Atomic Habits - Book Review

There's so much I want to say about this book. I placed sticky tabs on so many pages and filled 4.5 pages of notes in my book journal. I'd like to thank Simple Scrapper for picking this book as one of its 2019 book club books, otherwise I would never have known that this book existed.

It's all about making new good habits and breaking old bad habits, and doing it in an easy way. There are four steps to making new habits (as well as four inverse steps for the bad ones), and it all totally makes sense. If you're going to stick with your habits, you need a system where the habits are obvious, attractive, easy, and satisfying.

You probably always hear that it takes 30 days to create a new habit. Well, according to Clear, it's not how long you do it, it's how many times. You could attempt your habit five times during those 30 days, but will five times be enough to get you to do the habit past the 30 days? Five times is a little different than 30 times.

In terms of scrapbooking, I definitely saw applications, especially if you're in a creative funk. For instance, Clear recommends switching your work station to a different room to help you think more creatively. I think this is totally true, as my Super Bowl Sunday scrap-a-ganza proved. When I brought my stuff upstairs to watch TV with my husband, I got five layouts done in one night!

It's also helpful when you are part of a community whose behavior is the normal behavior you want to emulate. Joining scrapbook communities online or attending in-real-life crops is definitely a way to join up with people who have something in common with you.

You also don't want to break the chain of creating every day. The author literally wrote the word "creating". I don't scrapbook every day, but maybe I should in order to keep those creative juices flowing and catch up on all the pictures I still have to scrap.

And then something that I know Simple Scrapper does but that Clear also recommends to keep yourself in check is to have an annual review and ask yourself what worked, what didn't work, and what you learned. In terms of scrapbooking, I know that there are things I'm always learning about techniques and tools, and not everything works for me the way it does for others. Sometimes it's good to just step back and reassess what I want to do instead of what I feel like I should be doing.

If you haven't read this book but you're looking to make a change in your life this year, whether it's scrapbooking, working out, writing, or whatever, I would highly recommend reading it. I waited a long time to get this one from the library, so you may find yourself on a long waiting list, too. But it's definitely worth it.