Well over 3 million people have read Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones by James Clear.
It's a book that has brought habit design and the hope of successful behavior change to our cultural conversation.
But when I created an online book club with the book's release in 2018, I was surprised to learn so many readers were still struggling with breaking bad habits after reading the book.
Today, the online book club is just shy of 12,000 members and what I've discovered is no matter the location on the planet or the demographic of the person, change is hard. While the book is a fantastic primer on habit design, it's only the beginning. It's a jumping off point.
Here's a recent post by one member:
"I need help. I need to break a bad habit of mine. Whether it is procrastinating or rationalizing I'm not sure, but I have this script/voice in my head that has a history of delaying me from moving to action.
The script is something like, 'I have to do this first before I am allowed to do that.'
I hate these irrational scripts that sometimes run in my head. Time is forcing me to move to action, BUT I don't want it to be another last-minute time element that forces me to move past this script!
How do you manage irrational scripts/voices that tell you can't do something because this has to happen first... kind of things?
Can I create a new script that will counteract the irrational one?
What do you do?"
Over 20 people responded with ideas and encouragement. The responses included stories of how they overcame their own similar struggle as well as way to apply Atomic Habits to her situation. All very inspiring.
What became clear is you have to find the right levers for change for you. Levers help you decrease the amount of effort you need for a given job. In Atomic Habits, Clear offers practical strategy levers that are relatable and doable for nearly anyone.
While the methods in Atomic Habits are easy to understand, they are often hard to consistently put into practice, which is why the support of the online book club group has proven valuable for many.
The group pulls on levers such as community support and ideas on personalizing a solution to your individual problem, which the book alone can't offer. Seeing how others overcome their individual challenges offers continued inspiration and enforces the self-talk that change is possible.
Even more levers come with cohort-based courses (CBCs). As I wrote about last month, this unique blend of built-in accountability of fixed start and end dates, active learning, and community support make CBCs a powerful and effective transformative experience.
With building and breaking habits, it's about finding the right levers for where you are in your stage of change.
If you're interested in joining the Atomic Habits online book club, be sure to answer the survey questions and agree to the group rules. Hundreds of people request to join each week and the admin approves these people more quickly.