Here’s a little secret about me: I’m a huge self-improvement nerd. Some of my favorite pastimes are going onto YouTube and learning productivity techniques.
Over the past 5 years, I have seen it all: from Pomodoros to habits to time blocking. I’ve learned all of these from productivity YouTubers such as Thomas Frank and Matt D’Avella.
And these two had been saying a lot about a certain book. A book that has been praised as one of the best self-improvement books of all time. A book so good that many “BookTok” (the side of TikTok populated by book-related accounts and videos) users praised it.
The book is Atomic Habits by James Clear.
Since I was attempting to read a book a week, I thought I should give this a read because…
- Almost everyone gave it 5/5 stars.
- It will help me build a reading habit to help me reach my goal.
So I gave it a read.
The book covers many topics on habit formation (i.e. cue, routine, and reward) and gives simple tips on how to break or build habits in easy-to-read chapters. Each tip or concept is broken down in each chapter. This allows the reader to easily go back to a certain section and remember a concept or tip.
While learning concepts to improve one’s life is important, it isn’t as important as putting those concepts into action. Atomic Habits solves this problem by providing readers with a full guide on how to successfully build good habits and break bad habits.
After finishing the book, I felt a tiny bit disappointed. Sure, the concepts in it were great, but there wasn’t anything new that I could use in my own life.
At first, I gave it 4/5 stars, but I soon realized something that changed my opinion:
The book summed up 5 years of (my) research in 256 pages that someone could devour in 2-3 days. I changed my review to 5/5 stars as a result.
If you want to find the most helpful information and actionable steps on habits, this is your book.
— Billy Wikol
