HABITS, THE SEQUEL

Photo by Nik on Unsplash

In my last post, I said I would talk more about habits, and mine in particular. In regards to what the author James Clear has to say about habits in his book, Atomic Habits, now that I have finished reading it, this post will be sort of a book review. I'll review it so you don't have to read it yourself, although you really should, as every person will gain something different.

The book is studded with pithy little observations, which grab your attention, so much so that you could imagine them being printed on a mug. Things like “Habits are the compound interest of self improvement.” I'd buy that mug! But then, I'm a sucker for anything that comes down the self improvement pipeline.

One thing mentioned in the book is one of those concepts you realize that you've always known, but you needed somebody to point it out to you. That is: how much your environment affects you, and how easy or difficult it can be to weld a habit onto your brain based on your surroundings.

It makes sense that the more chaotic your life, the more you need some habits to shore you up, productivity-wise.

To illustrate this point in the world of writing, examine this scenario. You want to write, except you can't find that bit of research you did yesterday. Or, in order to write, you have to find the laptop, clear a space on the table, find the notes, and then, then, get down to it. Although once sitting down, you'll find you need to make a cup of coffee first. And maybe the dog needs to go for a walk?

Ah, the delaying tactics!

Not that I've done that, of course. I don't have a dog. If I had a laptop, I think I'd find it needed to be charged, or something. (Or my husband had left it in some weird place so I had to go search for it.) Any problems, always blame the husband!

Yet, we've all had good days of writing from time to time, and when we think back on it, what made it work? Maybe the stars were aligned that day, but in order for it to become not just a “once in a while” occurrence, sometimes we have to actively “invite” the stars to line up.

What James Clear has to say about the formation of “making the stars line up” or the equivalent, is the following:

Make the habit obvious, attractive, easy, and finally, satisfying. Why didn't I think of that?

Naturally, a day of producing good work is satisfying. Whether or not anyone else thinks so at this moment is beside the point. If it has been satisfying to you, that is what makes all the difference. It enables you to want to do it again.

My habit of writing in the morning is based on it being easy (the desk top is always in the same place) and if I want to “grease the writing wheels” I have to do the obvious, and, well, sit down and write. Especially while the brain is still “fresh”.

It's not that I can't write later in the day, but it has the tendency to come out like mud with leaves stuck to it. It's just words, cobbled together, and it reads like mud that a truck has run over. So, I've learned if I want to write (or I'm on deadline) just do it first thing. Leave the morning TV programs alone. Leave the going out for coffee till the afternoon. Leave anything and everything (except the exercise bike) alone until I've sat down and channelled off some writing.

Does it work? It works for me, but there are others who need time to warm up. They write better in the afternoon, or when the owls are out. To each his own, but the trick, of course, is to know what “your own” looks like.

James Clear also advocates “habit tracking”, which is basically keeping track of what you've done. I do this by having a separate diary in which I record what I've written and who I've spoken to, and (heaven help me) even the number of old emails I've deleted. I will latch onto any accomplishment, however small!

But James Clear also thinks celebrating small achievements is a good thing. Especially when that's all you can call progress that day.

A lot of people would find this tedious to the “n-th” degree. And it is, obviously, a form of record keeping. That whole routine is something wild spirits want to avoid like a case of hives. Perhaps there's another route for them to achieve the same results. I don't know, never having been much of wild child myself. As I wrote in my last post, being a unsupervised wild child on a farm with dangerous equipment might have lead to a very short childhood.

In Chapter 14, I did find the story of the writer Victor Hugo, who wrote The Hunchback of Notre Dame very enlightening. It was one I'd not heard before.

Victor Hugo had promised his publisher a new book in 12 months. However, instead of writing, Victor had spent the whole year having fun, living the high life, and not working. The publisher was tired of this nonsense and gave him 6 months to basically “pull up his socks and produce the goods” or that would be the end of a beautiful friendship. (Or that was the gist of it.)

Forced to actually knuckle down, Victor got his man servant (those were the days!) to lock away all his clothes in a trunk and he had only a shawl to keep out those Parisian drafts. It focused his mind sharply and he produced the book two weeks ahead of schedule. I suppose in addition to the white fury of his inspiration, he wanted something warm to wear, as he finished the book on January 14, 1831.

So, the question becomes, how to be productive without a man servant and the bite of a Parisian winter?

I guess the short answer (and the most obvious one) is to find what works for you and rinse and repeat. The trick is to remember what works and not go off and try to re-invent the wheel.

There isn't a chapter in the book Atomic Habits which I would say is a waste of time reading. The whole thing trundles along nicely, even though what he is saying is mainly common sense writ large. The things you already suspected, but just didn't do. Or didn't realize how important it was to do them.

I did love some of the chapter titles, such as How to Make Good Habits Inevitable and Bad Habits Impossible. That's the chapter that contained the Victor Hugo story, so the “rules” of good habits are fed to you in an entertaining manner.

So, my own good habits are daily writing, and record keeping of what I've done. As far as my bad habits, I have one in particular that I seem to do over and over and over, but that's fodder for another Substack post in the future. Interestingly, Clear covered that one as well in the book.

In conclusion, how are you doing with your habits? Is there anything in particular that seems to work for you? What works against you? I've heard the excuse, “life got in the way” used frequently. Is that yours? I'd love to hear about a good habit that James Clear didn't know about!

Until the post next Monday, I would be grateful for any comments you'd like to share. Even if they aren't flattering. Of course, I prefer the flattering kind, that is if you have any!