5 LESSONS LEARNED FROM ATOMIC HABITS TO ACHIEVE YOUR HEALTH & FITNESS GOALS IN 2023

With the new year upon us, many are conjuring their 2023 resolutions in hopes of becoming better versions of themselves than the previous year. While resolutions can take on different forms and facets, the most prominent resolution tends to be health & fitness related, and for obvious reasons.


Health & fitness can mean something entirely different from person to person. Whether it’s losing weight, reducing body fat, increasing strength, building muscle, boosting energy, or simply becoming a happier, healthier version of yourself, the process of change remains the same; build positive habits, eliminate negative ones.


While there are several tools and tactics available for learning how to implement positive habits and eliminate bad ones, the book “Atomic Habits” by James Clear does an impeccable job of illustrating his teachings.


In what follows, we’ll be discussing five (5) lessons learned from Atomic Habits that you can take away in order to achieve your health and fitness goals in 2022. So, if you’re eager to kick off the new year right and begin on your path to a happier, healthier you, continue reading!

​5 LESSONS LEARNED FROM ATOMIC HABITS

Before diving into the five primary lessons learned from Atomic Habits, it’s important to provide an outline of the book and its author in order to illustrate its authority.


In short, James Clear, a #1 New York Times Bestseller and authoritative figure in the self-improvement space unpacks several strategies and teachings in his newest book “Atomic Habits”. The ultimate aim is to help his readers transform through habitual change and perspective shifts and it accomplishes just that.


This practical yet perspective-alternating guide has been praised internationally, selling millions of copies worldwide since its release. With that said the Following are Five Key Takeaways from Atomic Habits by James Clear that You Can Use to Achieve Your 2023 Health & Fitness Goals:


• Don’t Judge Your Progress Meticulously & Critically
• Seek to Get One Percent Better Each Day (Compound Effect)
• Changing Identity to Change Habit (whom you wish to be vs what you want)
• Focus on Systems of Improvement (winners and losers have the same goal)
• Don’t Rely Solely on Motivation


Lesson #1
Don’t Judge Your Progress Meticulously & Critically


When it comes to improving your health, progressing your fitness, and/or transforming your body, results don’t happen overnight but rather slowly and incrementally over weeks, months, and years. No wonder the failure rates of new year’s resolutions and goals are so high.


Too often, people desire instant gratification over delayed gratification, lacking the understanding that things worthwhile take time. The end result? A resort back to old habits, letting themselves down time after time.


By allowing yourself a judgement-free environment, however, and gaining the valuable understanding that things worth accomplishing take time, you can begin to enjoy to love the process rather than the destination.


For those embarking on a new health & fitness goal, don’t entrap yourself to the meticulous and critical judgement of progress or lack thereof. Instead, realizes that ups and downs are going to come and go; tough times will be met with easier times; stagnation will be met with progress. By simply sticking to your goals and seeing them through to the end without judgement, you’ll be able to become the healthier, happier YOU that you’ve always desired

Lesson #2
Seek to Get One Percent Better Each Day


To parlay from the first lesson, seeking to get 1% better each day is a sure fire way to compound your efforts and lead yourself to dramatic results; understanding, however, that you’re only to focus on progressing 1% each day…


Remember from lesson #1 that results take time, and they most certainly don’t happen overnight. As James Clear from Atomic Habits suggests “Habits are the compound interest of self-improvement…You are what you repeat”.


Consider this: you go to the gym and have a killer workout. Upon arriving home, you look in the mirror to check your progress; no change. Day two, you go back to the gym and have yet again another killer workout. Upon arriving home, you look in the mirror and to your demise, no change. Only after compounding your efforts day by day, workout by workout, will you begin to see minor change. Place that change on a scale of weeks, months, and years, and you’re getting somewhere!

To use a sports analogy, practice the basics every day and over time, you'll develop into an elite player; practice only when a big game is on the line and you miss the opportunity for compounding your efforts, never developing into the player you could be. Take this approach consistently and your progress will be profound



Lesson #3
Changing Identity to Change Habit


The third lesson from Atomic Habits derives from the idea that you should base your goals around whom you wish to become rather than what you want to achieve. Not only will this allow you to more clearly define your goal but it will also act as a much more sustainable reason WHY you’re in pursuit of a goal, making it easier for you to stick to it when times get tough.


As presented in the book, this lesson comes down to simple but effective behavioural change; or perspective change if you will. While the act of this type of goal setting may be simple semantics, the results have been shown to be profound. It goes to show the power of words!


A strong example is it pertains to health and fitness is as follows: Individual #1 sets the goal to eat healthier and exercise often in order to lose body fat. Individual #2 seeks to become the person who eats healthy and exercises often. As you can likely guess, the strength of the goal set by individual #2 is much more powerful!

Lesson #4
Focus on systems of
​improvement. 


Have you ever considered why champions become champions and why losers become losers? As presented in Atomic Habits, the author suggests this simple but truthful idea that it doesn’t come down to the goal itself but rather the systems and processes implemented and executed on a consistent basis in pursuit of said goal.


What does this mean? Let’s break it down. Using another sports analogy, take a football or basketball game for example. Both teams have the same goal, correct? In other words, they both hope to win. Why is it, then, that one achieves the goal and the other fails? As suggested above, James Clear argues that one team is better at implementing and executing systems and processes.


In short, systems and processes are the specific details and courses of action required on a day-to-day, moment-to-moment basis to reach said goal, acting as a defined roadmap to success if you will. This can be looked at as widely relatable to lesson #2; seek to become one percent better each day. Do the hard things daily and the results will become easy



Lesson #5
Don’t Rely Solely on Motivation


Last but certainly not least, lesson #5: don’t rely solely on motivation! This is a big one, especially considering the onslaught of new year inspiration at an all-time high during the month of January.


Reiterated in Atomic Habits, the author outlines the idea that motivation is overrated, suggesting environment as the more important indicator of success.


This isn’t to suggest that motivation is useless. In fact, it’s quite powerful when it arises. However, it’s simply to suggest that it shouldn’t be relied upon as the primary driver, for motivation will come and go, so what are you to do when it’s not present? Sure, it might be a satisfactory plan for a short period of time, however, you’ll quickly learn that it’s not a sustainable approach long-term.


In order to combat this, seek to optimize your environment for success. If you want to exercise first thing in the morning, organize and lay out your fitness attire by your bedside the night before. Eager to eat healthily but unsure of the time you’ll have available to do so? Meal prep. The examples of this are ample.


In summary, remember that goal setting, whether for health & fitness or otherwise, is about habit change. By following the many lessons taught throughout Atomic Habits, you’ll be well on your way to achieving your 2023 health & fitness goals.


Good luck!