My first experiment with Atomic Habits
My first post was about how I got here. This one is about what I might do next.
Atomic Habits was one of the things that got me thinking about this project. I was reading about how small actions can become part of the way we live, and started wondering whether I could put those ideas to work in my own life. Not write a guide to being happy. Not pretend I’ve worked it all out. Just try to understand what might help me build a life that feels better to live.
That idea has grown into this blog: part reflection, part experiment, part record of what happens when I try to change something rather than just think about changing it.
I like that Atomic Habits gives me a way to start small. I don’t need to redesign my whole life by Monday. I can choose one action, make it easier to begin, and see whether repeating it makes a difference. The book isn’t an answer to everything I’m wrestling with. But it has helped turn a vague wish for things to be better into something I can actually test.
For this first month, I want to reflect, reset and start building the foundations for a better life. That sounds straightforward until I look at the number of things I’d like to change.
I want to get fitter and build some muscle tone. I want to play piano, and keep playing guitar and bass. I want to eat breakfast and have a decent lunch, read more, listen to more music, see friends and try things I haven’t done before. I want the dogs walked in the morning and evening. I want the house to be less of a mess. I want to procrastinate less and stop picking up my phone without really choosing to.
That’s a lot of wanting. And when I look at it all together, it starts to feel less like a plan and more like a list of ways I’m failing. There are so many weeds. There’s the bathroom, the clothes on the bedroom floor, the post I should file, the patio that needs a power washer. I can see the whole job at once, feel overwhelmed, and then not start.
Some of the beliefs underneath it are harder to shift than a pile of laundry: that I’m lazy or untidy; that I can’t make friends; that I can’t be happy. I’m not expecting a book about habits to answer all of that. But I do want to see whether a small, clear action can help me move before those thoughts make the decision for me.
Building the foundations
I’m going to begin with three small changes, each tied to something I already do or a moment I recognise.
The first will happen while my coffee brews. I use a cafetière, which gives me about five minutes. I’ll use one of them for a plank. One minute will count; if I feel like doing more, I can. I’m working on a wider fitness plan separately, so this is just a way to get moving before I settle down with my coffee. I’d also like to read while I drink it instead of taking it to bed or the sofa with my phone, but the plank is the habit I’ll track first.
The second will follow the evening dog feed. I’ll play an instrument every day, with a small version that depends on what I pick up: one exercise on my piano app, one song all the way through for my bass audition, or a song I already know on guitar. Dinner can move around, so I’m not putting this at a particular time. The dog feed will be the reminder.
The third is the Fuck Off Box.
It will live under the TV. I’ve bought a timed lock box for those moments when I’m watching something, playing the PS5 or looking at my phone and suddenly think, “Why am I wasting my life on this?”
I want my time on those things to be intentional: one episode, the next boss fight, one article, or a message I actually mean to send. If it strays into abject time wasting, I’ll put the phone, TV remotes and PS5 controller in the box for two hours.
When I finish a session or put the devices in the box, I’ll switch to one small thing from the habits I want to build: play a song, read a page or tidy for a minute. Just enough to break the cycle and get something else started.
And when I catch myself drifting and make that switch, I can have a small reward. A sausage roll or a bag of crisps is a perfectly decent treat when I don’t have them often.
This is the beginning, not the result
I haven’t started the experiment yet, so I can’t tell you what worked. I’m writing down the plan before I try it, so I can come back to what I actually set out to do.
There’s plenty more on the list, from the house to how I spend my weekends. I’ll add to the plan as I go and write about those changes as I make them.
Life won’t arrange itself into neat monthly chapters. I’ll be reflecting, planning and trying things in tandem. But this month, I want to lay a few foundations: making a start, making it easier to repeat, and noticing what happens.
I want to see what happens when I stop treating change as a test of whether I’m lazy, disciplined or fundamentally capable of being happy, and start making the next useful action easier to take. That might sound small. Right now, small is probably the point.
TRY IT YOURSELF
This experiment is inspired by Atomic Habits by James Clear. You can find out more about the book on the author’s website.
I’ve put together a plan and tracker for this experiment, along with resources to help you create your own version. You can find them in the Atomic Habits Toolkit.