter 9 Summary: “The Role of Family and Friends in Shaping Your Habits”
The habits that are valued in your cultures become desirable habits because they are
continually rewarded. Humans are herd animals and are strongly influenced by the people
around us. For example, Laszlo Polgar believed that “A genius is not born, but is educated and
trained” (Chapter 9, 1). Practice and good habits were more important than innate talent.
Polgar tested his theory on his own children, raising them to be chess prodigies. He
homeschooled his children and filled their house with information about chess and pictures
of famous players. All three of his daughters excelled at chess. The middle child become a
world champion by the age of 14 and a grandmaster a few years after that. The youngest
child, Judith, became the youngest grandmaster of all time and was the top ranked female
chess player for 27 years. All of the children loved playing chess because they grew up in an
environment where they were praised for succeeding in chess. Clear uses this example to
show that the Polgar children excelled at chess because they were praised for succeeding at
it, which created a positive feedback loop.
Individuals are strongly shaped by cultural expectations, which become barometers of your
own success. There are three different levels of influence. The close, the many, and the
powerful. First, you are influenced by those who you are in close proximity. This includes your
families, friends, and coworkers. To build better habits, put yourself in contexts where your
desired behavior is considered normal.
Friendship and community help us build sustainable habits. Humans are more likely to be
influenced by larger numbers of people. This can be positive, such as joining a running club.
At the same time, group norms can also encourage bad habits to fit in. Changing habits is
more attractive when it means that you fit in with the crowd. People also imitate the powerful.
Humans are drawn to prestige and status and often copy the behavior of successful people.

Chapter 10 Summary: “How to Find and Fix the Causes of Your Bad Habits”
The inversion of the 2nd Law of Behavior Change is make it unattractive. Cravings are
manifestations of deeper motives, including winning social acceptance, achieving status, and
conserving energy, to name a few. For example, Allen Carr’s Easy Way to Stop Smoking
reframes cues associated with smoking. Rather than smoking being a form of stress relief,
Carr demonstrates that smoking does not relieve your nerves, it destroys them. Throughout
the book, phrases like this are repeated to undermine smoking. In doing so, he shows that
smoking does not solve the problems that cause us to turn to smoking. Carr makes smoking
unattractive by reframing the habit to be unattractive.
Your current habits are not necessarily the best way of achieving your goals, they are just the
ways that you have done it in the past. One of the best ways to build new habits is to
associate behaviors with positive outcomes. For example, saving money can be understood
as a sacrifice. However, saving money can also be associated with more freedom in the
future. This mindset shift helps you save money. Creating motivation rituals is another
productive practice. This can be stretching, putting on a song, or repeating a mantra. The
intention is to get you into the right mental state. Once you have located the cause of your
bad habits, you must reframe how you feel about these habits to make bad habits
unattractive and good habits attractive.
Clear outlines a variety of ways that humans take in information and decide to form habits.
Mindset is hugely important. If you train yourself to associate hard things with positive
experiences, you can shift your perspective. A productive place to start is to say, “I get to”
rather than “I have to.” This mindset shift creates positive associations. Reframing your
habits around their benefits is important because human behavior is predictive, not reactive.
you are constantly predicting what will happen next and behaving accordingly. Your emotions
are central to this process, as they help you decide whether you are happy in your current
state or you want to make a change. Feelings are central to making informed decisions, and
associating habits with positive feelings helps us develop sustainable good habits.
Clear talks about brain chemistry and structure to analyze why you do the things you do, and
why you want the things you want. The neurotransmitter dopamine creates a feedback loop.
Dopamine is about desire; it drives us to things. When dopamine is inhibited, you can

experience pleasure, but you are listless and undirected. Dopamine plays an important role in
motivation, learning, memory, punishment and aversion, and voluntary movement. Dopamine
is released when you experience pleasure but also when you anticipate it. The structure of the
human brain has more neural circuitry for wanting rewards rather than the pleasure of
actually having of them. Desire is thus the engine that drives human behavior. Because you
are driven by anticipation, making something you want a reward for accomplishing tasks can
help us form new habits. Understanding this can help us utilize the desire to create new
feedback loops.
Habit formation is also a process of socialization. The culture that you live in shapes what
behaviors are attracted to us, because you adopt habits that your cultural influences praise.
Your desire to fit in is hugely impactful for habit formation. Clear cites a study by the
psychologist Solomon Asch where participants were placed in focus groups with actors who
delivered scripted responses to the questions that were posed to the group. People were
asked to do a simple task: select the line on the second card that matched the length of the
line on the first card. After a few rounds, the actors began saying incorrect answers.
Participants were initially confused, but eventually, they began to doubt their own eyes and
began to use the incorrect answer. In a series of experiments, Asch discovered that the larger
the number of actors, the higher the conformity of the subject. If there was just one person in
a room with the actor, there was no effect on performance, but participants became more
likely to give the wrong answer if there were more actors present. By the end, nearly 75% of
participants agreed with the wrong answer. Clear uses this example to show how influenced
individuals are by the people around them.
Once you excel at fitting in, then you desire to stand out through prestige. Because humans
are group oriented, it is important to join a culture or group where your desired behaviors are
encouraged and respected.
Chapters 11-14
Part 4: “The 3rd Law: Make It Easy”
Chapter 11 Summary: “Walk Slowly, but Never Backward”
Making it easy is the 3rd Law of Behavior Change. Chapter 11 explores Voltaire’s maxim that
“the best is the enemy of the good” (Chapter 11, 2). As evidence, Clear describes an
experiment conducted by Jerry Uelsmann, a professor at the University of Florida. In a class

on film photography, he divided his class into two groups and gave them different
assignments. One half was graded on quantity, and the other half was graded on quality. The
best photographs were produced by the quantity group because they practiced more.
To change, you do not need to find the best plan or strategy, you just have to start. Clear
distinguishes between being in motion and taking action. Being in motion involves planning,
strategizing, and learning. However, this does not produce results. In contrast, action
describes concretely working towards a goal. Motion is researching diet plans; action is
starting a diet. Motion is seductive because it makes you feel like you are working towards a
goal without having to actually try. Once you try, you might fail, and humans try to avoid
failure.
To master a habit, don’t strive for perfection, but focus on repetition. Every time you repeat an
action, you strengthen your neural circuits for that action. Because human brains are
adaptable, repetition is the key to making these neural pathways stronger. Rather than
focusing on how long it takes a habit to form, focus on how many repetitions it takes to make
a habit automatic.
Chapter 12 Summary: “The Law of Least Effort”
External obstacles play a huge role in shaping your choices. Motivation is not enough for
habits to change. Humans tend to follow the Law of Least Effort, gravitating towards the
option that requires the least amount of work. The more energy something requires, the less
likely it is to happen. For example, continents have different shapes. The anthropologist and
biologist Jared Diamond uses this simple observation to highlight why agriculture spread
faster in Europe and Asia. East-west routes share climate and seasons, whereas north-south
routes have different seasons and climate and variable levels of sunlight and rainfall.
Different crops are required as one moves along north-south routes, which slowed the spread
of agriculture in the Americas. There were more obstacles to agricultural growth in the
Americas, which required more effort.
Habits are obstacles. For example, getting fit is the goal but dieting or working out is an
obstacle. You don’t want to diet, but you desire the outcome. The more complex the obstacle,
the less likely you are to pursue the desired goal. To succeed in change, your habits have to
be easy. Instead of overcoming obstacles, try to reduce them; try to make things more
straightforward so that achieving your goals is possible.

Environmental design is one place to start. Optimizing your environment makes habits easier.
For example, finding a gym that is on the way home from your workplace means that you are
more likely to go after work. Preparing your environment for future use makes you more likely
to follow through on your goals. Creating obstacles for bad behaviors is another effective
strategy.
Chapter 13 Summary: “How to Stop Procrastinating by Using the Two-Minute Rule”
Forty to fifty percent of your daily tasks are habits. Many of these habits are small, quick
tasks, but they impact how you follow through on your goals. For example, the dancer and
choreographer Twyla Tharp is one of the greatest performers of the modern era. She begins
every day with a ritual: asking a cab driver to take her to a gym, where she works out for two
hours. She describes the act of telling the cab driver the address of the gym as the ritual. By
making getting a cab a habit, she follows through on the workout. The tiny, relatively easy
action contributes to good habit formation. These are decisive moments, moments that
deliver an outsized impact. They are choices like deciding to get takeout or cook dinner,
between walking or hailing a cab.
The two-minute rule proclaims that “When you start a new habit, it should take less than two
minutes to do” (Chapter 13, 6). For example, rather than ambitious goals like run three miles,
make a goal to tie my shoes. Once your shoes are on, you have set in motion the action of
going for a run. Tying your shoes is less of a mental hurdle that is easier to follow through on.
Two-minute tasks help you master the act of showing up. Once they become rituals, you can
achieve the deep focus required to commit to the harder tasks. Critically, small actions also
reinforce the type of person you want to be, “you are casting votes for your new identity”
(Chapter 13, 9). Once you have mastered the two- minute rule, it can be combined with habit
shaping. Once you have the initial step mastered, add a second task. Slowly scale up until
you reach the final goal or phase.
Chapter 14 Summary: “How to Make Good Habits Inevitable and Bad Habits Impossible”
The inversion of the 3rd Law of Behavior is to make bad habits hard. After procrastinating on
The Hunchback of Notre Dame, the French novelist Victor Hugo was given a six-month
deadline by his publisher. To make sure he finished his book on time, he locked all of his
clothes in a large chest. With no clothing besides a large shawl, he couldn’t go outside. He
wrote productively, and the book was published two weeks early. Implementing barriers to
bad habits are what Clear calls a commitment device. This is a choice that you make in the

present that controls your future actions. If you don’t have any clothes, you can’t go outside.
If you are trapped inside, you may as well write. Commitment devices can involve not buying
food in bulk, leaving your wallet at home, or asking to be added to a banned list from casinos
to prevent a gambling spree.
John Henry Patterson, founder of the National Cash Register Company, used James Ritty’s
Incorruptible Cashier to reduce employee theft. The cash register broke a bad habit (employee
theft) by making it impossible (through an automatic lock). The cash register automated
ethical behavior by making unethical behavior impossible. Buying the cash register is an
example of a one-time choice.
There are simple ways to make good habits easier and bad habits harder. For example, using
smaller plates reduces portion sizes, getting vaccinated increases general health, while
automatic bill payments save time and reduces the chance of missing a payment.
Technology is an effective tool in automating your habits. However, the convenience of
technology can also automate bad habits, like auto play on Netflix or YouTube or food
delivery services.
Clear’s section on Making It Easy opens with the Voltaire quote that “the best is the enemy of
the good” (Chapter 11, 2). Striving for perfection is a serious obstacle to forming good habits,
as humans improve slowly over time. If you set out to write a novel and you aim for
perfection, you will become frustrated with yourself if you do not immediately excel. However,
if you approach writing as a process, you will gradually improve and eventually, you will excel.
Mastery comes from repetition and habit formation. To encourage good habits, Clear lays out
strategies to make habits easier, simpler, and more automatic. Making it easy is the most
productive strategy to make good habits automatic.
Clear uses the analogy of an entrance ramp to a highway. The ramp leads us down a path,
where you are “speeding toward the next behavior” (Chapter 13, 2) and you are presented with
forks in the road. The choice that you make will shape your future outcomes. Where your
habits lead you limits your options. It is very important to be conscious of your decisions
because they will determine your trajectory.
Clear draws on several examples to demonstrate the importance of making systems easy. For
example, in Chapter 12, he describes a process called addition by subtraction that Japanese

factories use. By redesigning workplaces and reducing the number of inefficient tasks
workers had to do, Japanese factories produced more efficiently and built more reliable
projects. In 1974, American-made televisions required five times as many service calls to
repair broken television sets than Japanese televisions. By 1979, it took American workers
three times as long to build television sets. By removing friction, the process was both faster
and better. Clear uses this example to demonstrate that streamlining processes to remove
inefficiencies makes systems more reliable and efficient.
The more you automate, the more you can focus on more complex tasks that require your
attention. As people’s lives become more reliant on technology, it is important to be
conscious of what processes are automated and use automation to reinforce good behavior
and to free up time.
Chapters 15-17
Part 5: “The 4th Law: Make It Satisfying”
Chapter 15 Summary: “The Cardinal Rule of Behavior Change”
Consistency is key. Often, you know how to do things properly or how to improve, but the
quest for improvement breaks down because you forget to implement what you know. To
make things consistent, apply the 4th Law of Behavior Change: make it satisfying. For
example, a public health worker named Stephen Luby travelled to Karachi, Pakistan, which
had a dense population and poor public health conditions. Washing hands is one of the most
important things in public health. Luby found that people were aware of the importance of
handwashing, but many people washed their hands in haphazard fashions. Luby partnered
with Proctor and Gamble to distribute Safeguard soap, a premium brand. The soap was more
enjoyable for people to use, and quickly, disease rates fell. Six years later, 95% of the
households given the Safeguard soap became habituated to the practice. The practice was
enjoyable, which made it sustainable: “change is easy when it is enjoyable” (Chapter 15, 13).
Pleasure signals to your brain that you should repeat tasks. you live in a delayed return
environment where most of actions take a long time to have the intended result. In prehistoric
times, humans lived in immediate-return environments where the focus was on the present or
near future. Any choice made directly impacted your chance of survival. In modern society,
decisions rarely have an immediate impact. However, human brains have not really evolved
from the early Homo sapien brain, so “You are walking around with the same hardware as

your Paleolithic ancestors” (Chapter 15, 6). Humans prioritize instant gratification because
our brains evolved to prioritize an immediate situation rather than long-term payoffs. This
phenomenon, time inconsistency, reveals how you value the present more than the future.
This explains why you do things that provide momentary pleasure but might harm you in the
long run. With good habits, the future outcome feels good. With bad habits, you enjoy the
present, but the outcome is rarely pleasurable. To make habits stick, you need to feel like your
efforts paid off. Short-term rewards like bubble baths or naming your savings accounts are
good ways to build habits. Over time, you will feel better and the rewards will become more
long-term.
Chapter 16 Summary: “How to Stick with Good Habits Every Day”
Visual cues that mark your progress are very satisfying and can make good habits more
enjoyable. For example, a stockbroker named Trent Dyrsmid has a ritual called the Paper Clip
Strategy. One jar is filled with 120 paperclips while the other is empty. After each sales call, he
moved one paperclip into the empty jar. He kept making calls until all the paperclips have
been moved. Quickly, he was making huge profits for the firm and landed a six-figure job with
a different firm in his mid-twenties. The paper clips are an example of a ritual that provide
clear evidence of your progress.
A habit tracker is the best way to measure your progress. A calendar is the most obvious
format. Every day that you stick with your routine, mark it on your calendar. This method was
used by Benjamin Franklin to track thirteen personal virtues and by Jerry Seinfeld to regularly
write new jokes. The practices can be summed in the mantra “Don’t break the chain” (Chapter
16, 3). Habit tracking has three benefits: it is obvious, attractive, and satisfying. The visual
cues naturally build a series of habits, which reminds you to act again. Keeping track of your
habits is one of the most powerful ways to shift your habits because it shows you all of the
progress you have made. Checking a box is satisfying and it feels good to have small wins. To
sustain habit tracking, write things down as soon as you have completed the task by
combining habit tracking with habit stacking. For example, “once I wash my plate, I write
down what I eat.” Even if your habit is imperfect, showing up is the most important part
because “lost days hurt you more than successful days help you” (Chapter 16, 9).
Interruptions disrupt compounding.

Chapter 17 Summary: “How an Accountability Partner Can Change Everything”
Adding a negative outcome to bad habits is a good way of encouraging positive habits. The
inversion of the 4th Law of Behavior Change is make it immediately unsatisfying. An
innovative but extreme version of this lesson was proposed by Roger Fisher, founder of the
Harvard Negotiation Project. As a leading voice in peace resolutions, hostage crises, and
diplomatic compromises, Fisher dedicated his career to preventing conflict. As threats of
nuclear war escalated in the 1970s and 1980s, he proposed a system where the President
could not access the nuclear launch codes without killing a volunteer who carried the launch
codes. The President would be forced to confront the reality of innocent people dying before
launching a nuclear weapon. This system would deter nuclear weapons because it would
make the reality of war tangible.
Habit contracts add immediate costs to bad habits. Laws and regulations are the most
obvious forms of social contracts, where the group agrees to follow certain rules like wearing
seatbelts or recycling. If you do not follow the rules, you are punished. Pain is an effective
teacher. The more costly or immediate a mistake is, the more quickly you learn from it. Adding
an instant cost to behaviors is an effective way to deter negative habits. For this method to
work, it is important that the pain or consequence is immediate. Clear suggests drawing
inspiration from government contracts to create your own habit contracts. Asking a friend or
colleague to be your accountability partner is effective. Drawing up a formal contract with
clear punishments is another strategy because knowing that someone else is paying
attention is a powerful motivator. You are less likely to disappoint other people because
individuals want to be seen as motivated and trustworthy.
Clear discusses a variety of different ways that change happens, including brain chemistry,
individual choices, and larger structures like government regulations. Collectively agreed-
upon rules shape individual behavior and the human desire for approval and praise can be
harnessed to shape your goals. Habit contracts are an effective tool to use social pressure to
reinforce your identity goals. The Cardinal Rule of Behavior Change is: “What is rewarded is
repeated. What is punished is avoided” (Chapter 15, 5). This punishment can be internal
(shame or guilt) or external (being charged for breaking a law or being fired for not coming

into work). If you have negative emotions linked to habits, you will stop doing them. Positive
emotions help us cultivate habits. By making things satisfying, you increase the odds that you
will repeat a task and form a habit.
Human brains favor instant gratification, which is a hurdle for positive habit formation. The
consequences of bad habits are in the future, but they are often enjoyable as you do them.
The costs of your good habits are in the present. Because of this, good intentions are not
enough. You need to make your present actions more enjoyable. Knowledge of your
prioritization of the present requires an adapted Cardinal Rule of Behavior Change: “What is
immediately rewarded is repeated. What is immediately punished is avoided” (Chapter 15, 9).
However, with patience and persistence, the payoff at the end will be higher. Delaying
gratification leads to higher SAT scores, lower levels of substance abuse, healthier bodies,
lower stress, and superior social skills. Immediate reinforcement is a good way to promote
good habits while you wait to see the long-term results.
Once again, Clear highlights the significance of process rather than focusing strictly on
results. Habit tracking is one method of casting votes for the type of person you want to
become. It shifts emphasis from the outcome (losing weight) to the type of person you are
(someone who eats healthy and cooks their own meals). People often do not have a clear
understanding of their own habits and tend to overestimate how often they do productive
things and underestimate their bad habits (like ordering takeout). Because you have a
distorted view of your habits, things like habit tracking or accountability partners are very
important. Writing things down or compiling evidence is an effective way to know how much
work you put into something. A key mantra for Clear is “never miss twice” (Chapter 16, 8),
which reinforces the importance of process over outcome. One day of takeout isn’t the end of
the world, but two or three days of unhealthy meals begins to form a new habit. Rebounding
quickly from skipping a workout or not responding to emails is key to becoming a winner.
Showing up is more important than doing something perfectly: All or nothing thinking can ruin
your good habits by interrupting your momentum and undermining your desired identity.
Habit tracking is a strong example of something that you resist because you think you won’t
enjoy it. People are often resistant to measuring their progress because it feels like a chore.
However, writing things down can be a tangible method of delivering small wins and building
a positive feedback loop. It actually feels good to track things once you get used to it. Further,
it provides important insight into how you actually spend your time. Self-knowledge is key to
building better habits. Sometimes you focus on the wrong metrics to measure success. The

human mind is designed to win, but if you misunderstand the structure of the game, you will
put your energy in the wrong place. Goodhart’s Law proclaims, “When a measure becomes a
target, it ceases to be a good measure” (Chapter 16, 11). Measurement should provide
information to guide you, not become the outcome itself. For example, working long hours
can feel productive, but it is more important to make sure that you are doing meaningful work.
When you have the wrong measurement, you reinforce the wrong behavior. If one way of
measuring your progress feels disappointing, try a new way of measuring your success.
Chapter 18-Conclusion
Part 6: “Advanced Tactics: How to Go from Being Merely Good to Being Truly Great”
Chapter 18 Summary: “The Truth About Talent (When Genes Matter and When They
Don’t)”
People are born with different abilities and gifts. One of the keys to maximizing success is
competing in the right field. Habits are easier to form, and excellence is easier to attain, if it
aligns with your natural strengths and inclinations. Michael Phelps the swimmer and Hicham
El Guerrouj the middle-distance runner are Olympic gold medalists. Phelps is six-foot four,
while El Guerrouj is five foot nine. However, both athletes have the same length of inseam on
their pants. Phelps has short legs and a long torso, which is an asset for swimming, while El
Guerrouj’s long legs make him an exceptional runner. Their bodies are perfectly proportioned
for their relative sports, but it is unlikely that they would excel if they switched fields. Both
athletes play a sport where the odds are in their favor. Genes offer powerful advantages in
favorable circumstances and form a serious disadvantage in unfavorable conditions. Genes
can help clarify where you should put your energy, but you still must put in the work.
Picking the right habit is crucial to success. People tend to prefer activities where they excel.
Competence is energizing and attracts praise, which leads to rewards and more opportunities.
Throughout this process, people improve their skills, which brings even more rewards. To
locate the best habits for you, a strategy of explore/exploit trade-off is productive. When you
start a new activity, begin a period of exploration. For example, dating. After a period of
exploration, shift focus to the best solution, but keep experimenting on occasion. If you are
winning, keep going and “exploit, exploit, exploit” (Chapter 18, 9). If you are losing, continue to
“explore, explore, explore” (Chapter 18, 9). This method will help you productively narrow in on
the habits and goals that will be the most satisfying to you. Focusing 80-90% of your energy
on things that are paying off leaves 10-20% of your time to explore.

Chapter 19 Summary: “The Goldilocks Rule: How to Stay Motivated in Life and Work”
Many people struggle to maintain motivation and “The greatest threat to success is not
failure but boredom” (Chapter 19, 8). Sticking with habits is the best way to become
successful. For example, Steve Martin began his career selling guidebooks at Disneyland. He
transitioned to Disney’s magic shop, where he learned tricks and experimented with jokes and
comedy routines. Through this, he discovered his love of performing. He kept refining his craft
and performing regularly, and after 15 years of work, he gained fame and became one of the
most successful comedians of all time. Martin stayed motivated and stuck to his habits,
which paid off.
The Goldilocks Rule can help us experience peak motivation. Humans respond well to
challenges, but only if it is within the optimal zone of difficulty. It should be a challenge but
not impossible. Through small advances, little improvements, and new challenges, you can
achieve a flow state. When you are in the zone and fully immersed in an activity, you are in a
flow state. The flow state is achieved when a task is roughly 4% beyond your current ability. A
difference of 4% motivates you to improve but it is manageable. New challenges and variety
help us stay interested. Mastering a skill is often repetitive, and many people get bored.
Successful people also struggle when tasks become monotonous, but they are able to push
through and do them anyway. Humans desire variable rewards. Variation amplifies cravings
because it reduces boredom. To be successful, you have to fall in love with boredom,
“professionals stick to the schedule; amateurs let life get in the way” (Chapter 19, 10).
Identifying what is important to you and working towards it with focus is what will make you
achieve your goals.
Chapter 20 Summary: “The Downside of Creating Good Habits”
In 1986, the Los Angeles Lakers were one of the most talented basketball teams in history.
However, they blew their lead in the playoffs and didn’t qualify for the NBA championship.
Head coach Pat Riley implemented a system called Career Best Effort program, or CBE. The
players’ baseline level of performance was charted, and they were asked to improve their
performance by 1% a season. The players’ results were measured and written on a blackboard
weekly. Eight months later, the Lakers were the NBA champions, highlighting the importance
of sustaining effort through reflection and review.

Combining habits with deliberate practice will lead to mastery. Habits are the foundation of
mastery, and repetition helps you develop fluency, speed, and skill. The more you are able to
do automatically, the more mental space you have to level up. However, as things become
more automatic, you become less sensitive to feedback. Tasks can be executed mindlessly,
and mistakes can slip in. At a certain point, you simply reinforce habits you stop improving.
After mastery, there is often a slight decline in performance over time. Deliberate practice
prevents us from stagnating. Improvement is about fine tuning your habits so you can make
necessary corrections. Reflecting on your successes and failures helps us improve, but it
also brings perspective. In doing so, you can shift the beliefs that hold you back.
Conclusion Summary: “The Secret to Results That Last”
Small improvements can seem meaningless, but gradually, changes and habits layer on top
of each other. Over time, the improvement becomes undeniable and rewards follow. Building
better systems is the best way to improve because success is a system and a process of
refining, not a goal to reach.
Chapter 18-Conclusion Analysis
Throughout the book, Clear argues that a deeper understanding of your limits helps you
achieve your full potential. For example, in the discussion on genes, he acknowledges that
genes play an important role in shaping your life. However, he provides strategies for how to
work with your genetics. Specialization is one of the most effective ways to get around bad
genes. Mastery of a specific skill will give you advantages over other people, even if the
mastery doesn’t come as easily as it might to someone with genetic gifts.
Genes also shape your personality in powerful ways. Personality is broken down into five
main categories: 1) Openness to experience, 2) Conscientiousness, 3) Extroversion, 4)
Agreeableness, 5) Neuroticism. Your personality makes some behaviors easier to attain, and
it is productive to build habits that align with your personality. Clear includes questions that
you can ask yourself to see if you are choosing habits that fit your personality. These
questions include: What feels like fun to me, but work to others? What makes me lose track of
time? Where do I get greater returns than the average person? What comes naturally to me?
Genes determine the areas of opportunity, but your environment is also important for
determining how you utilize your natural talents and whether your genes are suitable. Clear
makes an important point: you can’t change your genes, but you can change your

environment. If you struggle to win in one field, try combining two things or carving out your
own lane. This reduces competition and helps you stand out.
Regular review and reflection help you align your habits with your values and identity. If you
automate behavior or get stuck in your ways, you lose opportunities for growth. Every habit
that you master unlocks the next level of performance. To continue to improve, remain
conscious of your performance over time. Set up a system for reflection and review. By
becoming aware of your strengths and your weaknesses, you can maintain your growth.
Holding on too closely to an identity lets it define you. Instead, you should “keep your identity
small,” (Chapter 20, 13) to borrow Paul Graham’s phrase. Life can introduce challenges that
make you shift your behavior, so your sense of self should be flexible and committed to
growth. For example, “‘I’m an athlete’ becomes ‘I’m the type of person who is mentally tough
and loves a physical challenge’” (Chapter 20, 14). An identity should be flexible and adaptable
to changing circumstances.

Key Figures
James Clear
James Clear is a writer and public speaker best known as the author of the New York Times
bestseller Atomic Habits. He writes a weekly newsletter called 3-2-1 that includes three short
ideas from Clear, two quotes that Clear finds inspiring, and one question for the reader to
reflect on. Clear has a BA in biomechanics from Denison University where he studied physics,
chemistry, biology, and anatomy. Clear is a former athlete who was an ESPN Academic All-
American baseball pitcher and a weightlifter.

Themes
The Habit Loop
Clear lays out a structure of habit formation called the habit loop. Cue, Craving, Response, and
Reward are the component parts of habit formation, and they form an endless cycle that
forms a loop. The loop begins when a “cue triggers a craving, which motivates a response,
which provides a reward, which satisfies the craving, and ultimately becomes associated with
the cue” (Chapter 3, 14). Understanding how this feedback loop works helps you direct your
attention in more productive ways. By focusing on process, Clear provides the viewer with
simple, actionable methods for implementing new habits. Setting an ambitious goal without
taking into account the habit loops that you are already in sets you up to fail. By
understanding the neurological cues that your brain and body respond to, you can hack the
habit loop to reinforce good behaviors. Being aware of your habit loops is important because
it allows us to exercise more control over your responses. As he writes:
All big things come from small beginnings. The seed of every habit is a single, tiny
decision. But as that decision is repeated, a habit sprouts and grows stronger. Roots
entrench themselves and branches grow. The task of breaking a bad habit is like
uprooting a powerful oak within us. And the task of building a good habit is like
cultivating a delicate flower one day at a time (Chapter 1, 18).
Understanding your cues and cravings allows you to plant a new seed or to nurture a seed
that you want to germinate.
The structure of the habit loop begins with the cue, which triggers the habit. Cues can be a
location, a time of day, a person, an emotion, or another action that precedes it. When the
brain experiences a cue, it goes into automatic processing mode, which initiates a craving.
For example, the sound of an ice cream truck triggers a craving for ice cream. This initiates a
response: the brain must either resist the temptation provided by the cue or follow through on
the craving. The reward is how you derive satisfaction, like buying ice cream. The brain
responds positively to the reward and makes a mental note of the previous steps that lead to
that point (getting the ice cream). Once you have completed a habit loop, it is more likely that
you will reproduce this loop in the future. This forms the foundation of a habit. Recognizing

the loop is an important step to controlling the habit. For example, when you hear the ice
cream truck, you could transfer the money you would spend on ice cream to a savings
account for a future vacation. You experience the same cycle of cue, craving, response, and
reward, but you redirect the emphasis to long-term gain, rather than short-term satisfaction.
Another possibility is to design your environment or structure your day so that you do not
experience cues that trigger cravings. Resisting temptation is harder than removing
temptations.
The Importance of Identity
Habit formation is the most effective when it reinforces your desired identity. Identity change
is “the North Star of habit change” (Chapter 2, 16). This a core insight in Clear’s book: there
are no hacks, short-cuts, or optimizing that will change your habits. Rather, you have to decide
who you want to be and develop systems that help you get there. Behavior change happens
on three levels: outcome, processes, and identity. Identity is at the center of behavior change
and the most important to long-term growth. Identity is about what you believe and what you
value. Clear presents identity as something that is constantly being refined. You become who
you are through a series of ongoing decisions. Over time, these habits become part of your
identity.
However, you do not have to define yourself by the bad habits that you formed in the past.
Claiming a new identity for yourself is a powerful first step to making those goals come true.
For example, if you join a sports league, you reframe yourself as an athlete. At your weekly
practice, you are surrounded by other people who prioritize physical fitness and team-based
approaches. Over time, being an athlete becomes an important part of your identity, and you
will reinforce athletic behaviors:
The goal is not to read a book, the goal is to become a reader. The goal is not to run
a marathon, the goal is to become a runner. The goal is not to learn an instrument,
the goal is to become a musician. (Chapter 2, 10)
Clear italicizes become in this series of mantras, placing the emphasis on the process rather
than the goal. In doing so, he clarifies the importance of identity to habit formation. The goal
is not the book, it is being a reader. Reshaping your perspective to center your desired identity
is key to sustaining good habits. You are more likely to go for a run if you identify as someone

who prioritizes physical fitness. Once you decide who you want to be and you surround
yourself with people who support that goal, reaching your goals is both more possible and
more sustainable.
Systems Versus Goals
A core argument that runs through Atomic Habits is the importance of systems. Clear argues
that when people focus on goals, they set themselves up to fail while also limiting their
horizons. Focusing on systems is more sustainable and encourages long-term, ongoing
growth. Goals are specific and actionable: “I am going to lose ten pounds.” When you don’t
see progress right away, you fall into the Plateau of Disappointment.
Alternatively, if you reach your goal, you may let your good habits slip and yo-yo back to your
original weight. A systems-based approach would focus on how you get healthier the goal
and focus on smaller, stackable tasks that work towards that goal. Some examples include
reducing processed foods, turning grocery shopping into ritual, cooking for friends, doing ten
push-ups at lunch, joining a gym near your work, or designating one day a week your treat
day. Your system focuses on how you lose weight, not losing weight itself. Over time, you
reinforce good habits and build compound gains. Systems help you avoid getting trapped in
the Valley of Disappointment and the Plateau of Latent Potential. Clear quotes Bill Walsh, a
three-time Super Bowl winner who reminds us that “The score takes care of itself” (Chapter 1,
21).
A systems-based approach shifts the focus from winning the game to continuing to play the
game. No single accomplishment will make you happy. Systems are constantly refined and
edited, allowing you to continue to improve, even beyond your original goal. The more you
grow, the more you can grow, as it is a “commitment to the process that will determine your
progress” (Chapter 1, 25). Focusing on systems helps you enjoy the process, build
sustainable growth, and celebrate small wins that will compound into noticeable gains.
Clear’s Four Laws of Behavior Change are designed to build better systems that will shape
and support better habits. Critical to this is the insight that “You do not rise to the level of
your goals. You fall to the level of your systems” (Chapter 1, 19).

Index of Terms
Atomic
An atom is the smallest particle of an element. Atoms are the building blocks of the universe.
Atoms can exist alone, but they also combine with other atoms to form chemical elements.
Atomic is often used to describe something tiny and indivisible. Clear uses atomic as an
analogy to describe something imperceptible that forms with other tiny, imperceptible
changes to enact larger transformations over time, writing “an atomic habit is a little habit
that is part of a larger system. Just as atoms are the building blocks of molecules, atomic
habits are the building blocks of remarkable results” (Chapter 1, 27).
Compound
A compound describes two or more atoms that are fused together. Clear uses compound as
an analogy to describe how the amalgamation of atoms—or atomic improvements in habits—
forms something bigger over time. For example, compound interest describes returns on both
the principle of investment and the interest. It is interest on interest. To apply this to habit
formation, Clear suggests that improvement also happens in compounding ways; you
improve on top of your previous improvements, not your original baseline.
Latent Potential
Humans desire instant gratification. When you start a new habit and you don’t see immediate
results, there is a temptation to stop. This causes you to plateau rather than developing your
latent potential. You must stick with habits long enough to get past the plateau and then you
begin to see compounding growth. Clear uses the example of bamboo, which can grow up to
90 feet in 6 weeks, but has been growing roots for 5 years—we only see the final result, not
the small changes that took place to create the result.
An example of this plateau is described by Steve Martin, the comedian. He reflects that his
journey involved “10 years spent learning, 4 years spent refining, and 4 years as a wild
success” (Chapter 19, 3). From the outside, people only see the wild success, but Martin
spent years refining his craft before he became famous.

Valley of Disappointment
The Valley of Disappointment is part of the Plateau of Latent Potential. When you start a new
habit, progress happens slowly. It feels like you aren’t improving, but compound results take
time to become obvious. It is important to stick with things even when you don’t see results
right away.
Yo-Yo Effect
If you focus on goals, it is easy to lapse after you have achieved something. For example, if
your goal is to run a marathon, once you have completed the marathon, you may relax and fail
to maintain your new habit. This is called the yo-yo effect. This is why it is more important to
frame goals around an identity (I am a runner) rather than an outcome (I want to run the
Boston Marathon). Identity based goals are less likely to yo-yo.

Important Quotes
1. “Internal states—our moods and emotions—matter too. In recent decades, scientists have
begun to determine the connection between our thoughts, feelings, and behavior.”
(Introduction, Page 17)
In the Introduction, Clear lays out his approach to habit formation. He brings together
cognitive and behavioral science to “account for both the influence of external stimuli and
internal emotions of our habits” (Introduction, 17). This methodological approach contributes
novel insights into habit formation. By clearly signalling the viewer what kind of source he will
be drawing from, Clear provides signposting about what types of arguments the book will
make.
2. “When you finally break through the Plateau of Latent Potential, people will call it an
overnight success.”
(Chapter 1, Page 15)
Mastery is a slow process that takes time. When you start a new habit, you often experience
tangible gains quickly. However, there is a period where things seem to stagnate where
improvement is less clear. Many people give up at this stage. If you push through, however,
exponential gains come after this. Clear uses a melting ice-cube as an analogy. The ice has to
hit a certain temperature before it melts, but the energy is being stored and things are
happening behind the scenes. Persistence is key. Clear also highlights a key misconception
that we tend to have about other people’s success. Because we do not see all of the work
that went into getting to the level of mastery, success seems immediate. This can discourage
us, causing us to give-up.
3. “The San Antonio Spurs, one of the most successful teams in NBA history, have a quote
from social reformer Jacob Riis hanging in their locker room: ‘When nothing seems to help, I
go and look at a stonecutter hammering away at his rock, perhaps a hundred times without as
much as a crack showing in it. Yet at the hundred and first blow it will split in two, and I know
it was not that last blow that did it—but all that had gone before.’”
In this quote, Clear lays out the central argument in his book, “mastery takes time”
(Introduction, 17). Through the unexpected juxtaposition of an elite sports team and an early

20th-century activist, Clear catches out attention. By highlighting that the NBA team is
inspired by the advice of Riis, Clear also shows how productivity and resilience is the same in
every field, though the specific goals and identities are very different. In this quote, Clear
reminds the reader that there are important takeaways from all of the anecdotes in the book,
even if they are outside of the readers desired area of improvement.
4. “Goals are about the results you want to achieve. Systems are about the processes that
lead to those results.”
Throughout the book, Clear quotes scholars and experts. In this quote, he explains a
distinction made by Scott Adams, the creator of Dilbert, on the difference between processes
and systems. By drawing in anecdotes and advice from experts in various fields including
chess, sports, and comic books, Clear demonstrates how good habits are more about
showing up, creating good systems, and committing, rather than talent or genius. In this
statement, Clear goes on to conclude that good systems are more important than the goal
itself.
5. “When you fall in love with the process rather than the product, you don’t have to wait to
give yourself permission to be happy. You can be happy anytime your system is running.”
A focus on outcomes places the object of your desire in the future, creating a mentality that
happiness is delayed until you reach the outcome. For example, the belief that once you have
lost 10 pounds, you will be happy isn't a long-term solution; shifting the focus to a systems-
first mentality provides a broader conception of happiness that allows you to feel successful
and happy every time you work on your system. The reward comes from the workout or the
healthy meal. This is both more satisfying and more sustainable.
6. “The purpose of setting goals is to win the game. The purpose of building systems is to
continue playing the game. True long-term thinking is goal-less thinking. It’s not about any
single accomplishment. It is about the cycle of endless refinement and continuous
improvement.”

When you set a goal, you are setting an outcome. However, self-improvement is a constant
process. The more you master, the more you will want to master. Goals limit the horizon of
your ambitions by tying them to one outcome. It is more productive to build systems that
make you smarter, more focused, healthier, and more productive, as self-improvement is a
life-long journey. The further you move along this journey, the more potential paths will open
up.
7. “The more pride you have in a particular aspect of your identity, the more motivated you will
be to maintain the habits associated with it. If you’re proud of how your hair looks, you’ll
develop all sorts of habits to care for and maintain it. If you’re proud of the size of your biceps,
you’ll make sure you never skip an upper-body workout. If you’re proud of the scarves you knit,
you’ll be more likely to spend hours knitting each week. Once your pride gets involved, you’ll
fight tooth and nail to maintain your habits.”
(Chapter 2, Page 9)
Understanding what motivates us is a powerful tool for self-improvement. Pride is a powerful

driver of human behavior. While pride and prideful behavior are often framed negatively, Clear
argues that it can be used in a productive way to help us become the best version of
ourselves.
8. “Good habits can make rational sense, but if they conflict with your identity, you will fail to
put them into action.”
One of Clear’s foundational premises is that identity is central to habit formation. If your goals
don’t align with who you want to be, you won’t implement them. Rather than focus on the
goal or outcome, then, it is more productive to frame your habits as being aligned to your
identity. For example, if your goal is to eat healthier, it is easy to drop the ball and order
takeout after a long day at work. However, if you identify as the kind of person who supports
local businesses, considers family meals important, and is an informed consumer, you are
more likely to prioritize cooking at home even when you are tired. Identity is a powerful
motivator.
9. “Becoming the best version of yourself requires you to continuously edit your beliefs, and
to upgrade and expand your identity.”

The more you improve, the more feedback you will get. A successful person is constantly
integrating new knowledge into their identity so they can become the best version of
themselves. Strengthening your best qualities and letting go of the habits that hold us back is
an ongoing process that you have to remain committed to.
10. “Meaningful change does not require radical change.”

Radical changes are hard to implement and even harder to sustain. Because of this, many
people struggle to both achieve and sustain their goals. However, meaningful change doesn’t
require radical transformation. Sustaining small habits yields huge improvements over time.
Self-improvement is a marathon, not a sprint.
11. “As the psychologist Carl Jung said, “Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will
direct your life and you will call it fate.”
(Chapter 4, Page 7)
Most of your behavior is automatic and nonconscious, which makes us feel like your impulse
to act comes out of nowhere. Clear quotes the psychoanalyst Carl Jung, whose research on
the unconscious mind argues that it is things that the individual is not aware of that shapes
their actions. Until you are self-aware about your own habits and motivations, change will be
difficult. However, the quote also suggests that the individual has more control over their
behavior than they recognize. You need self-knowledge to direct your behavior.
12. “Give your habits a time and a space to live in the world.”
(Chapter 5, Page 6)
Both time and space are important to form habits, as habits require both repetition and an
environment to do them in. One method of ensuring you achieve your goals is to set aside a
clear time and space to do your habit. Forming habits is hard. Planning and intention help
make habits stick.
13. “Diderot’s scarlet robe was beautiful. So beautiful, in fact, that he immediately noticed
how out of place it seemed when surrounded by his more common possessions.”
(Chapter 5, Page 8)

In his discussion on how to start new habits, Clear describes the Diderot Effect, where a new
possession creates a spiral of consumptions. The French philosopher Denis Diderot’s
purchase of a beautiful robe inspires him to replace his old possessions, eventually leading to
financial ruin. Clear uses this vivid anecdote to describe how one choice shapes your other
choices, nothing happens in isolation. Being aware of how one choice triggers another choice
is productive if you use it your advantage. Clear proposes habit stacking as a method of
productively working with the Diderot Effect.
14. “Most people live in a world others have created for them.”
People tend to over-estimate the control that individuals have over their own lives. Many of
your choices are responses to the environment. You become a consumer choosing between
options that someone else has designed. One way of exercising more control over your own
life is to consciously design your environment. While you probably lack the power to
rearrange the cafeteria at your workplace, you can rearrange your kitchen to be more
conducive to cooking, which will increase the odds that you will bring a prepared lunch, rather
than buying lunch in the cafeteria
15. “Self-control is a short-term strategy, not a long-term one.”

(Chapter 7, Page 8)
A common misconception about habit formation is that you need to improve your self-
control. However, willpower requires a lot of focus and you expend energy every time you
exercise self-control. It is much more efficient to remove the temptations by controlling your
environment. Out of sight, out of mind.
16. “The normal behavior of the tribe often overpowers the desired behavior of the individual.”
We tend to approach self-improvement as an individual process. However, the people who

you are around strongly influence your behavior. If you are trying to quit smoking but you
spend your time in bars with other smokers, quitting smoking will be exponentially harder
because you will have to continually exercise self-control. In contrast, if you prioritize

spending time with people who don’t smoke, you make a clearer choice about what kind of
person you want to be (reinforcing your desired identity) and you will spend less energy
resisting bad habits.
17. “You don’t actually want the habit itself. What you really want is the outcome the habit
delivers.”
Habits are a means to an end. Habits are rarely enjoyable, but the results that they make
possible are enjoyable. Because habits offer delayed gratification, it is helpful to remove as
many obstacles as you can. Ambitious goals like going to the new gym across town on a
Sunday afternoon are more likely to fail than stopping into the gym on your block after work.
Keep your habits simple and easy.
18. “Standardize before you optimize. You can’t improve a habit that doesn’t exist.”
Successful habits are clear and precise. The ideal context to start a new habit doesn’t exist,
but keeping goals manageable and habits stackable allows you to slowly create an ideal
context around you. Habit formation might require some trial and error, but a clear sense of
exactly what your goal is and the most effective way of meeting this goal is necessary before
you start. Start small, keep your goals clear, and layer on complexity over time.
19. “The human brain did not evolve for life in a delayed-return environment. The earliest
remains of modern humans, known as Homo sapiens sapiens, are approximately two hundred
thousand years old. These were the first humans to have a brain relatively similar to ours. In
particular, the neocortex—the newest part of the brain and the region responsible for higher
functions like language—was roughly the same size two hundred thousand years ago as
today. You are walking around with the same hardware as your Paleolithic ancestors.”
Clear draws from a wide variety of source material to develop his argument. In addition to
anecdotes from successful people, Clear references brain structure and evolution. In this
quote, he cites research on the human brain to explain why humans prioritize instant
gratification.

20. “As mathematician and philosopher Alfred North Whitehead wrote, ‘Civilization advances
by extending the number of operations we can perform without thinking about them.’”
Automating your life is an effective way of building better habits. Technology is a powerful
tool for self-improvement if you use it to consciously build better habits. The more you
automate, the more time you have to focus on things that require focus. Spend your energy
wisely.
21. “The French economist Frédéric Bastiat explained the problem clearly when he wrote, ‘It
almost happens that when the immediate consequence is favorable, the later consequences
are disastrous, and vice versa… Often the sweeter the first fruit of a habit, the more bitter are
its later fruits.’”
Human brains are wired for instant gratification. Habits that contribute to self-improvement
rarely feel good in the moment. Understanding how the brain prioritizes reward can help us
commit to long-term thinking. Good intentions are not enough to form good habits because
the brain cares more about the present than the future. However, success requires ignoring
immediate rewards in favor of future rewards.
22. “When you can’t win by being better, you can win by being different.”
Talent matters and there is very little an individual can do to change your bodies and natural
abilities. However, you can direct your energy in more productive ways. If you are struggling
to stand out, changing the playing field can help you stand out. A great player builds a game
where their skills are valued, and they can excel. Taking control of your life is a powerful way
of working around your individual shortcomings.
23. “The greatest threat to success is not failure but boredom.”

Novelty is a powerful motivator. When you start a new habit, it is more exciting because it is
unfamiliar. As you develop your habit (and improve your skills), the novelty begins to wear off.
Introducing manageable difficulties into your habits will help us push ourselves and stay
interested.

24. “Professionals stick to the schedule; amateurs let life get in the way.”
One of the core arguments in Clear’s book is the importance of schedule for self-improvement.
The more structure you implement to support your goals, the more likely you are to meet
them. Don’t wait for inspiration to strike, make sure you follow your routine.
25. “The following quote from the Tao Te Ching encapsulates the ideas perfectly:
Men are born soft and supple;

dead, they are stiff and hard.
Plants are born tender and pliant;
dead, they are brittle and dry.
Thus whoever is stiff and inflexible is a disciple of death.
Whoever is soft and yielding
Is a disciple of life.
The hard and stiff will be broken.
The soft and supple will prevail.
-Lao Tzu”
Clear argues that identity is key to self-improvement. However, your identity should be flexible
and open to feedback. Your identity should help you work around challenges, not create
obstacles. To make his point, he cites the Tao Te Ching, a classic Chinese text that proposes
a way of living with integrity. This quote shows the variety of sources that Clear draws from
and introduces a poetic meditation that adds another dimension to his discussion on the
importance of adaptability.

Essay Topics
1. Select one of the anecdotes that Clear uses as evidence and do further research on it. How
does Clear use the story to build his argument? Is it an effective example?
2. Does the importance of small, incremental growth resonate with your experiences? Why or
why not?
3. Sports are important to Clear’s personal narrative and as evidence throughout the book. Do
you think Clear’s argument is as effective when he applies it to other fields, like art?
4. Clear draws on a variety of different sources to build his argument. Identify one type of
source (e.g., psychological, neuroscience, personal anecdote) and select three moments in
the text where this type of source material is referenced. How does Clear use the material to
develop his work?
5. Select one metaphor or analogy that Clear uses and analyze how it functions in the text.
6. Identify a reoccurring problem or bad habit in your life. Choose one strategy that Clear
suggests and analyze why it might be effective in fixing your bad habit. Do any of the
strategies Clear lay out have the potential to solve your problems?
7. Identify a habit loop in your own life. What is the cue, craving, response, reward? Is this a
habit you want to reinforce or one that you want to rewire?
8. Success is the result of prioritizing long-term desire over short-term gratification. How can
you combine immediate rewards with long term rewards?

9. The fear of failure and the desire for perfection are obstacles to success. Identify where
fear and perfectionism hold you back in your own life. As Clear argues, awareness is the first
step to transformation.
10. Using The Power of Combination, identify things that you are good at that can be
combined with other things. Is this combination something that might bring you success and
fame? Why or why not?

Teaching Unit
Teacher Introduction
Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones
Genre: Nonfiction; self-help

Originally Published: 2018
Reading Level/Interest: Grades 9-12; college/adult
Structure/Length: 6 parts; 20 chapters plus introduction and conclusion; approx. 320
pages; approx. 5 hours, 35 minutes on audio
Central Concern: Drawing from neuroscience, sociology, psychology, sports, and the arts,
the author outlines strategies for reinforcing productive habits. The key is building good
systems and making small, incremental changes.
James Clear, Author
Bio: Born in Ohio; studied biomechanics at Denison University, where he was a star
baseball pitcher; writes and speaks about habits, choices, and continuous improvement;
finds inspiration in many fields, including architecture, biology, history, and math;
publishes a popular newsletter that includes 3 brief ideas, 2 quotations, and 1 thought-
provoking question each week
Awards: New York Times bestseller
CENTRAL THEMES connected and noted throughout this Teaching Unit:
The Habit Loop

The Importance of Identity
Systems Versus Goals
STUDY OBJECTIVES: In accomplishing the components of this Unit, students will:
Learn the basics of the psychology and neuroscience behind habit formation according
to modern science and pop psychology.

Read paired texts to analyze the overall effectiveness of the author's writing style and
research presentation.
Recall and apply what they've learned about Clear's Atomic Habits, habit formation, and
habit systems to develop their own habit system or coach another person to create a
working system.
BEFORE READING
Reading Context
Use these questions or activities to help gauge students’ familiarity with and spark their
interest in the context of the work, giving them an entry point into the text itself.
Short Answer
1. What is a habit? What aspects of the brain are involved in habit formation?
Teaching Suggestion: It might be helpful to familiarize students with the basic psychology
and neuroscience of habits so they may be more fully engaged with the text. The resources
below will help students build background knowledge about the science of habits, which is
more deeply explored throughout the book. This activity introduces students to an important
theme: The Habit Loop.
“How Habits Can Change Your Life (and Your Brain)” from Be Smart
“How to Form a Habit” from SciShow Psych
“The Science of Habits” from TEDxFS
2. List some of the common advice you’ve received about creating and building better habits.
What do you already know about how to stick to good habits? What practices have not
worked?
Teaching Suggestion: As students read, they will find that much of Clear’s advice counters,
expands, or adds practicality to the typical advice about starting and maintaining habits. In
the post-reading discussion, students will be invited to reflect on how Clear’s approach is

different from other things they’ve read about habits. The resources below might be helpful to
students in recalling their own experiences; they will also serve to introduce students to
Clear’s work.
“7 Steps of Habit Formation” from Psychologist Today

“5 Common Mistakes That Cause New Habits to Fail” according to James Clear
Differentiation Suggestion: For English language learners and visual learners, a graphic
organizer such as a KWL chart will help students keep track of what they know, what they
learn, and what questions remain as they begin to dive into the science and typical advice
behind habit formation.
Short Activity
Do a self-assessment of your habits. Make a list of your habits or routines—the things you do
every day. Organize your list by time of day or by type of task.
Teaching Suggestion: Some elements of this book invite readers to reflect on their own
habits. Creating this list in advance will allow students to more readily engage with the topics
Clear presents and apply his advice to their own lives if desired.
Personal Connection Prompt
This prompt can be used for in-class discussion, exploratory free-writing, or reflection
homework before reading the novel.
How would you describe yourself and your identity? What do your regular habits reveal about
who you are? Are your habits a true reflection of your identity? Why or why not?
Teaching Suggestion: This reflection allows students to engage with Clear’s theme, The
Importance of Identity, which is an important pillar of habit formation. Reflecting on this
theme before reading will prime students to make text-to-self connections while reading
Clear’s work.
DURING READING

Reading Questions & Paired Texts
Reading Check and Short Answer questions on key plot points are designed for guided
reading assignments, in-class review, formative assessment, quizzes, and more.
Reading Check
1. What life event shaped the author’s life experience with habits?
2. According to Clear, what are the three different types of change?
3. What are the four stages of a habit?
Short Answer
Answer each question in at least 1 complete sentence. Incorporate details from the text to
support your response.
1. How did the British cycling team manage to make such large gains in a short amount of
time?
2. How do habits become unconscious?
Paired Resource
“Investors in People”
In this 4-minute video, Sir Dave Brailsford talks about how he used the philosophy of 1%
gains to transform the British cycling team.
Which elements of Clear’s argument are evident in this video?
Chapters 4-7
Reading Check

1. What is the purpose of the Japanese railway conductor’s habit of pointing and calling?
2. What is the format of an implementation intention?
3. What is habit stacking?
Short Answer
1. How does Clear suggest readers apply pointing and calling to their own habits?
2. Describe the Diderot Effect.
3. Why does Clear say that every habit should “have a home.” (Chapter 6)
Paired Resource
“The Diderot Effect: Why We Want Things We Don’t Need — And What to Do About It”
This article by James Clear includes personal anecdotes and specific advice about
avoiding impulse spending.
Does Diderot’s story adequately illustrate Clear’s point about both environment and habit
stacking? Why or why not?
Chapters 8-10
Reading Check
1. What is temptation bundling?

2. According to Clear, which spheres of influence in our society impact habit formation?
Short Answer

1. Give one example of a mindset shift that Clear describes to support habit-forming.
2. What role does socialization play in habit formation?
Chapters 11-14
Reading Check
1. What were the results of the photography class experiment?

2. What is the Law of Least Effort?
3. What is the Two-Minute Rule?
Short Answer
1. How does Clear distinguish between motion and action?

2. What are some ways that Clear suggests we reduce obstacles to fitness habits?
3. Why does Clear insist on the Two-Minute Rule in forming new habits?
Paired Resource
“Plan For Failure: Being Consistent Is Not the Same as Being Perfect”
This article by James Clear explains how perfectionism gets in the way of our forming
consistent habits.
Discuss this article in the context of Clear’s ideas on The Importance of Identity. How
does our self-perception contribute to how we handle failure?
Chapters 15-17
Reading Check

1. Why does the human brain crave instant gratification?

2. What are the benefits of habit tracking?
3. What is the “Cardinal Rule of Behavior Change?”
Short Answer
1. What role can accountability partners play in habit formation?

2. What does “never miss twice” mean?
Paired Resource
“The Ultimate Habit Tracker Guide: Why and How to Track Your Habits”
This article by James Clear explains habit trackers and includes photographic examples.
Discuss: is the habit tracker all that it’s cracked up to be? Have you tried one before?
How would you improve upon Clear’s examples?
Chapters 18-Conclusion
Reading Check
1. What is the Goldilocks rule?

2. What happened after the Lakers implemented the Career Best Effort Program?
Short Answer
1. What role can genetics play in habit formation?

2. What lesson does Clear illustrate in telling the story of the 1986 Los Angeles Lakers?
Recommended Next Reads
The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg
Before Atomic Habits, this book rocked the public mind through a deep exploration of
habit science, emphasizing some of the least understood elements (like the role of
willpower) and how businesses leverage habit science to market and sell products (such
as Target and Febreze).
The Power of Habit on SuperSummary
The Creativity Habit by Twyla Tharp
Renowned choreographer Tharp shares how creativity is not rooted in inspiration as

much as it is rooted in good habits and consistent work.
She serves as one of Clear’s sources/examples.
The Creative Habit on SuperSummary
Reading Questions Answer Key
Reading Check
1. A life-threatening baseball injury; hit in the face with a bat (Introduction)

2. Outcome, process, identity (Chapter 2)
3. Cue, craving, response, reward (Chapter 3)
Short Answer
1. Very small changes to routine, equipment, and tools (Chapter 1)

2. Our brains take the shortest path to reward and wire us to do things automatically to get
the reward. (Chapter 3)

Chapters 4-7
Reading Check
1. To bring consciousness to unconscious habits. (Chapter 4)

2. I will [BEHAVIOR] at [TIME] in [LOCATION]. (Chapter 5)
3. Pairing a new habit with a current habit (Chapter 5)
Short Answer
1. Stating aloud what you are about to do brings awareness to your habits. Awareness is the
beginning of behavioral change. (Chapter 4)
2. Taking a significant action triggers a subsequent action. People decide what to do based
on previous actions, so pairing a new habit with a current habit increases the likelihood that a
new habit will stick. This truth can be leveraged positively or negatively, as in the case of
Diderot. (Chapter 5)
3. Because environment, context, and visual cues are important catalysts for habit formation,
it is helpful if people create a dedicated space to practice the habit—one that makes cues
hard to miss. (Chapter 6)
Chapters 8-10
Reading Check
1. Pairing a habit that you want to do with a habit that you need to do. (Chapter 8)
2. The close, the many, the powerful OR Our family and friends, our peers and co-workers, our
cultural norms. (Chapter 9)
Short Answer
1. Saying “I get to” instead of “I have to.” Thinking about habits in terms of their benefits
instead of was difficult about them. Reframing challenges as positive. (Chapters 8-10)
2. Because people want to fit in with the group it is easier to form habits when those habits
allow people to feel belonging. Clear asserts that when someone wants to change their
habits, it is important to develop relationships with people who have the same habits.
(Chapter 9)

Chapters 11-14
Reading Check
1. The students who were graded on quantity produced better photographs while the
students who were graded on quality produced worse photographs. (Chapter 11)
2. Humans tend to gravitate toward and repeat the behaviors that take the least amount of
work. (Chapter 12)
3. New habits should take less than two minutes to do. (Chapter 13)
Short Answer
1. Motion is planning and researching a habit. Action is performing the actual habit. For
example, motion is researching the diet; action is starting the diet. (Chapter 11)
2. Choosing a gym that is on the way to or from work, setting out workout clothes, leaving the
yoga mat in the middle of the floor, etc. (Chapter 12)
3. This is a way of drilling our habits down to the most atomic level, the smallest possible
behavior becomes the cue for the habit. By drilling down to the smallest possible step in the
habit, we make the habit easier to set in motion and eventually automate. For example, by
making the habit/ritual of tying your workout shoes you are now ready to go for a run or a
walk. (Chapter 13)
Chapters 15-17
Reading Check
1. Early homo sapiens brains evolved to process immediate situations or “immediate return
environments;” as a result, humans are less focused on the future. (Chapter 15)
2. It is obvious, attractive, and satisfying. (Chapter 16)
3. “What is rewarded is repeated. What is punished is avoided.” (Chapter 15. Chapter 16 adds
that punishment and reward should be immediate for habits to stick.)
Short Answer

1. People are motivated when they know that other people will be looking at them to see if
their integrity is intact. Having an accountability partner creates an immediate negative
consequence or an immediate positive reward. (Chapter 17)
2. If you miss a habit one time, it’s easier to recover than if you miss several times in a row.
(Chapter 16)
Chapters 18-Conclusion
Reading Check
1. Taking on challenges that are “just right.” Avoiding challenges that are so difficult that we
are deterred from the activity as well as those that are so easy that we are not challenged to
keep going. Approx 4% beyond a person’s ability. (Chapter 19)
2. The Lakers won the NBA Championship. (Chapter 20)
Short Answer
1. It is easier to build and maintain habits that play to one’s physical strengths and/or
personality types. One can leverage personal gifts and preferences to make habit formation
easier. (Chapter 18)
2. After a while habits become easy and automatic, and if one wants to see continued
improvement, they must intentionally reflect on and refine their habits. (Chapter 20)
AFTER READING
Discussion/Analysis Prompt
How does Clear’s work clarify, expand, or subvert what you’ve previously understood about
habit formation? Which aspects of his work intrigue you? Consider both the information itself
and the presentation of the information (examples, anecdotes, research, quotes). How
effective are Clear’s arguments about the importance of systems, improving by 1%, and
leveraging the habit loop to create habits that stick?
Teaching Suggestion: This post-reading discussion allows teachers and students to examine
both the information presented in Clear’s text and the craft of non-fiction writing that Clear
uses to make his complex topic accessible to laypersons. Teachers should feel free to

emphasize the aspects of the discussion that are most pertinent to student learning. There
are many opportunities for students to make personal connections and reflect on the work
from the perspective of writers.
Activities
Use this activity to engage all types of learners, while requiring that they refer to and
incorporate details from the text over the course of the activity.
ACTIVITY 1: “Make a Habit Plan”
In this activity, students create a habit plan or system of habits that will help them improve
performance or align with a desired identity in one specific aspect of their lives.
Select an aspect of your life that would benefit from better habits. Follow Clear’s principles to
create a system of habits that will lead to your success. Your plan should focus on one
aspect of your life and include at least 3 habits that will set you up for long-term gains.
Your plan should address all four laws of behavior change.

Share your plan with a small group or partner. Explain exactly which of Clear’s principles
you employed to create your plan and why you think the plan will work for you.
When you’ve finished, take action, and don’t forget to reflect!
After a set amount of time employing your plan (such as 1 week), return to your small
group or partner and summarize what you experienced. Discuss the parts of the plan you
feel are effective, and parts you might like to change.
Share with the larger group the ways in which your plan’s potential for success might impact
you in the long-term.
Teaching Suggestion: This activity is purposely crafted to be open-ended so that students can
apply their learning in a practical manner. Teachers might encourage students to share their
plans with a partner or in small groups for feedback and reflection or to create accountability
partners in the learning environment. To standardize the activity, teachers might select the
area of focus (i.e., physical fitness, mental wellness, study habits, etc.) for students. This
activity will give students an opportunity to engage with all three themes: The Habit Loop, The
Importance of Identity, and Systems Versus Goals.

Differentiation Suggestion: For students who might benefit from support with exercises in
self-reflection and abstract thinking, teachers might provide a graphic organizer that includes
the main elements of Clear’s principles: identity, implementation intentions, and the laws that
connect to the habit loop (make it obvious, make it attractive, make it easy, and make it
satisfying). For additional support, consider the alternative activity below.
ACTIVITY 1A: “Make a Habit Plan”
As an alternative, students advise about a system of habits that will support a hypothetical
person to keep a New Year’s Resolution.
Consuela has made a New Year’s resolution to read more books. What advice would you give
her about creating a system of habits that would support her to read more?
Your advice should address all four of Clear’s laws of behavior change (make it obvious,
make it attractive, make it easy, and make it satisfying).
Include any additional advice from Clear’s book that you think might help Consuela stick
to her New Year’s resolution.
Teaching Suggestion: Consider using this activity as a way to support students who need
support with abstract thinking and self-reflection. This activity allows students to apply what
they have learned without the need to reveal potentially personal details.
Essay Questions
Use these essay questions as writing and critical thinking exercises for all levels of writers,
and to build their literary analysis skills by requiring textual references throughout the essay.
Differentiation Suggestion: For English learners or struggling writers, strategies that work
well include graphic organizers, sentence frames or starters, group work, or oral responses.
Scaffolded Essay Questions

Student Prompt: Write a short (1-3 paragraph) response using one of the bulleted outlines
below. Cite details from the text over the course of your response that serve as examples and
support.
1. Clear’s book utilizes a unique structure, where each new chapter has new page numbers.
What does this unique structural choice communicate to readers? How does Clear’s
writing pattern reflect his thinking patterns? (topic sentence)
Point out and discuss other elements of the book that reveal how Clear thinks based on
how he presents his ideas.
In your conclusion, reflect on how your own writing, or that of someone you admire,
reveals your unique pattern of thinking.
2. Clear’s work is popular because it makes complex ideas about habit formation accessible
to people from all walks of life. It also includes new and interesting information about how we
can all form better habits and stick to them.
Which of Clear’s ideas subverts what you previously thought you knew about habits?
(topic sentence)
Select 2-3 of Clear’s principles and describe how they expand, contradict, and make
things you previously learned about habits more concrete and applicable.
In your conclusion, describe how you might apply this information to your life in the near
future.
Full Essay Assignments
Student Prompt: Write a structured and well-developed essay. Include a thesis statement, at
least three main points supported by text details, and a conclusion.
1. Clear often uses anecdotes, scientific studies, quotes, and historical stories to illustrate his
points. Select one chapter from the book and analyze how effective Clear’s examples are as
support for his arguments and principles. As a reader, how well are you persuaded by his
writing technique and research presentation?

2. Clear points out that fear of failure, taking on too much at a time, or expecting perfection
and success right away are major inhibitors to forming strong habit systems. Write a personal
narrative essay about a time you encountered one of these stumbling blocks. What
happened? What did you learn? Because this is a narrative essay, focus on storytelling rather
than explaining. Use narrative and literary devices to help tell your story. See if you can
answer the question without overtly stating the challenge or the lesson.
Cumulative Exam Questions
Multiple Choice and Long Answer questions create ideal opportunities for whole-book review,
unit exam, or summative assessments.
Multiple Choice
1. Which of the following is an example of a cue?

A) Setting out to take an evening walk
B) Crossing out a clue on a puzzle
C) Checking a phone notification
D) Seeing the sun go down
2. Which of the following is required to end the habit cycle?

A) Achieving the goal
B) A successful try
C) A satisfied craving
D) A ringing bell
3. Which of the following is an example of making a habit obvious?

A) Setting a daily alarm in your phone to workout
B) Putting out workout clothes the night before
C) Making a sign that points to the hand weights
D) Writing a note to yourself on the mirror
4. Which of the following is an example of making a habit easy?

A) Canceling a Netflix subscription to avoid excess TV
B) Tying a bandana on before a workout
C) Joining a gym that is five minutes from home

D) All of the above
5. Which of the following is an example of making a habit satisfying?

A) Writing a thank-you letter to yourself yearly
B) Saving cheat day for once a month
C) Putting a checkmark on a habit tracker
D) Attending a social event as a weekly reward
6. Sherise decides that she wants to write a novel as a way of achieving her dreams. She sets
out to write one chapter a week but fails to establish the habit. Which of the following is the
best advice to give her based on Clear’s ideas about identity and atomic habits?
A) Sherise could start by realizing she is a writer already and committing to writing 2 minutes
per day.
B) Sherise should use a habit tracker to check off when she’s finished a chapter each week.
C) Sherise should sell all her clothes, forcing herself to stay home and write until the novel is
finished.
D) Sherise would be more successful if she wrote the novel on a computer rather than on
paper.
7. Charles wants to create a system of habits rooted in his morning hygiene routines, making
more time for self-care. He buys a bunch of new face creams but often forgets to use them
all. Which statement below is sound advice rooted in Clear’s ideas about habit formation?
A) Charles should set a habit intention and repeat it aloud to himself every night before bed.
B) Charles should put a sign up above his mirror to remind him of all the reasons why he
needs face creams.
C) Charles should make sure his habit system includes a satisfactory reward, like the face
creams smelling good.
D) Charles should give some of the face creams to a friend to serve as an accountability
partner.
8. Clear uses the example of the low rates of heroin-addicted Vietnam veterans returning to
drug use after rehab to illustrate which of his 4 Laws of Behavior Change (for breaking a
habit)?
A) Make it invisible.
B) Make it unattractive.
C) Make it difficult.

D) Make it unsatisfying.
9. Victor Hugo’s locking himself away with no clothing to wear is an example of which of the
following 4 Laws of Behavior Change?
A) Make it obvious.
B) Make it attractive.
C) Make it easy.
D) Make it satisfying.
10. Twyla Tharp’s habit of calling a cab to take her to the gym is an example of which of the
following?
A) The Two-Minute Rule
B) Repetition Over Motivation
C) The Yo-Yo Effect
D) Plateau of Latent Potential
11. An entrepreneur wants to wake up at 7:00am every morning. To motivate himself, he sets
up an automatic payment of $10 to a charity to go out at 7:05am. If he is not awake to cancel
it, he spends money before he earns it each day. Which of Clear’s 4 Laws of Behavior Change
does this illustrate?
A) Make it invisible.
B) Make it unattractive.
C) Make it difficult.
D) Make it unsatisfying.
12. Why are systems better than goals?

A) Goals are too difficult to achieve.
B) Systems allow for refinement and change over time.
C) Systems help people stay on the Plateau of Latent Potential.
D) None of the above
13. Which of these best exemplifies the Yo-Yo Effect?

A) Gilberto decides to write a novel; once he achieves the goal, he finds it difficult to keep
writing.
B) Sheryl loves popcorn but can’t have it anymore. She quits for a little while, eats popcorn
one time, then successfully never has it again.

C) Kristofersen checks boxes on his habit tracker and notices he only manages to get all his
boxes checked every other day.
D) Elena opens a new restaurant, and the clientele only come in high volumes twice a week,
Wednesdays and Saturdays.
14. Choose the best example of habit stacking below.

A) Setting a goal to practice cello and do a five-mile run back-to-back.
B) Putting fruit on the kitchen counter next to the chips.
C) Setting an intention to floss your teeth after you brush them every night.
D) Creating a stack of habit-tracking journals for easy access
15. What role does pride play in habit formation?

A) Pride motivates. It feels good to be good at something, we pursue habits that we are good
at more easily.
B) Pride distracts. When we don’t get things done perfectly, we get frustrated and upset.
Habits become unattractive and di)ficult.
C) Pride is neutral. It can help or it can harm, but social contracts with others are the most
important of all.
D) None of the above
Long Answer
Compose a response of 2-3 sentences, incorporating text details to support your response.
1. Why does Clear rely on the analogy of atoms to describe his habit system?
2. What role does identity play in habit formation?
Exam Answer Key
Multiple Choice
1. D (Chapter 3)
2. C (Chapter 3)
3. B (Chapter 5)
4. C (Chapters 11 and 12)
5. C (Chapters 15 and 16)

6. A (Various chapters)
7. C (Various chapters)
8. A (Chapter 7)
9. C (Chapter 13)
10. A (Chapter 13)
11. D (Various chapters)
12. B (Various chapters)
13. A (Various chapters)
14. C (Chapter 5)
15. A (Chapter 2)
Long Answer
1. Atoms are the smallest building blocks of matter. They are somewhat imperceptible, but
when added onto one another they become much larger, just like the small habits that can
lead to large-scale life changes. (Chapters 1-3)
2. Identity can help us stay grounded in the habits we want to make and help us break the
ones we want to dispose of. Based on identity, we can ask ourselves, "What kind of person do
I want to be?" and "What habits does the person I want to be maintain?" Identifying who we
want to be activates our pride and self-esteem. Our investment in the habits we want to
develop increases when our pride and identity are involved. (Various chapters, especially
Chapters 1-7)


Atomic Habits - SuperSummary Study Guide

Uploaded by

Document Information

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Atomic Habits - SuperSummary Study Guide

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

C H A P TER S UM M A RIES & A N A LYS ES 5

The Habit Loop 30

Downloaded by Nini February - ninifeb14@gmail.com

Downloaded by Nini February - ninifeb14@gmail.com

Downloaded by Nini February - ninifeb14@gmail.com

Downloaded by Nini February - ninifeb14@gmail.com

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapter 1 Summary: “The Surprising Power of Atomic Habits”

Downloaded by Nini February - ninifeb14@gmail.com

Downloaded by Nini February - ninifeb14@gmail.com

Chapter 3 Summary: “How to Build Better Habits in 4 Simple Steps”

Downloaded by Nini February - ninifeb14@gmail.com

Breakthrough moments are the outcome of previous smaller actions. Improving by 1% is a

Downloaded by Nini February - ninifeb14@gmail.com

Chapter 4 Summary: “The Man Who Didn’t Look Right”

Downloaded by Nini February - ninifeb14@gmail.com

Chapter 5 Summary: “The Best Way to Start a New Habit”

Downloaded by Nini February - ninifeb14@gmail.com

Chapter 6 Summary: “Motivation is Overrated; Environment Often Matters More”

Downloaded by Nini February - ninifeb14@gmail.com

Chapter 7 Summary: “The Secret to Self-Control”

Downloaded by Nini February - ninifeb14@gmail.com

Chapters 4-7 Analysis

Downloaded by Nini February - ninifeb14@gmail.com

Chapter 8 Summary: “How to Make a Habit Irresistible”

Downloaded by Nini February - ninifeb14@gmail.com

Downloaded by Nini February - ninifeb14@gmail.com

Chapters 8-10 Analysis

Downloaded by Nini February - ninifeb14@gmail.com

Chapter 11 Summary: “Walk Slowly, but Never Backward”

Downloaded by Nini February - ninifeb14@gmail.com

Chapter 12 Summary: “The Law of Least Effort”

Downloaded by Nini February - ninifeb14@gmail.com

Chapter 13 Summary: “How to Stop Procrastinating by Using the Two-Minute Rule”

Downloaded by Nini February - ninifeb14@gmail.com

Chapters 11-14 Analysis

Downloaded by Nini February - ninifeb14@gmail.com

Chapter 15 Summary: “The Cardinal Rule of Behavior Change”

Downloaded by Nini February - ninifeb14@gmail.com

Chapter 16 Summary: “How to Stick with Good Habits Every Day”

Downloaded by Nini February - ninifeb14@gmail.com

Chapter 17 Summary: “How an Accountability Partner Can Change Everything”

Chapters 15-17 Analysis

Downloaded by Nini February - ninifeb14@gmail.com

Downloaded by Nini February - ninifeb14@gmail.com

Downloaded by Nini February - ninifeb14@gmail.com

Chapter 20 Summary: “The Downside of Creating Good Habits”

Downloaded by Nini February - ninifeb14@gmail.com

Conclusion Summary: “The Secret to Results That Last”

Chapter 18-Conclusion Analysis

Downloaded by Nini February - ninifeb14@gmail.com

Downloaded by Nini February - ninifeb14@gmail.com

Downloaded by Nini February - ninifeb14@gmail.com

The Habit Loop

Downloaded by Nini February - ninifeb14@gmail.com

The Importance of Identity

Downloaded by Nini February - ninifeb14@gmail.com

Systems Versus Goals

Downloaded by Nini February - ninifeb14@gmail.com

Downloaded by Nini February - ninifeb14@gmail.com

Downloaded by Nini February - ninifeb14@gmail.com

Downloaded by Nini February - ninifeb14@gmail.com

Downloaded by Nini February - ninifeb14@gmail.com