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FreshNet, LLC Business and Marketing
It's 2025 and I'm guessing that like me, you're setting goals of what you want to achieve this year.
And that's a great thing.
With so much trial and error in the journey, I've learned some important things about my ability to achieve my goals, but here's the biggest thing:
My ability to achieve goals in life is directly tied to my habits, as they shape my daily actions, compound over time, and ultimately, determine my success or failure.
I learned this the day I finished Chapter 1 of the book Atomic Habits, by James Clear. In this blog, I'm going to give you the "cliff notes" of the book, but I highly recommend you read the book for yourself.
Let's dive in.
Using Atomic Habits to Help You Achieve Your Goals in Life
In Atomic Habits, James Clear reveals how small, consistent changes can lead to remarkable transformations over time. The book starts by introducing the Four Laws of Behavior Change:
Make it Obvious - Design your environment to cue positive habits.
Make it Attractive - Pair habits with rewards to make them enjoyable.
Make it Easy - Simplify habits to reduce friction and start small.
Make it Satisfying - Celebrate progress to reinforce the habit.
Clear emphasizes focusing on systems rather than goals and building habits that align with the person you want to become. He says that when you adopt "identity-based habits" and trusting the power of small improvements, you can break bad habits, form good ones, and achieve lasting success.
Atomic Habits is a blueprint for anyone ready to start 2025 with better habits and develop the skills to actually reach their goals.
Let's dive into each section of the book extract the gold nuggets that can change your life forever.
The Four Laws of Behavior Change
These laws—making habits obvious, attractive, easy, and satisfying—provide a straightforward method to align daily actions with long-term goals. By designing your environment, reducing effort, and reinforcing positive behavior, you can create a system that naturally supports your ability to achieve goals in life. Let's look closer at each one.
Cue – Make it Obvious
Summary: Design your environment to clearly show reminders of the habits you want to build.
Example: Put your workout clothes by your bed if you want to exercise in the morning.
Craving – Make it Attractive
Summary: Pair a habit you need to do with one you enjoy to make it irresistible.
Example: Listen to your favorite podcast only while working out.
Response – Make it Easy
Summary: Simplify your habits by reducing friction and lowering barriers.
Example: Prepare healthy snacks in advance to avoid reaching for junk food.
Reward – Make it Satisfying
Summary: Reinforce your habits by celebrating small wins and enjoying the results.
Example: Mark a big “X” on a calendar each day you complete your habit.
Advanced Techniques for Habit Formation
How do you build habits that stick? Here are some deeper strategies to build habits that last, helping you achieve goals in life. These techniques include Habit Stacking, where new habits are anchored to existing ones, and the Two-Minute Rule, which encourages starting small to build momentum. Clear also emphasizes Identity-Based Habits, shifting your focus to becoming the type of person who naturally embodies your goals.
By understanding concepts like the Plateau of Latent Potential, you learn to stay consistent, trusting that progress will compound over time. These methods refine your approach to creating habits that lead to long-term success.
Let's see an overview of each one:
Habit Stacking
Summary: Attach a new habit to an existing one.
Example: After brushing your teeth, do five minutes of journaling.
Two-Minute Rule
Summary: Start small by committing to just two minutes of a habit to build momentum.
Example: Want to write a book? Start by writing one sentence per day.
Identity-Based Habits
Summary: Shift your focus to becoming the type of person who embodies the habit.
Example: Instead of saying, "I want to run," say, "I am a runner."
The Plateau of Latent Potential
Summary: Stay consistent, even when progress seems slow; the breakthrough will come.
Example: Trust that the effort you put in today will pay off tomorrow.
Avoiding Pitfalls
It's important to uncover the common challenges in habit formation and how to overcome them to achieve goals in life. Clear warns about the Valley of Disappointment, where progress feels slow, urging consistency and patience. He stresses focusing on systems, not just goals, as systems ensure sustainable success. To break bad habits, Clear recommends inverting the Four Laws of Behavior Change—making bad habits invisible, unattractive, difficult, and unsatisfying. By understanding and addressing these pitfalls, you can stay on track and build habits that truly support your goals.
Beware of the Valley of Disappointment
Summary: Progress is often invisible at first, so don’t give up too soon.
Example: Keep going even if you don’t see immediate weight loss from exercising.
Focus on Systems, Not Goals
Summary: Create repeatable systems to ensure long-term success, instead of relying solely on goals.
Example: Commit to writing daily rather than focusing only on completing a novel.
Break Bad Habits by Inverting the Laws
Summary: Make bad habits invisible, unattractive, difficult, and unsatisfying.
Example: Remove junk food from your home to discourage mindless snacking.
Closing Thoughts
Small changes today create massive results tomorrow. Focus on improving just 1% each day, and your habits will compound into big changes. Start with one habit that aligns with your 2025 goals, trust the process, and celebrate small wins along the way. Remember, it’s the consistent, daily actions that lead to remarkable, long-term success.
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