Atomic Habits by James Clear taught me a lot of ways to better micromanage my daily habits for both short- and long-term benefits that I have already begun to implement into my daily life cycles. The book itself feels very similar to that of a Malcolm Gladwell book, in that it utilizes a plethora of anecdotes that Clear constantly refers back to in order to drive some of the points he is speaking of. He created a system of four steps to create good habits in anybody’s daily routines, and the variance in the way they work helps to cement that all people can benefit from this system, as every person’s minds all differ greatly in the ways they work. The four ways to develop habits are to make them obvious, attractive, easy, and satisfying.

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While going through this book, I began to mark down ways that I could benefit off of the teachings after each chapter. I first began implementing habits by attaching them to things I already did in my daily cycle. I began to latch activities such as doing fifty pushups right before I completed my already recurring habit of showering, as well as reading every night before I go to bed to limit my phone screen time.

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The way that works best for me to implement his teachings into my life come from the point of making the habit attractive. By telling myself that I can not partake in events that I want to do, like watching a time-consuming baseball game at night, until I have earned the right to by being active and productive before it, I find myself becoming increasingly more and more productive everyday by utilizing my desire to watch the game to motivate me.

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My bad habits also became apparent inside of this book. I began to see small things that I would do that I found to be normal as negative towards my personal growth and development, to create a mindset where I can be more efficient with my time in ways that I enjoy.

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Reworking the way that I see every little action I do in my life everyday allowed me to see every habit I partake in and begin to evaluate the benefits they offer me. This book greatly pushed me to want to become the best version of myself.

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I think this was a very good book for me to finish reading right before the beginning of my junior year at college. Although I have been quite busy this summer with an internship and other commitments, it is easy to let the free time I did have slip away from me without me being able to partially utilize it to better myself. Being able to carry over this newfound motivational system will make my transition back into the hardships of school much cleaner and I am very happy I read this book right when I did.