The most impactful book I've ever read about habits was The Power of Habit....and then Atomic Habits came along. James takes everything I loved about The Power of Habit and expands on it here. The book is chock full of real, practical, and actional advice anyone can take to add more good habits and tweak bad habits over the long term.I was able to listen to a copy and James is a clear narrator who tells an interesting story. He mixes the perfect blend of science and stories to get the point across and make you feel like creating new habits is not some daunting task only for special people but for anyone. I found myself nodding along as I listened and stopped it at least a dozen times to take notes.I got at least 4-5 'a-ha' moments about building habits that shattered the conventional wisdom I'd always thought about before. From realizing that I've been approaching will-power the wrong way and the question that I should ask myself next time I want to lose weight or work out.I've been thinking about Atomic Habits since I finished it and cannot wait to dig into it again. I've been recommending it to everyone.

I enjoyed reading this book and it definitely brought together a lot of the ideas that exist around habits. I think it provides a great synopsis and will prove valuable if you actually want to implement good habits. The book gives every angle to habits including creating an identity to compare your habits against to making habits more attractive. If you attack your habits from every angle this book provides I imagine it will be much easier to create and sustain something. If you haven't already read a lot about habits I highly recommend this book. If you already have some knowledge about habits it may not be quite as valuable, but can definitely serve as a habit bible if you've had trouble executing on creating habits.

Here's how traditional self-development works in a nutshell:1. The person or a third-party identify a weak area or something "bad" that needs to be immediately fixed.2. The person with the problem comes into contact with the knowledge that can help, motivation ensues.3. The person tries to strong-arm their way through the problem to reach some nebulous end-state.4. The person achieves temporary enlightenment as their goals are achieved or are in the process of being achieved.5. The person loses motivation after a period of time, they start to slip, they end up backsliding into their old ways.6. The person becomes upset with self, wondering why they can't do what they want to do.7. The person starts again, this time with a new method.That cycle of madness ends with this book. Atomic Habits is the key to following through with the methods in all of those other books and programs.The Power of Habit was the cultural awakening. This is the deepening of those lessons in that book.It is by far the best framework that I've seen giving you a way to build great habits. This book is actionable, it's insightful, and it offers ways around your rationalizations so that your habit will begin to lock in and be easier and easier to perform.The best parts of this book:- Why habits and identity are a chicken-and-egg feedback loop with no beginning or end- Why goals are a terrible metric and target for success- Why certain habits are reinforced while others are downplayed- The inevitability of friction in daily life and how to minimize or reduce that friction- How to keep awareness as you begin to integrate a habit and use it as a jumping off point for mastery- The little lessons at the end of the book (the most pragmatic part, little nuggets that can be put into play immediately)If you study this book and implement it, your life will change bit by bit until you're a new person doing new things in a new environment.That sounds worth the price of admission to me. Pick it up, you won't regret it.

Of course to go way way back before it was written, I'd have to have invented time travel. But who knows - if I really follow the wonderful directions in this book, I might.I've already roared through this book delighting in finding many great paths, suggestions, ideas, etc. that make so much sense. Now I'll slowly go through it again, prioritizing the many habits I'd like to change to improve my life and I expect to be able to do many of them. But my question remains - wouldn't it have been great to have had this with most of my life still ahead?So my advice is to buy it quick and get started. It's appealing but best of all - doable. Just think how much better you and your life will be when you start doing XXX and stop doing YYYY.

Atomic Habits has really made me think about how I live my life and what habits are leading me to success or hindering my progress. The saying “we are all creatures of habit” is something I have heard all my life. This book strongly brings that point home with clear cut examples.