Atomic Habits

Fundamentals

You don’t rise to the level of your goals, you fall to the level of your systems.
Three levels of change: outcome change, process change, identity change.
Focus not on what you want to achieve, but on who you want to become.
Your identity emerges out of your habits. Every action is a vote for the type of person you want to become.
Becoming your best self requires you to continually edit your beliefs, and to upgrade and expand your identity.
A habit is a behavior that has been repeated enough times to become automatic. The process of habit forming begins with trial and error. Neurological activity is high during this period. You are carefully analyzing the situation and making conscious decisions about how to act. You’re taking in tons of information and trying to make sense of it all. the brain is busy learning the most effective course of action.
With prctice, the useless movements fade away and the useful actions get reinforced. Whenever you face a problem repeatedly, your brain begins to automate the process of solving it. Your habits are just a series of automatic solutions that solve the problems and stresses you face regularly.
As habits are created, the level of brain activity decreases.
Rewards teach us which actions are worth remembering in the future. Your brain is a reward detector - your sensory nervous system is continuously monitoring which actions satisfy your desires and deliver pleasure. Rewards close the feedback loop and complete the habit cycle.

When you experience something repeatedly, like a paramedic seeing the face of a heart attack patient or a military analyst seeing a missile on a radar screen, your brain begins noticing what is important, sorting through the details and highlighting the relative cues, cataloging that information for future use. After a while you do this unconsciously.
Jung: Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life and you will call it fate.
Pointing and calling raises your level of awareness from a non-conscious habit to a more conscious level by verbalizing your actions
Use the Habits Scorecard to become more aware of your habits