Habits Are More Important Than We Realise

I've always skipped over this section as well-meaning but pointless. After all, great problems require great solutions, right?

I've just finished reading a book called Atomic Habits by James Clear, and it talks about how big changes are not made by big efforts - it just appears that way.

In fact, big changes are the long-term result of many tiny, manageable and achievable behaviours - all the 1% improvements here and there. Little habits that we can achieve, right now, can lead to a growth of related habits we didn't think we were capable of down the line.

It's not about results, it's about who we want to be and being that way in all sorts of small ways throughout the day. Habits define our identity, just as our identity guides our choice of habits.

As such, this hugely effects mental health. "How would someone without depression act today?" The repetition of habits becomes proof of who we are.


Currently my daily ones are:

Touch toes
Open book file
Open art file

Doesn't sound like much, does it? But touching toes requires a warm up with leg swings, which leads to a general workout. (One good habit leads to another related one.)
Opening my book and art files each day, without any other requirement, typically leads to me writing a line or doing a bit of drawing.(Just establishing the small habit of opening the files every day leads to everything else).