A James Clear Atomic Habits Book Review (Sort of) 

I'm on my treadmill at 6:30 AM. James Clear talking about motion versus action for probably the seventh time, and I'm thinking about my birb.

Not a real bird. Chickadee. She's this little cartoon chickadee on Finch, this habit app I downloaded because the ADHD Brain demands I gamify everything (and hey, gotta find what works for you, right?). Chickadee gets happy when I check things off. She goes on little adventures. She has micro pets. One is a literal blob. It's absurd and I love it and yes, I absolutely picked it because birbs. ¯\\(ツ)/¯

I first listened to Atomic Habits maybe two years ago, back before Talula could speak, and I've gone through it four or five times since. Audible is the only reason I "read" anything now. Treadmill. Car. Wherever! You mean I can do things and read? Sign me up! 

The car is actually perfect for this, because I'm in it two hours a day (one hour round trip, twice a day, taking Talula to school, yippee!). 

When I'm not listening to an Audio-book or singing along with Disney songs with Talula (Moana and Frozen are on repeat over here), I like to put on either Pimsleur Cantonese or Pimsleur Korean to get my language studying in.

Annyeonghaseyo. Gamsahamnida. I say these phrases out loud in the car, repeating after the voice, probably looking insane to other drivers. Clear would call this habit stacking. I call it: well, I call it what it is. I'm trapped in a car, might as well learn something.

What keeps me coming back

Atomic Habits doesn't ask you to want whatever the habit is more. It doesn't care about motivation. It cares about systems. And I need that reminder because I used to believe I just needed to try harder to wake up earlier for runs, that I just needed to be more disciplined to meal prep instead of stuffing a handful of Cheez-Its into my mouth whenever I felt hungry.

But turns out, that's not the case. If you don't have systems in place to make the habit easy, the friction of doing it plus the difficulty of getting a new habit going make it an uphill battle. 

The identity piece also gets me every time. "Every action you take is a vote for the type of person you wish to become."

I'd been voting for "exhausted woman who used to run six-minute miles" with my sporadic comebacks. The elaborate meal plans abandoned by Wednesday. The Pimsleur notifications I'd swipe away, feeling like I never had enough time. Then I realized the car is literally the perfect place because I cannot do anything else.

What changed? I stopped trying to will power my way through everything. I started asking myself, "Does this vote I'm casting align with the person I want to be?" I started voting for "woman who shows up in whatever way she can today." 

And sometimes it's through incredibly small votes. The two-minute rule. Put on the shoes. That's it. Chickadee on Finch gets a little heart when I do. Sometimes I just stand there in my running shoes while Talula watches Dino Ranch (she has opinions about Bluey now :c). Sometimes I actually walk on my treadmill for a bit. But I keep voting for the identity I want and I stop voting for a couch potato doom-scrolling on social media and eating fast-food. 

What actually changed after all these re-reads

I'm not fluent in Korean. I'm not running six-minute miles. Let's be real, I'm not even running sub-eight-minute miles right now.

But I am someone who finished the Pimsleur Korean 1 course mostly in a Jeep Patriot. Someone whose Finch birb is genuinely thriving, which means I am too, in these small tracked ways. Gym clothes ready the night before. Non-negotiable. The workout might be twenty minutes of power-walking while James Clear explains compound interest for habits, but it's something.

For my insurance clients, this has rewired how I think about protection. I used to overwhelm them with information: here's every single detail about this policy, its inclusions and exclusions, and I'm emailing over this 40-page packet! Now I lead with one clarifying question, one actionable next step. I listen and then use my expertise to guide them to the protection that best fits their needs. That's literally my job now: I'm Clear-ing their financial decisions (I'm leaving that pun in. You may cringe, but Future Me will smile gleefully).

The honest bits after multiple listens

Yes, the British cycling team anecdote gets thin by the fourth listen. Yes, the research is pop-psychology—accessible, cited, but simplified. I find myself wanting more on what happens when your environment is designed by a four small dogs and a three-year-old who loves when we bring out the floor mattress for living room sleep-overs and screams when I try to put things away.

The book assumes baseline stability. It is not trauma-informed. It is not neurodivergence-literate without adaptation. I've had to hack it heavily. Finch exists because my brain needs external rewards, not internal satisfaction (ADHD Brain, anyone?). I spam my family chat when I complete my habits because visibility and validation drive me on when internal motivation falters.

If you're like me

Read (or re-read) Atomic Habits if you're tired of your own broken promises. Not to shame yourself, but rather to redesign. I come back to Clear not because I've mastered this, but because I keep forgetting that motion (writing "To Do Lists," researching, buying the perfect planner) isn't action (actually putting on the stupid shoes). Being busy and progressing are two very different things.

Listen to it while driving. While walking. While folding the piles of laundry that never seem to go away (and sometimes don't even make it into the dresser). The format matters less than the repetition. These ideas slowly stop being ideas and start being actionable votes you make to become who you want to be.

The woman I want to be, the one who runs without re-injuring herself, who protects her clients with genuine understanding, who raises a curious and adventurous daughter, who deadlifts 300 pounds someday, she's not built from 6:30 AM willpower. She's built from these car-ride Korean lessons. From Chickadee the Finch birb getting her virtual adventures. From putting on the shoes as a subtle reminder that I choose who I want to be.

Small steps. Astronomically small sometimes, but they build. They gain momentum and suddenly the "who I want to be" is just "who I am." 

Question for Readers: Have you read Atomic Habits? What was your biggest takeaway? 

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