Linny and Nancy discuss how they’ve put lessons from James Clear’s book, Atomic Habits, into action. Nancy likes the definition of habit and atomic in the book. Habit – a routine or practice performed regularly; an automatic response to a specific situation. Atomic – 1) an extremely small amount of a thing; the single irreducible unit of a larger system. 2) the source of immense energy or power. Linny tells Nancy that in her graduate education in counseling, they did not address habits so much. They did focus on goals, objectives, personal identity, change, supports, so maybe part of it is that the language is a little different, but they certainly relate. Clear’s lesson is that habits should be obvious, attractive, easy, and satisfying. Linny likes how his approach gives you ownership of your life and that change is possible. If you’re not happy, think about small changes you can make that can result in huge wins over the years. Clear says, “Changes that seem small and unimportant at first will compound into remarkable results if you’re willing to stick with them for years. We all deal with setbacks but in the long run, the quality of our lives often depends on the quality of our habits. With the same habits, you’ll end up with the same results. But with better habits, anything is possible.” Nancy developed a new habit system based on four identities she is hoping to strengthen in herself. To support those identities, she developed six new habits using the X then Y format Clear recommends. Then, for each habit she created a brief ritual to prevent procrastination. She has tied one reward to one of her habits, but doesn’t know if she will or needs to develop rewards for any of the other ones. Linny thinks Nancy’s plan is a good one. Linny like the small steps Clear talks about. She shares how she got up earlier than usual on Sunday morning so she could shadow an IT team member at church. She learned a lot and the one small step has led to a bit step in learning. Linny feels that when she becomes a IT team member, she can no longer say that she is not tech savvy. She is telling herself that she can learn to do things she doesn’t know how to do. She can be a learner. She embraces Clear’s recommendation that we get rid of negative self-talk. Nancy likes that Clear says reaching goals isn’t about having great discipline, instead, he writes, “When scientists analyze people who appear to have tremendous self-control, it turns out those individuals aren’t all that different from those who are struggling. Instead, ‘disciplined’ people are better at structuring their lives in a way that does not require heroic willpower and self-control. In other words, they spend less time in tempting situations.” Linny says this is a book that will stay with her a long time and she has already recommended it to others.