Success is the product of daily actions that create the dynamics to ignite a breakthrough
The book Atomic Habits challenges the notion that setting big goals is the key to success. Instead, James Clear advocates developing systems that help you create habits that will increase your chances of success. The simplest system to develop is one that helps you accumulate small 1% improvements each day, which eventually leads to substantial results.
The book begins with the famous story of the British cycling team and its coach, Dave Brailsford, who was brought in to turn the team around after nearly 100 years of repeated setbacks. Brailsford’s philosophy was an unwavering commitment to what he referred to as “aggregation of marginal gains.” He looked for tiny margins of improvement in every little detail of riding a bike. So, he made small adjustments such as redesigning the seats, coating the tires with alcohol for better grip, equipping the riders with heated shorts to maintain ideal muscle temperature during the race, … In addition, Brailsford and his team continued to find 1% improvements in overlooked and unexpected areas. Finally, thanks to all these small improvements, after “almost 100 years of mediocrity”, the British cycling team won 60% of the gold medals in London and the Tour de France 5 times in 6 years!
Minor improvements
We fail to create good habits because humans tend to be convinced that massive success requires massive action.
Therefore, we easily underestimate the value of making minor improvements, like going on a morning run each day. But the benefits will accumulate since the habit is repeated daily. James Clear shows us why incremental changes can have a big impact. He explains that 1% of personal improvement each day means you’ll be 37 times better by the same time next year. Here’s the math: 1.01 to the power of 365 days is 37.78 (or 37 times better). That’s how small, everyday improvements become atomic habits that help you reach your goals.
The aggregation of marginal gains
Habits are the compound interest of self-improvement. The same way money multiplies through compound interest, the effects of your habits multiply as you repeat them. They seem to make little difference on any given day and yet the impact they deliver over the months and years can be enormous” — James Clear
Success is the product of daily habits, not a once in a lifetime transformation.
Daily habits do not produce immediate positive results, as results will always lag behind habits, e.g., your net worth is a lagging metric of your financial habits. In fact, habits often don’t seem to make a difference until you cross a threshold and unlock a new level of performance.
In the early and middle stages of any quest, there is often a sense of disappointment, a feeling of not going anywhere. Because habits fail to give humans the immediate gratification they crave, we often give up.
That moment marks the plateau of our latent potential. We just need to keep persevering long enough to break through this plateau. If you are struggling it does not mean that you have lost the ability to improve, but rather that you have not yet crossed the plateau of latent potential. It may take years for change to occur suddenly. This is the human equivalent of geological pressure — 2 tectonic plates can rub against each other for years, with tensions slowly building up, and then one day the earthquake erupts.
Winners and losers have the same goals
If successful and unsuccessful people have the same goals, then the goal cannot be what differentiates the winners from the losers — James Clear
Goals are the result of what you want to achieve. Goals are useful in setting a direction. It is not enough to have goals. If it were, we would all be winners. Whether we succeed or fail depends on the quality of the systems we develop to help us make progress once we have chosen a direction. Systems are the processes that lead to results. For example, if you are a coach, your goal might be to win a championship. Your system is how you recruit players, manage assistant coaches, and run practices.
True long-term thinking is goalless thinking. It is not about any single improvement. It is about the cycle of continuous improvement. Ultimately, it is our commitment to the process that will determine our progress.
One of the central themes of Atomic Habits is that you do not rise to the level of your goals. Instead, you fall back to the level of your systems.
Conclusion
Success is not about reaching a goal or crossing a finish line. Rather, it’s a system to improve, an endless process to refine. The secret of achieving significant results is to keep making improvements. It is amazing the results you can get if you don’t stop. Small habits don’t add up — they compound. It will take time, so we must learn to be patient and have faith.
