Are Your Habits Helping Your or Hurting You?

There are many articles you can read online about habits, the formation of habits, how long it takes to cement a habit, etc. But the most profound, actionable, sustainable, reasonable, and most impactful information I have found comes from Atomic Habits by James Clear. In the smallest, but most significantly sticky ways this book has changed my life for the better, and I have no doubt it can do the same for you.

Lesson 1: Small habits make a big difference.

The idea that James Clear introduces is this idea of getting just 1% better every day.

“It doesn’t matter how successful or unsuccessful you are right now. What matters is whether your habits are putting you on a path towards success.” – James Clear

James goes on to break down the math. Getting 1% better every day leads to a 37% improvement rate at the end of 365 days. On the flip side, getting 1% worse every day will cause you to decline all the way down to 0%.

The people that know me the best know that I hoard paper. I write things down on scraps of paper, and even if there is only one sentence I want to retain on an entire page, I hold onto it until I am able to get back to it. Needless to say, I have a TON of paper that has needed to be dealt with. So how has 1% better everyday worked for me? Think about this, if I handle just one paper a day without adding any new papers to the pile, I’ll have decluttered 365 pieces of paper. The key here is that I am not adding additional papers to the piles; I’m directly working on the existing paper stashes I have. Why does this matter?

Lesson 2: Systems

“Bad habits repeat themselves again and again not because you don’t want to change, but because you have the wrong system for change.

You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems.”

-        James Clear

I personally believe in a combination of both setting goals and the systems to not just accomplish the goal but progress to a VISION. Back to my paper hoarding. What are some root problems? I like writing important things on paper so I can capture it quickly. I’m afraid of losing things in the digital clutter and not being able to find them again. I do not have a system (physical or digital) to access the key information I would like to recall. I do not have a system for moving the information from paper to digital or to move it into action. So what have I had to do? I have had to create systems. I still use paper, but once I write everything down my next step is to do something with it. If something is significant, I circle it, highlight it, underline it, etc. so I have an instant visual reminder of what I want to keep from that paper. Second, I need a place to store the information I want to keep. Currently, I have a digital To Be Read list on my phone, a digital “Words of Encouragement,” where I put quotes, inspiring thoughts, questions, etc., and I have a task spreadsheet on my computer for things that need to be moved into action. Once the key items from the paper are cared for, I trash or shred that paper. Hence, I’m not adding to the pile. I am handling the paper in real time without delay. Examine your problem areas and ask yourself, "What is my process? Where is there a breakdown? What are the areas that precede the breakdown? What system do I need to put in place to fill in these gaps?"

Lesson 3: Build identity-based habits.

“To change your behavior for good, you need to start believing new things about yourself.” – James Clear

This can be very hard for some of us, and may require some healing and possible help from a professional. But, in the case of my paper clutter battle, I started saying something like this: “I am an organized person who puts things where they belong when I am done with them.” This does not work overnight, but the more I repeat something like that the more I think, “What would an organized person do with this piece of paper? This somewhat important piece of mail?” And then I begin to behave accordingly. In the case where I might not know what an organized person does to handle all of life’s papers, I begin to research different organization methods.

When I was trying to get myself out of debt, there was a lot that I had to dive into. I didn’t come from a debt free family, and no one really spoke about finances. I’ve had to do a lot of brain rewiring around my mindset around money, about how to get out of debt, and stay out of debt, etc. The key is that I didn’t try to change everything over night. I simply started with small, reasonable, and sustainable changes. One day at a time. 1% better. (If you missed the free 50-30-20 PDF download, get it here.)

Forming new habits may not be the easiest task in the world, but it is possible. With consistency and determination to get 1% better every day, I am confident you will be able to build the systems needed to get you where you want to be. Dive into James Clear’s book Atomic Habits by securing your copy here.

Find more of James Clear’s key learnings from Atomic Habits by visiting jamesclear.com/atomic-habits-summary.