Creating a Better Me – Atomic Habits
Social media has taken over our world. Almost everyone I know uses social media one way or another. The ones who don’t…major FOMO. This single activity was ruining my focus, my time, my attention span, my productivity, and my mental health. So, I took responsibility for my actions and used James Clear’s Atomic Habits theory to make a change.
The Project
Habits are so important in shaping the kind of person you want to become. In this project, I selected a habit that I wanted to create or change. I read the book Atomic Habits, which taught me how to do that. I then put systems in place, which helped me reach my goal.
My Answer to the Driving Question
How can improving by just 1% each day help me take responsibility for my learning, strengthen my habits, and create balance and purpose in my future career and life?
Building habits is not an easy process. It takes a lot of effort and self-discipline. If you jump too far in too quickly, it is easy to get overwhelmed and quit. Taking it slow and improving bit by bit helps you build systems, which makes the habit a natural thing you don’t even have to think about. Having strong, lasting, and healthy habits is so important to be a successful person. Without them, you won’t progress as a person. You will waste time deciding what to do, and your life would turn to chaos with no structure.
The Roadmap to Get There
Habit Mind Map
At the very beginning, I brainstormed all of the habits I had when I started the project, both good and bad. I then laid them all out on a mind map. This activity really helped me get real-life examples of what a habit is and gave me a better understanding of what habits were holding me back.
Atomic Habits
Atomic Habits by James Clear is the book that taught me all about why habits are so important and how to build them. This book had so many valuable points and information, the most impactful thing that I took away was the concept of habit stacking. I always want to create new habits, but when I actually try to, I always forget about them or can’t find the time to. Habit stacking is the idea of linking the habit you are trying to build to another habit that is already engraved in your life. For example, if I want to create the habit of writing in my journal every day, I could say “every day after I brush my teeth, I will sit down at my desk and write in my journal”. This book was very successful in changing the way I thought, and I don’t think this project would’ve had the effect it did have on me without it.
My New Habit – Limiting Screen Time
“I will improve my bad screen time habits on my phone by 1% by decreasing the time I spend on social media by 5 minutes each day.” This is the habit I spent weeks working on trying to apply into my life.
Social media is something that I spent several hours doomscrolling on a day. Not only did this make me feel lazy, unaccomplished, and awful about myself, but it declined my ability to focus by huge amounts. I went to social media as a way of procrastinating, when doing school work, I constantly switch between scrolling and doing work. This causes me to be very stressed about schoolwork and fall behind.
In order to build the habit of limiting my screen time, I made it obvious, attractive, easy, and satisfying; this helped me be more consistent and create systems that helped me be successful.
Watch the video to see not only the amazing things that came out of this experience, but also the challenges I faced:
Learning Intention
At the very beginning of this project, I created learning intentions. For this project, I said that I wanted to use my skills in listening and information processing while reading Atomic Habits and taking in the information it taught me. Also, in my Vision, Mission, and Values and then again in my learning intention post, I reflected that the habit most holding me back is my awful addiction to my phone/TikTok and how I would’ve loved to improve this habit, even if it was just by a little bit. I said it would make me become a more effective learner and present person.
How I Grew
Now that I have reached the end of the project, I can fully say I have grown so much both as a learner and a person. When reading Atomic Habits, I decided to listen to the audiobook rather than read it. I am not a visual learner, so reading books is very hard for me, however, listening to the book not only helped me process the information a lot easier but also made the process enjoyable. This whole project, I focused on my phone addiction, and now I can fully say that it has helped me grow in so many ways. This new habit has become a part of my lifestyle and will stay like that for a very long time.
How Will I Apply This in the Future?
Going forwards in my life, I have a new sense of knowledge. Now, I know how important habits are, and most importantly, I know how to fix my struggle. I will no longer feel helpless when I feel like I am doing something wrong with my life because I have the skills to help myself. This project helped me grow as a person and will continue to help me constantly progress as a successful person.
