Our business book of the month

‘You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems.”

This book is about forming habits in your life that will ultimately lead you on a different trajectory. Small 1% changes that you can make every day that will lead to a different goal in the long term. The book uses the example of the British Cycling Team. They were the worst cycling team in history and their coach started by making tiny 1% changes to everything that they did. They soon added up and in the end it moved their overall trajectory from being one of the worst to being one of the best.

The British cycling team made tiny 1% changes that changed them from one of the worst to one of the best. 

Atomic Habits also talks about things like habit stacking, so incorporating a new habit you want to adopt into old habits that you do every day. It also discusses things like making the habit attractive; so say for example you want to take up running, get yourself new running shoes and line up an attractive meal afterwards. This will help you stay motivated. It also includes things like making the new habit obvious, using the same example, get your running kit out next to your bed in the morning. This way you can’t avoid it.

There’s even a handy bonus chapter at the back taking you straight to a section on ‘How to apply these ideas to business.’

While this book may seem really simple and not worth the read it’s more often than not the simple things that are the most effective. Sometimes it’s not about the big advice and making big, sweeping changes it’s about making the small changes to every part of our day that will ultimately change our trajectory and lead us in the right direction.

For example, say you run a business and you never have time to read any of the business books so you never increase your knowledge and you just end up not learning or growing. If you added a small habit every day of listening to a business audio book every morning for 30 minutes on the way to work and did this consistently; imagine the amount of knowledge you would have gained. These small changes compound like interest in your bank account and add up to a lot over time.

While this may not be the most groundbreaking book; if you actually implement the small habit forming techniques that he recommends it will actually end up changing your life and your trajectory in the long run.

If there is one habit that you think will change your life or your business but you just can’t manage to implement it into your routine, Atomic Habits is the book for you. Set your environment up for success and you will be amazed how much progress you can make.