The Pioneers Club

From Small Steps to Giant Leaps: Inside Atomic Habits with James Clear

• Monika Lerch & Patrick Öffl • Season 2 • Episode 2

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Welcome to our first ever book episode, in which we discuss different books & authors that will give you helpful insights and help you thrive with more ease & clarity.

In this episode, we discuss one of the most requested books so far, Atomic Habits by James Clear. 

How do you build good habits? How do you break bad ones? And how do you deal with the resistance that comes up when trying to change?

Following our last episode, in which we explored how to go about creating change & growth while staying authentic, we are talking about the biggest takeaways from reading James Clear's masterpiece, the 4 key laws that allow you to build good habits, and what to do when it's not that easy to make this change.

You'll learn: 

1:18 - Welcome to our first book episode! This week - Atomic Habits by James Clear

4:13 - Atomic Habits - the power of small, incremental changes to create a big impact

7:33 - Why it's important to consider your own personality & needs when building good habits

9:31 - The four laws of creating good habits and breaking bad ones

11: 26 - How I built the habit of taking cold showers - applying the four laws

16:01 - The power of creating a supportive environment in building good habits

18:41 - How to deal with challenges & resistance when building a new habit

23:10 - A simple strategy that will help you stay on track & realistically optimistic

24:05 - What it means to build an identity & self-image that's aligned with your habits

26:07 - Our conclusion & final takeaways


Also, if you want to book your FREE Breakthrough Coaching Session with me, you can do so here: https://calendly.com/monikalerch-sessionbooking/free-breakthrough-session

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Your Host:
Monika Lerch
https://www.monikalerch.com/
Linkedin: /in/monikalerch/
Instagram: @themonikalerch

Your Co-Host:
Patrick Öffl
https://www.amikifilms.com/
Linkedin: /in/patrickoeffl/
Instagram: @patrickoeffl

Monika This is the Pioneers Club podcast. 

Patrick The community podcast for driven entrepreneurs and leaders. 

Monika Here you can connect with like minded people, create a sense of belonging and gain more agency in your daily life. 

Hi, my name is Monika and I'm your host. I help impact-driven freelancers, entrepreneurs and leaders live their full potential and go from feeling overwhelmed, stuck and confused to being confident, clear-headed and focused as they go after their goals. As a mindset and systemic coach, I focus primarily on topics such as confidence, high performance, self coaching and self leadership and use my mindfulness-based and systemic approach to help my clients thrive with more ease. 

Patrick And I'm your co-host, Patrick, an entrepreneur just like you. I'm an international media producer working on live sports, premium documentaries and digital content. I help people bring their stories to life and work with a global network of partners to create engaging content. I live through the topics of our podcast, just like you, and I will try to ask the questions you might have. 

Monika Welcome to this new episode of the Pioneers Club podcast. We are excited to bring this episode to you because today we are discussing a great experience that we both had, which was reading Atomic Habits by James Clear. 

Patrick Yeah, welcome to our very first book-cast. As we could say, it's quite interesting because we thought we'd take this chance and talk about just one of the, I don't know, how many books you read? I think it's in the hundreds now, should be by now. But I think it's important to talk about these books because especially the book that we're discussing today, James Clear Atomic Habits, has helped me personally very much. And it's also something we wanted to share with our community. What we thought about the book, what the book is all about. Take a look between the covers, so to speak, and give you the most important insights that we had. And maybe that will help you to decide for yourself if you want to read the book. 

Monika Well, it just goes to show why the book is so important, because it has been also one of the most referenced book in the past few years, right? So it has sold more than 15 million copies worldwide. It has been translated into more than 50 languages, and it was over one year on the New York Times bestseller list. So you can imagine what kind of impact such a book must have had on people to achieve these kinds of results. 

Patrick I mean, you can write a book, but there's a difference between writing a book and then a bestseller that's selling that many copies, being translated into that many languages, and being read by so many people and everyone who's read it saying, it's really great. It helped me. 

Monika And this is something that we discussed before now starting our podcast episode, which was why this book actually made such an impact and why it was so valuable, because a lot of the concepts inside are not completely new. These concepts are something that we have heard about a lot. But James Clear managed to put them into words and to explain them in such a way that they are so actionable and so practical that people can finally break through this topic of building good habits or breaking bad ones. And we both know, nurturing good habits, but also building good habits in a way where you recognize what actually means in your situation to build a good habit and how to go about it. And what are the habits that will bring you towards your goals? This is not too easy, so having a guide that give you actionable steps is invaluable. 

And this is something that I discuss a lot with my clients as well. So I am very familiar with these questions and with these topics. And if you struggle with taking focused steps or have trouble defining the systems and the habits that will help you reach your goals and help you reach your desired identity, let's hop on a call. I have a free breakthrough session that is open to you. 

Patrick So let's talk about the book now. And in order to do that, we need to take a step back. Talk about the last episode that we had, which was about change and growth. 

And it's important to highlight how change and growth, as we talked about it last time, where we have this goal in front of us, this higher thing that we want to achieve. And now we talk about a book that's talking about atomic habits, small changes, gradual change. We talked a little bit about it in the last episode, but how are these things actually working together? 

Monika Well, I think that's exactly what we talked about in the last episode, where we discussed how oftentimes it seems like a contradiction to see or to feel where you want to go, to have this huge vision and then to strive towards achieving it, or strive towards getting there by taking big jumps and big changes. And usually this doesn't work this way. Incremental changes are the path that will lead you to consistent and gradual sustainable growth. But how do you actually achieve these incremental changes? That's about then building, as the book discusses the habits and the systems that will carry you towards your goals step by step, every day, one day at a time. 

All the big changes have been a result of gradual, slow shifts, and sometimes this can feel super unnerving to people already because there is no huge reward after taking one tiny step. But these are the things that consistently take, are the things that will help you reach your goal. 

Patrick I remember it's one of the weirdest things when I started reading the book, because when I heard about it for the first time and I thought, okay, I can change my habits with this book. And then James Clear starts to talk about, yeah, why don't you start small? Why don't you just add this tiny little thing here and then you change something here? The first reaction to that was actually, how does this help? 

Monika Yeah, it can feel somehow disappointing even. Or it can feel like a nuisance because sometimes you can just say, well, this won't change anything. And this is something that holds a lot of people back because they feel like this is not going to have an impact anyways. But it's so difficult for us to see exponential growth, which is what happens when you count in the compound effect that happens with good habits. 

Simon Sinek had this example where he shared the question, when do you know that you have fallen in love with someone? As anyone who has been in love knows, it's not this one moment. It's not this one grand gesture and suddenly you're in love with someone. It's the consistent, small things that they do for you, or how they show up in interactions with you, or also all the consistent little things that you do for them that then build towards a relationship where at one point, suddenly, you realize, hey, they are very special to me. 

And this is the same thing with our interactions with ourselves and with our habits. It's not these grand gestures. Even though I completely understand this need, where you make a decisive new choice and you break with the past, burn the bridges and go towards a new chapter. But even if you think about these moments, then, if you start into the new chapter, you have to build new routines. You have to build new habits, you have to build new systems. So anything leads back to the incremental changes. 

Patrick It can also feel a bit weird because we're constantly surrounded by people telling us how to change and what to do, and it feels like I have to do it a certain way, maybe even not knowing, is it right for me? Is it wrong for me? Will it work in the end? 

I know it from my personal experience that you're bombarded with influencers telling you, this is the way to do it, this is the way to change, and then you actually try it and it's not working at all. It's not me and you feel it deep in your core. I can't do this. I can do it for probably a week and then that's it. Myself, my personality kicks in again. 

Monika And I have a little story to tell about that as well, because as some people might know, I have a twin sister, and we are very different in a few aspects. And there is a very good example which showcases this absurdity of telling people how they should live, or what they should do without considering their individual personality and constitution. 

My sister and I are very different when it comes to mornings and sleep rhythms. I am someone who wakes up very early, always have. As a child already when I had an exam, I would wake up at 3 a.m. because I knew that this was my most inspired and my most powerful time. For her, it was completely different. She got a new wave of energy or a new rush of inspiration. At 11 p.m., she had to actually learn and study after 11 p.m. to get the greatest results. And if you tell someone like her, she has to do or get into the same rhythm as, for example, works for me, it doesn't work. It works with a lot of effort for a short amount of time, but it cost her so much energy and so much willpower to go against her natural rhythm that she eventually, of course, dropped it again because she was fighting a constant battle against herself. 

Patrick So there's not one right way to get there, to change your behavior, to magically change to be a better version of yourself. But as James Clear said it, there are four set of rules that actually help every one of us to find their own way. And these are, as he says, the four laws to create a good habit. And also, by inverting them, to break bad ones. 

So the four laws would be make it obvious, make it attractive, make it easy, and make it satisfying. Which sounds so simple and easy, but there are ways, tips and tricks in the book. And I also know that you have some of them so we can change our behavior and can actually make it work. 

Monika Well, it's a little bit difficult if you think about it in a list way. If you go through this and have to think about making each day of introducing a new habit obvious, easy, attractive and satisfying. 

But as James Clear argues in the book as well, if you use these laws and rules as a guideline to establishing the systems around you that support you then in taking these steps that you need to take in order to build a habit, then it becomes actually pretty simple. Yes, it does take a little bit of analysis, a little bit of preparation time in order to tweak and twist these guidelines to find the right way for you. And within every law, there are different strategies that you can apply in order to make it happen. But in the end, it's about finding a way that fits you uniquely in your situation. 

And you can use examples. You can use other best case studies if they fit to you in order to fulfill these laws. And then you have set up a system that makes it easier to stick to a good habit and pull through. 

And I'm going to give you a good example of how to apply these rules or these laws, by giving you an example of a habit that I formed last year that I had been trying to form for many years before that, and I never succeeded. And this is the habit of taking cold showers in the morning. I know that a lot of people talk about it as well as something that is useful and healthy. I have known that it is useful and healthy for a very long time. It actually clicked only for me last year. Yes, there have been days where I missed it, but there has not been a doubt in my mind that this is exactly what I'm doing and that I am the person to take cold showers in the mornings. 

Patrick So when you started to do that, did you already read the book? Did you know how to change a habit and form a new one? 

Monika I have had quite a lot of insights into how to do this, and I have been successful in building certain habits before that as well. My nickname used to be “machine” because I was very disciplined and I was very committed too. If I decided to do something, I could then implement the habit. 

However, you will find that even though you sometimes say you want something, there is something missing. And for me, for example, it was the second law. It was not attractive enough. Up until that point, it was kind of videos, biographies that gave me the impression that this would be the right thing to do. I never perceived it as something desirable for myself. So this is something, as you have already addressed, a should that comes from outside. 

But I had this moment. I had this moment where I had a little health scare and I realized I had to change something, and cold showers could be a part of that.

Patrick Which I don't get at all. Cold showers in the morning being attractive, so I'm not sure about that. 

Monika Well, for me, I know that for me, one thing that you usually could use to motivate me, or that I can use to motivate myself is reading and diving into the health benefits of certain practices, ingredients, whatever it is. 

So, I listened to a few podcasts, I looked at a few studies and also videos of talking about cold showers and the benefits of that. And I actually started to feel that this is something desirable for myself. I also knew though beforehand that health is a motivator for me. So I use this specifically to dive deeper into it, and it can be something as easy and simple as watching even more TikTok videos about that. To be honest, it doesn't have to mean that you need to go to the library and read biology books. It can be something as easy as that to give yourself more and more impulses and triggers that will remind you of the attractiveness of this goal. Then I decided to implement it in a way which was already stacking up on a habit that I had formed prior to that.

Patrick Which is basically just putting a small new habit on top of something you already do. So you feel even more compelled to do this new habit and to keep it doing in the future. 

Monika Yes, my prior habit had been that I brush my teeth first thing in the morning, and my decision then was: Okay, if I need to introduce a new habit, I will simply add on to this one habit and put my toothbrush in the shower already, so I am simply reminded of it as well. I don't need to combine the two anymore now, because it has just been… become automatic for me as well. But, back then, for the first few months, actually, I always put my toothbrush in the shower as well so as to combine it. This is the first law, make it obvious. 

The third law, make it easy, was fairly easy to implement then, because already my first path in the morning led me to the bathroom. This was something that I was used to, so there were no complications to that. 

And the fourth law then, make it satisfying, is something that showed up only afterwards. At first, it was the motivation while standing under the cold shower. It was the reminder that I'm doing something that will support my health. So this was satisfying for me. But then afterwards, my partner decided to do this as well, so we started hyping each other up. This created this environment where we would keep each other accountable, where we complimented each other on how well we had done this this morning as well, and where we compared to, was it easier or harder than the week before? 

And all of this combined made it so easy for me suddenly to implement this habit, which I had failed at for many years before. 

Patrick But you already mentioned something that's quite interesting because we talked about the four laws, and there's obviously so much more going into the four laws and how to basically trick yourself a little bit to adopt a new habit. But the thing that you mentioned right now that's coming into play now is also environment. That's something that your partner's hyping you up. You talk to people about it and they say, hey, that's really cool, you’re doing that. 

That's something you should not forget. Environment is something so important for us because it keeps us on track, right? 

Monika Yes. This is something that in systemic theory, the theory that I build my coaching on, we are very intentional and aware of that people are more inclined to behave or feel a certain way in a certain setting compared to another one. Which is why there is this credo as well: No one is, we all behave in a certain setting in a certain way. If you want to change your behavior, the easiest thing is to go out of the setting that you are in, to travel, and you will find that you don't have the same habits when you are traveling, for example. 

So how do you set up an environment? How do you set up the settings that will support you in what you want to achieve? And this has so many benefits. For one, it makes it so much easier to simply take action in this powerful and intentional way. It also keeps you accountable because if you set up the setting in the right way, it will remind you to do the things that you said that you would do. This is something where also a lot of people come to a coach for, because they don't have the people or the settings that can help them with staying accountable. 

Patrick It's basically like having a gym buddy. 

Monika Yes! Yes, a gym buddy is the perfect example for having accountability, and it's also something that a lot of people find easier to deal with or to get motivated by. For me as well, I know that I'm much more inclined to do something if I have committed to someone else to do something than if I have to keep this promise towards myself. So a gym buddy or a goal body, whatever it is, a sparring partner, is invaluable. 

Then you have motivation as well because you just hype each other up. You can exchange experiences, opinions. A lot of what we try to establish with the Pioneers Club, with our community as well. It keeps you nourished with motivation and to keep going even if the motivation drops. And it gives you a lot of inspiration to learn from others, to compare yourself and see how they are achieving their goals, in order to then learn what could work for you as well. 

Patrick But as you mentioned it before, there are some habits that are changed because of I don't know, I'm going on vacation, I'm not in my usual environment, or maybe my best gym buddy is failing me, not coming along or I'm not coming today. There are certain things that will make a habit fall apart. It's reality. Life gets in the way. There are some things that make it extremely hard to stick with a habit. 

Now the question is how do I deal with that? And I think James Clear mentioned 1 or 2 things that are already quite helpful. But in preparing for this episode, you also mentioned something really great, especially when there's an environment change. 

Monika Well, one thing that I observe with a lot of my clients is that they set up this habits or these routines in a way that they ideally want to achieve them, or they ideally wants to put them into practice. Which works perfectly well if all the circumstances are aligned with your goal. But if you have anything coming up, just like you said, life gets in your way. If you have anything coming up and this can be just an early appointment, for example, if we take the example of going to the gym in the morning or having a morning routine, which is oftentimes the case for a lot of my clients. So if you have life getting in the way, you oftentimes don't have this perfectly aligned, 100% supportive surrounding. Also if you travel. 

So what I have done with my clients oftentimes is that we implement three levels of practicing this habit routine. The one case is in the best case scenario. So you have the optimal setting, the optimal time frame to go through it in the perfect way that you would want it to. 

Patrick I would actually call it a high maintenance morning routine because as you say, every, every star has to align for this because I highly doubt that you can do this every day for 365 days. 

Monika So this would be then the best case, or as you call it, the high maintenance routine. 

But then we we subtract it a little bit. So we look at how each element of this morning routine, of this ideal morning routine, would then contribute to their goal or to their state. And we question why each one of those is important. We prioritize them as well, and we look for more concise ways of achieving this goal with this element. 

So you would maybe not meditate for ten minutes, but you would practice mindfulness while taking your shower. You would journal not for 15 minutes, but you could do a five minute gratefulness journaling. So you would find the alternatives, so you would already make a more realistic scenario, which you could implement without having to consider waking up at 4 a.m. to have three hours of spare time for yourself. 

And then we have the worst case scenario, which would be the bare minimum. And these are then your non-negotiables. These are the things that you would do even when you are out of your setting, if you are out of your routine. And this is for me, for example, the cold shower, I take it wherever I go. And it's not difficult to implement as well because these two minutes I can easily find in any hotel room, I can easily find in any setting, and I do have to get ready anyways. 

But this is something that also, as James Clear describes in the book, never fail twice - so never stop a habit or interrupt a habit twice in a row. But he also explains that you don't have to do it perfectly and in full length all the time as well. 

Patrick Just the showing up part that matters in the end is what he said. Because you will fail, you will stop at one point. But as you said, like he wrote in the book, basically never fail twice. It doesn't matter if you fail once, if you show up and implement what you just said, having those three levels of morning routine, it wouldn't mean that I'm stopping the routine altogether. It just means, okay, I'm adapting it to the day here, then to the day tomorrow, maybe it's longer or something. It just means I'm showing up every day I'm doing it. It just might look a bit different every day. 

Monika Yeah. So it allows you to stay more flexible and also actually more rooted in reality because you would… you don't have also then to try to control your setting in excessive ways in order to just stick to your rule so as to not then start doubting yourself. 

But this requires yourself to do something that a lot of people don't do when they start setting goals, which is called, as in psychology, mental contrasting. So this is a method that I teach my clients and my students because it's so useful. When you set a goal, you actually have to sit down and not only think positively. I know if we want to stay optimistic, but consider the things that might come in your way, things that might stop you from achieving your goal, and already set up a contingency plan. So the steps that you will take in case that a resistance comes up for you to be able to still pursue your goal. And this is something that a lot of people don't do. Unless, of course, they have heard about this concept, they have learned it, and then they see how useful it is in order to stay realistically optimistic and not just blindly positive. 

Patrick I think it also helps to adapt habits, even if you're implementing new habits. Now, we talked about it in the beginning a bit that basically all our habits are a bit different. You know, we can adapt new habits, change old ones based on who we are, on our personality. And if we have those three levels, for instance, and say, okay, I’m a little bit flexible, basically, I can say it's more important for me to show up every day to do it. Maybe one day it's a ten minute yoga routine in the morning, the other day it's 15 to 20 minutes, and then it's a 40 minute routine when I actually have the time for it. But my personality is, I'd rather do it constantly than on and on and off. So I think for the long term, it's actually better to adapt something that's true to your core, rather than just doing something so consistently that by the time you break it once, then it's over. 

Monika And this actually supports you as well in building the self-image about yourself, that you are not just someone who puts into practice one thing, one task every day, but that you are the person who would live by this standard. So if you would talk about, for example, a person who views themselves as someone who cares about health and therefore eats healthy, it would also mean that you can be flexible. You don't have to eat the same thing every day in order to be this kind of person. No, you can be this person and align and adapt and stay flexible in your life, in your reality, and still live a fulfilling life wherever it leads you. If you are going to a wedding, if you are going to a business meeting, if you are going traveling, you will find ways to eat healthy still. And this is kind of the ideal then of course. To build this identity around yourself, which just makes it easy for you as well then to find the ways of how to implement this habit, even if the circumstances are not perfectly aligned. 

Patrick So obviously we could talk about the book for hours, because it's just been like a few points from it that we've taken from this and we think would be helpful for our community, but we have to draw a line at some point and have to conclude this discussion. 

But I would be really interested in what was your main lesson or what were your main lessons that you took from the book when you first read it? 

Monika Well, there was not one main lesson, but there's so many helpful inputs that then make it so much easier and more understandable of how to go about building good habits. And one thing that I, though, find very aligned with how I live and how I see things, is his principle of forgetting about setting goals, having this results oriented mindset only. And instead, of course, set a goal, but then focus on the systems that will carry you towards that goal. I really loved how he, throughout the whole book, stayed consistent with this theme. Because in my experience as well and in what I have seen with my clients as well, this is the way to go, especially if you have big goals. 

Patrick I actually think he's done an amazing job writing the book because he keeps it so honest and down to earth, and I've listened to to the audiobook where James Clear himself is reading the book. And there's just tiny little things there where he makes you feel like, I know that you're a real person, I know you're going to be struggling with this. You can read it in the book. You can hear it in his voice when you hear to the audiobook. It's he knows that he's not just writing something. You read it, you go away and it's, oh, yeah, I want to change. And then two weeks later, it's too complicated to do. 

He gives you all these little steps, these insights, tips and tricks, everything that you can do in your daily life, but then also reminds you, you’re a person. You’re just human. You will fail. Try to never fail twice. Try to stick with it. Try to set up a process that allows you to fail at some point, but then come back to it. So there's this humanity in the book that… it's basically like my favorite yoga instructor, where she says, I know maybe you can't bend like this, but that's totally fine because it's your body. You need to adapt these exercises to who you are, to your body, how far are you willing to go. And it's a little bit like that with James Clear, where he basically tells you except yourself, see yourself and then change. 

Monika That's such a good point. That's noticeable throughout the whole book. He is not one of those idealistic gurus that shouts rules, and you have then to find… you are inspired then and hyped but then you don't have any way to implement it. 

He's actually someone who obviously speaks from experience, who is very human and very compassionate, but also very pragmatic. Just like you said, here's the reality of things. Here's how you go about achieving your goals anyways. And these are the things that you can do in order to create the change that you want to see. 

We would love to hear from our community of course, as well. If you have read the book, let us know: What were your lessons learned, what were your highlights and what were your impressions? 

And also, as a little reminder again, if you still struggle with taking these focused steps, if you don't really know how to put these habits into practice in your unique situation or how to build this habit identity as James Clear talks about - let’s hop on a call. I have this free breakthrough session for you where we can talk about your potential, what you want to achieve, and what is maybe standing in your way to gain more clarity. You will find the link in the show notes. 

Patrick If you enjoyed this episode, share it with your fellow entrepreneurs so they can listen too. Grab the link in our show notes and send it to them. 

Monika If you're looking to join our tribe of movers and shakers to get a sense of belonging and fresh insights, join our Pioneers Club community. The link to our community is waiting for you in our show notes as well. 

Patrick And don't forget to connect with us on LinkedIn or Instagram and let us know, what was a helpful thought or insight that you gained from this episode?

Monika Have any questions or ideas for us? Head over to our LinkedIn or Instagram pages and tell us. We read every submission and would love to answer your question in a later episode too. So thanks for joining us. 

Patrick See you in the next one.