Atomic Habits is a book that I have been revisiting on the past few months because I feel like I have been lacking a little bit on my habits. Right now I am reviewing chapter 6 of the book. Atomic Habits is made by James clear who is an American writer, speaker, and expert on habit formation and he is best known for his bestselling book Atomic Habits the book I’m reading now. Atomic habits is a guide made by James about how small and consistent changes in behavior can lead to remarkable personal and professional improvements over time. the book is 20 chapters long with five major parts also know as the 4 laws which are Make it Obvious, CH 4-7, Make it attractive CH 8-10, Make it Easy CH 11-14, and Make it satisfying CH 15-20. Each chapter focuses on a specific principle, example, or strategy for building or breaking habits. The quotation that i have chosen to do today come from chapter 7 and in this quotation James explained how doing a action repeatedly is better than theorizing about things.
“each time you repeat an action, you are activating a particular neural circuit associated with that habit. This means that simply putting in your reps is one of the most critical steps you can take to encoding a new habit. It is why students who took tons of photos improved their skills while those who merely theorized about perfect photos did not. One group engaged in activity practice, the other in passive learning.. One in action, the other in motion”(page 144).
What James means by this quotation is that it is much better doing and repeating and action that thinking over and over again how to do it perfectly. You will get better as you work. For example most kids who play basketball are usually right handed but the left hand is just as important for inside the paint. So some people will think about what is the best way that they can get better with their left hand. While other people go to the court and shoot hundreds and thousands of shots every day to get better at something. Over a little bit of time they will become perfect at what they were trying to accomplish by doing it over and over again repeatedly. That is what he means by this quotation.