habits

I was encouraged to start reading more by a close friend recently and found myself buying a Kindle (I know, sue me). It is simply an easy entry point with less commitment and takes up less space. I found myself taking up reading Atomic Habits almost immediately as more of a self help read.

Most people write about how 1% improvement daily leads to a 37.8x overall improvement over a year. Having that math brain in me is what made me originally want to read it but never found the motivation. I finally sat down and started reading.

Now, I realize that this book is not the be all and end all, but there are some decent anecdotal backed claims to support the main ethos. One that resonated with me was the section that contained identity based habits over outcome based habits. A story in that section is about Brian Clark and how he stopped biting his nails by getting manicures. The idea is that you A) make yourself have the identity of someone who does not bite your nails and B) you spent money on this, why would you waste it.

I feel that having small incremental investments are a good way to make progress toward a goal of changing habits. If you are of a mindset of frugality, making smart purchases (no matter the size) could add up to change your identity or habits in order to not waste.