i read "atomic habits" and hated it. here's why

Summary

The video discusses why the creator disliked 'Atomic Habits' by James Clear, despite its popularity and positive reviews. It highlights both positive aspects, like its readability and useful summaries, and major drawbacks, including its repetitive writing, triggering content for those with body dysmorphia or eating disorders, and poorly cited studies. The creator suggests the book would be better as a TED talk or podcast, criticizes its heavy self-promotion, and feels it caters more to a neurotypical, business-oriented audience. The video invites viewers to share their thoughts on the book.

Takeaways

• 📚 *Atomic Habits* is a highly recommended and popular productivity and self-help book.
• 💼 The book is praised for being easy to read and providing concise summaries at the end of each chapter.
• 🕒 Its structure makes it convenient for busy individuals to read and revisit important sections easily.
• 🔍 A useful concept discussed is reducing friction, making desired habits easier and undesired habits harder.
• 💡 Key idea: 'You do not rise to the level of your goals, you fall to the level of your systems.'
• 📝 Despite its merits, the book's writing is criticized for being robotic, repetitive, and unenjoyable.
• 🤖 The writing style feels like stitched-together blog posts, making it less engaging as a book.
• 🍫 The book's frequent references to food, weight loss, and restrictive habits can be triggering for those with eating disorders or body dysmorphia.
• 📊 Some cited studies, like Dr. Ann Thorndike's, lack control groups and broader study sites, making them seem cherry-picked.
• 🌐 The book's heavy self-promotion for additional content on its website feels excessive and repetitive.
• 💻 Overall, the book seems better suited as a TED Talk or podcast episode than as a traditional book.
• ⚠️ The content may not be useful for everyone, especially those from lower-income backgrounds or with chronic illnesses.

Q & A

What is the main reason the reviewer hated 'Atomic Habits' by James Clear?

The reviewer found the writing to be robotic and repetitive, making it difficult to sift through the content to find useful information. They also found the frequent mentions of weight loss and food restriction to be triggering and felt the book could have been better as a TED talk or podcast.

What are some positive aspects of 'Atomic Habits' mentioned by the reviewer?

The reviewer appreciated that the book is easy to read, with concise summaries at the end of each chapter, making it convenient for busy people to pick up and put down. They also found the concept of reducing friction to make desired habits easier to practice particularly useful.

Why does the reviewer believe 'Atomic Habits' is not suitable for everyone?

The reviewer feels the book is targeted towards middle to upper-class neurotypical people who want to stay slim and rich. They believe it is not useful for first-generation low-income students, people with chronic illnesses, or those with a history of eating disorders.

What does the reviewer mean by 'reducing friction' in habit formation?

Reducing friction involves making it easier to perform desired habits and harder to perform undesired ones. For example, placing pens and paper in easy reach to encourage sketching or writing.

How does the reviewer suggest the book could be better presented?

The reviewer suggests that 'Atomic Habits' could have been more effective as a TED talk, podcast, or YouTube video, rather than a book, due to its repetitive and clunky writing style.

What study did the reviewer find flawed in 'Atomic Habits,' and why?

The reviewer found the study by Dr. Ann Thorndike on reducing obesity flawed because it lacked a control group and only used one study site, a hospital cafeteria, which may have had a biased sample due to heightened awareness of health and wellness.

What specific content in 'Atomic Habits' did the reviewer find triggering?

The reviewer found the frequent mentions of food restriction, calorie counting, and weight loss to be triggering, particularly as someone with a history of body dysmorphia and eating disorders.

What does the reviewer suggest readers do if they decide to read 'Atomic Habits'?

The reviewer suggests reading the concise summaries at the end of each chapter and then closing the book, as they believe these summaries contain all the essential information without the repetitive content.

What is the core message of 'Atomic Habits' according to the reviewer?

The core message of the book is that you do not rise to the level of your goals, but fall to the level of your systems. This means that your habits and the systems you create to support them are crucial for achieving your goals.

How does the reviewer feel about the self-promotion in 'Atomic Habits'?

The reviewer finds the constant self-promotion in the book annoying and repetitive. They are frustrated by the frequent reminders to visit the Atomic Habits website for additional resources, feeling it detracts from the reading experience.

Outlines

00:00

📚 Introduction and Book Overview

The speaker introduces themselves and shares their opinion on 'Atomic Habits' by James Clear. Despite its popularity and positive reviews, they express their dislike for the book. They explain that they felt compelled to read it due to its reputation and relevance to their content on academia, studying, and productivity. The video will cover what they liked, what they hated, and what they believe could have been improved in the book. They note that spoilers are not a concern due to the widespread discussion of the book's ideas.

05:02

👍 Positive Aspects of the Book

The speaker highlights the book's strengths, noting its easy-to-read language and structured format with concise chapter summaries. This makes it convenient for busy readers to pick up and continue reading without losing track. They appreciate the practical advice, particularly the concept of reducing friction to make desired habits easier and unwanted habits harder to perform. This principle has been beneficial in their own life, and they acknowledge the book's usefulness in providing a system for habit formation.

10:04

👎 Criticisms of the Book

The speaker criticizes the book's writing style, describing it as robotic, repetitive, and unenjoyable to read. They feel that the book lacks flow and coherence, comparing it unfavorably to a series of blog posts stitched together. Despite the simplicity of the language, they find the content tedious to sift through. They suggest that the material would be better suited to a TED talk or podcast rather than a book.

15:04

⚠️ Triggering Content and Fatphobia

The speaker addresses the potentially triggering content related to body image and eating disorders. They highlight the book's frequent references to weight loss and food restriction, which they find problematic and potentially harmful for readers with a history of eating disorders or body dysmorphia. They provide specific examples and quotes from the book to illustrate this issue and express their frustration with the author's focus on weight as a measure of success.

🔍 Questionable Anecdotes and Studies

The speaker questions the validity of some studies and anecdotes cited in the book, particularly those related to choice architecture. They mention a specific study by Dr. Ann Thorndike that lacked a control group and used a single study site, making its findings less reliable. The speaker criticizes the book for relying on such flawed studies to support its points, suggesting that the author may have cherry-picked data to fit his narrative.

📢 Excessive Self-Promotion

The speaker points out the excessive self-promotion throughout the book, with frequent prompts to visit the author's website for additional resources. They find this repetitive and annoying, especially given the already repetitive writing style of the book. The constant marketing detracts from the overall reading experience.

🏢 Target Audience and Final Thoughts

The speaker concludes that 'Atomic Habits' seems tailored for a specific audience—middle to upper-class, neurotypical individuals in business or tech fields. They feel the book is not useful for them personally, as a first-generation, low-income student with chronic illness and a history of eating disorders. While acknowledging that some tips can be helpful, they believe the book would be more effective in a different format, such as a podcast or TED talk. They caution potential readers to manage their expectations and take the content with a grain of salt.

Keywords

💡Atomic Habits

A self-help book by James Clear focused on building productive habits and breaking unproductive ones. It is highly recommended within productivity circles but is critiqued by the speaker for its repetitive and robotic writing style. The book provides a framework for understanding how small, incremental changes can lead to significant improvements over time.

💡Productivity

A central theme of 'Atomic Habits,' referring to the efficiency with which tasks and goals are completed. The book aims to help readers increase their productivity by establishing better habits. The speaker mentions that the book is designed to fit easily into the lives of busy working people to help improve their productivity.

💡Habit Formation

The process of developing new behaviors through repetition and reinforcement. 'Atomic Habits' offers strategies for building good habits and breaking bad ones. The speaker appreciates the book’s idea of reducing friction to make desired habits easier to perform and unwanted habits harder to maintain.

💡Concise Summaries

End-of-chapter summaries in 'Atomic Habits' that recap the main points. The speaker likes this feature as it allows busy readers to easily revisit key information without re-reading entire chapters. These summaries make the book accessible and convenient for readers with limited time.

💡Reducing Friction

A concept from 'Atomic Habits' that involves making desired habits easier to perform by removing obstacles and making unwanted habits harder by adding obstacles. The speaker finds this principle useful and applies it in their own life, such as placing pens and pencils within easy reach to encourage sketching or writing.

💡Body Dysmorphia

A mental health condition where a person is excessively concerned about and preoccupied with perceived flaws in their physical appearance. The speaker criticizes 'Atomic Habits' for using examples that could be triggering for individuals with body dysmorphia or eating disorders, such as frequent references to food restriction and weight loss.

💡Repetitive Writing

A critique of the writing style in 'Atomic Habits,' which the speaker describes as robotic and repetitive. This repetitive nature makes the book difficult and unenjoyable to read despite its simple language. The speaker feels the book would have been more effective as a TED talk or podcast.

💡Choice Architecture

A behavioral science concept discussed in 'Atomic Habits' related to designing environments to influence decision-making. The speaker references a study on reducing obesity by changing the availability of healthy options, critiquing the study's methodology and its use in the book.

💡Self-Promotion

The frequent promotion of additional resources and materials on the author’s website throughout 'Atomic Habits.' The speaker finds this constant self-promotion annoying and repetitive, especially when it appears alongside the end-of-chapter summaries.

💡Neurotypical

Refers to individuals whose neurological development and functioning are typical. The speaker suggests that 'Atomic Habits' is primarily targeted towards neurotypical, middle to upper-class individuals, which limits its applicability and usefulness for people with different backgrounds or mental health challenges.

Highlights

Atomic Habits is a New York Times best-seller, highly recommended and praised, especially within the study community.

The author felt compelled to read Atomic Habits due to its reputation and relevance to their content on academia, studying, and productivity.

The book's language is simple, making it easy to read without needing advanced critical thinking or reading skills.

Concise summaries at the end of each chapter allow readers to pause and resume reading easily, making it suitable for busy people.

The concept of reducing friction is highlighted as a valuable tip from the book, suggesting making desired habits easier and unwanted habits harder.

The book emphasizes that habits and systems are more crucial than goals, summed up by the quote: 'You do not rise to the level of your goals; you fall to the level of your systems.'

The writing style is criticized as robotic and repetitive, making the book difficult to read despite its simplicity.

The book's frequent use of weight loss and food restriction examples is seen as potentially triggering for individuals with body dysmorphia or eating disorders.

Some studies cited in the book are deemed flawed, such as the choice architecture study lacking a control group and using only one study site.

There is excessive self-promotion within the book, directing readers to the Atomic Habits website repeatedly.

The book is perceived as targeted towards middle to upper class, neurotypical individuals seeking productivity and self-improvement.

The author believes the content could have been more effectively presented as a TED talk, podcast, or YouTube video rather than a book.

Despite some useful tips, the book is not seen as particularly helpful for the author's personal circumstances and audience.

The author regrets purchasing the e-book but acknowledges it was cheaper than the print copy.

The video invites viewers to share their thoughts on Atomic Habits and engage in a discussion about its content.

Transcripts

hello it's so and i read atomic habits

by james clear and i hated it here's why

atomic habits is a new york times best

seller it's such a highly recommended

and highly lauded productivity and

self-help book

all of the reviews of it are honestly

quite stellar there's a lot of people

who sing its praises it's frequently

recommended especially within the study

community and overall it's a book that

has such a good reputation that i felt

like i as a youtuber who talks a lot

about like academia studying and

productivity i felt like i had to read

it at least once so i did in this video

i'll be breaking down reasons why i like

the book reasons why i hated the book

and what i think the book could have

done better normally when i talk about

books i would normally put in a spoiler

alert however i feel like this book is a

little unique in that i feel like the

ideas discussed in this book are so

wildly discussed already within the

productivity sphere that i feel like

it's not necessarily a spoiler so to

speak in the traditional sense we're not

talking about some sort of crazy twist

at the end of a fantasy novel we're

talking about a productivity book that

has had videos made about it for a long

long time so

i will be talking about direct quotes

and chapters in the book

so i guess if you consider that a

spoiler do be warned but i don't think

it's necessary to read the book before

watching this video hopefully that makes

a little bit of sense and of course i

will leave timestamps down in the

description below if you just want to

get to a specific point in the video

without having to listen to me ramble

about it which i typically do tend to

ramble for quite a long time so hope you

enjoy let's dive right into the good

things about the book because i think

there are genuinely good aspects about

the book that i can appreciate for what

they are first off i find that the book

is very easy to read the language is not

very difficult you don't really need to

have a high degree of critical thinking

or critical reading skills in order to

comprehend the book it's easy to stop

the book halfway through because the

author provides concise summaries of

exactly what he's talked about at the

end of every single chapter so honestly

you could read the book chapter by

chapter put it down and then pick it up

another day

the reason why i specifically like this

aspect is because it means that busy

working people who might not have like a

ton of free time in their day can easily

pick this book up and read it you can

read it during your commute if you take

the train or something like that you can

like split through a few pages before

you start cooking dinner it's just a

book that i can see fitting easily into

working people's lives which is good

because this is a book designed to help

people improve their like productivity

in the workspace so in that regard it's

a good book i also like that he provides

a lot of concise summaries at the end

because then if you ever want to revisit

a certain section in order to

reintegrate some other tip or something

like that into your habits or into your

lifestyle all you have to do is just

flip to the end of that chapter read the

little summary box and then you can move

on with the rest of your day there's no

like intense digging you have to do in

order to obtain that information again

in terms of actual content that the book

provides i think my favorite section was

probably the part where he talks about

this idea of reducing friction

essentially you want to make habits that

you want to increase easier to do in

habits that you want to stop harder to

do so an example is if you want to like

practice writing or sketching more you

can put your pens and like paper and

pencils in easy reach and within sight

so every day when you wake up and like

sit down at your desk you can see oh

these are like my pens and pencils i

need to practice my sketching or i want

to practice my journaling or my writing

skills or something like that so this is

a tenet of habit making i suppose that i

integrate into my everyday life and i

find it to be really helpful so it was

nice to see that like content touched

upon and

to sort of see how it could fit in

within a broader system of habit

formation and i think this is a really

good example of a kernel of information

that the book has that is genuinely good

because it's not that i hate the book

completely or think that the book is

useless i do think there are important

pieces of information within the book

that are very helpful and at the end of

the day

the book does provide like a decent

overview of how someone can build habits

to generate compound growth together

like as a system because that's the

point of the whole book like i think a

quote from the book that sums up the

premise really well is this quote where

he says you do not rise to the level of

your goals you fall to the level of your

systems essentially meaning that at the

end of the day it's the habits that you

produce and form and maintain throughout

your life that essentially contribute to

what you do in your everyday life if

that makes sense a little bit the

content

is there you just have to dig there to

get it you don't have to be particularly

good at reading to get the content you

just have to work a little bit

honestly i think the best way to consume

this book is to read the concise

summaries at the end of each chapter

read those close the book and you can

call it a day you have obtained all you

have gotten from the book at that point

which is a really great segue into

reasons why i hated the book so much

mostly because

reading this book is honestly

quite terrible like i know i said that

it was a book that's easy to read but

just because a book is written in simple

language does not mean it's a book

that's enjoyable to read i think the

main difficulty about this book is that

the writing is so robotic and so

repetitive that it makes it so difficult

to sift through the words that this

author is writing in order to find those

good kernels of information that can

actually help you with your productivity

in

total complete honesty this book reads

like several different blog posts

stitched together without any sort of

editing to help improve the flow between

some of the blog posts

like

it it is genuinely so terrible to read

there's no flow

it's very repetitive

and sometimes there are really weird

anecdotes that he puts in about some

random study or another that doesn't

really make

sense until like later you finally

figure out what main point he's trying

to make and then it like kind of clicks

together but like oh this is why you

mentioned this anecdote about this lady

but

yeah the writing

although it is simplistic and easy to

understand it is quite clunky it is

quite robotic and it is quite repetitive

honestly i think this book would have

made a better ted talk or a better

podcast episode or even a better youtube

video than it does being a book it feels

like i'm watching another like ali

abdull or some sort of like minimalism

self-help study video

but in

literate

tangible paper form

there's no

redeeming quality about this writing

that makes it entertaining to read on

paper i genuinely feel like this guy

would have a better time making a ted

talk and he does make ted talks james

clear is so much better of a

motivational speaker than he is a

motivational writer so that's my main

issue

it's just bad writing

my second issue with the book is that i

feel like some of the sections can be

incredibly triggering for people with

body dysmorphia or with eating disorders

or some sort of previous history with

eating disorders he weirdly uses food

and losing weight as examples in every

single chapter without fail as

something to restrict as something to

achieve and as something that's

inherently desirable he overemphasizes

restriction of certain foods elimination

of certain foods and weight loss in

order to be smaller rather than to be

healthier in every single chapter and it

just gives off

this

inherent fat phobic vibe throughout the

book it's impossible to ignore

especially as someone who has a history

with body dysmorphia and eating

disorders i actually wrote down some of

the quotes in the book that i noticed

while i was reading

i'll include the page numbers as well

but i read the ebook version of this

book so the page numbers might not be

perfectly accurate with what the actual

print book says so on page 104 he says

if you eat a chocolate bar every morning

acknowledge it almost as if you were

watching someone else oh how interesting

that they would do such a thing if you

binge eat simply notice that you are

eating more calories than you should

or on page 145 he says bad habits are

auto catalytic the process feeds itself

they foster the feelings they try to

numb you feel bad till you eat junk food

because you eat junk food you feel bad

or he on page 165 he uses this example

of a man named ronan byrne who

eliminates obesity one netflix binge at

a time

and

throughout the book as examples he

recommends hiding good food and good

drinks in order to eat and drink them

less which is a very disordered form of

eating and can foster

really bad eating habits as someone who

used to continually hide

foods and drinks that i enjoyed in order

to be smaller like

these frequent mentions and frequent

examples of restriction of calorie

counting of like binge eating and like

the focus

of weight loss in order to have a more

ideal body in the eyes of society like

that was very triggering for me to read

and i just feel like it's so

it's so bad it's so triggering

like the day after i finished reading

this book i caught myself tracking

calories again

and restricting calories again and i was

like oh my god

this is not a good look for me this is

not a good sign

just the way he talks about food and the

way he talks about weight gives off this

air that it's bad to be fat it's bad to

eat foods that you enjoy it's bad to be

big

which are all

inherently false thoughts there's

nothing wrong with being fat there's

nothing wrong with being big there's

nothing wrong about eating things that

you enjoy

eating

you know what i mean

like

it's just so

frustrating and difficult to read as

someone who has spent years

trying to unlearn these kinds of like

disordered eating habits and these

disordered ways of looking at bodies the

next thing i want to talk about are some

of the anecdotes and studies that he

cites the formula of these chapters

basically goes like this he puts in some

anecdote about some study or about some

person

and then connects it to the habit

forming tit that he wants to talk about

and then ends it with another anecdote

so it's like very like sandwich like

anecdote tip anecdote

and

some of them just feel very out of place

and so i was like okay

let's try to track down these original

studies that he's referencing in these

anecdotes so in chapter six he begins

with this anecdote about a study done by

dr ann thorndike a physician who's

trying to reduce obesity and james clear

says that by adding in a healthy option

such as bottled water next to a bunch of

sodas people start drinking more water

and less soda and this is supposed to be

an anecdote that's along the lines of

like oh don't put tempting things next

to the things that you want to do you

got to focus on the habits that you

actually want to nurture and cultivate

yadda yadda yadda first off

a lot of studies centered around this

kind of choice architecture are

inherently flawed in the way that they

run statistics maintenance phase is a

podcast series that actually does a lot

of really great work into debunking some

of these obesity studies and they

specifically did an episode where they

talk a lot about like choice

architecture and i'll link it down below

it's a really interesting lesson and i

highly recommend that you listen to it

but

i went and read the original study by dr

thorndyke and the original study

lacked a control group

and it only uses one study site they

don't do this kind of experiment in

multiple different locations they just

pick this one hospital cafeteria

where people already have a heightened

awareness of health wellness and this

notion of obesity that our society has

built around connecting health and

wellness together

from a scientific point of view this

study is kind of flawed like you don't

even have a control you only use one

study site and the study site that

you're using is kind of flawed to begin

with so it feels like you're using

a cherry pick study site to prove

something that you just wanted to

confirm you know what i mean like it's

not actually a very objective study but

james clare uses it to support like an

entire chapter's worth of like habit

forming systems and finally this is a

really nitpicky thing and it might just

be my ebook version

but

there's so

much self promo in this book at the end

of every chapter next to each concise

summary he always has like the oh go to

atomichabits.com to download a printable

version of this summary sheet or oh go

to atomichabits.com to download a cheat

sheet for establishing your habits

and i'm like

why would i want to go to your website

when i

bought the actual book and have the

ebook in my hands

and

and i just got so annoyed by seeing the

little oh visit atomichabits.com for

more visit atomichabits.com for more

visit atomichabits.com for more over and

over and over again it just gets very

repetitive and he already uses a lot of

repetitive writing

those are my thoughts on the book to me

this feels like

catnip for people in business school or

silicon valley i don't know if that

makes sense but it really just does feel

like that this is a self-help book

targeted towards middle to upper class

neurotypical people who want to stay

slim and who want to stay rich i could

honestly see like a corporate manager

recommending this to their employees in

order to be like oh you should benefit

the company and increase your

productivity and increase your output so

read this book it's really good for you

this is not a book that feels useful to

me personally and i'm a first-gen

low-income student

and as someone with a chronic illness

who struggles with body dysmorphia and a

history of like eating problems like

this is not a useful book for me

of course there are like little tidbits

here and there that i can take out of

their context and apply it to my life in

order to generate or build some sort of

his system or habit but as a whole this

is not a book that is very helpful to me

and i feel like it wouldn't be helpful

to my audience i don't know man i just

think this could have been a better

podcast episode or a better ted talk

than it could be

a book

it honestly just could have benefited

from a different form of presentation

and i think if you do decide to read

this book i think you should go into it

with a grain of salt i think i went into

this book with a lot of high

expectations since it came so highly

recommended by so many different people

and because it's such a popularized book

within like this productivity study

community that we have here on youtube

those expectations were not met and i

had a really terrible time reading this

i honestly regret buying the ebook but i

have it now and

at least the e-book was cheaper than

like the print copy of the book so

there's that let me know what you think

about this book if you've read it before

if you've heard of atomic habits and

james clear i would honestly love to

hear your thoughts on it like i am so

genuinely interested in it thank you so

much to my patrons for making content

creation possible for me if you'd like

to support me and my work then i'll

leave the link to my patreon down below

and again thank you so much for taking

the time to watch i really appreciate it

and i'll see you in the next video and

until then bye-bye