Book Review: Atomic Habits

Tom Frearson
May 5, 2025
4 min read

By James Clear

1. Why This Book?

This book genuinely changed the way I think, coach, and lead.

It comes up in conversations almost daily — with clients, in group workshops, in 1:1 coaching, and in how I manage my own routines and resets.

It’s simple, but it’s deep. Practical, but philosophical. Atomic Habits offers a framework for creating lasting change — one habit at a time — and if you coach people or lead teams, it’s essential reading.

I’ve used it to help leaders build better systems, professionals break unhealthy routines, athletes make marginal gains, and teams shift their culture through 1% daily improvements.

It’s also a book I’ve personally lived — from breaking my 3pm coffee habit, to habit-stacking morning resets. I even subscribe to James Clear’s 3-2-1 newsletter — highly recommend it.

2. Core Idea (In Plain Terms)

Small habits, repeated daily, compound into identity.

You don’t need big changes. You need consistent reps.

“Every action you take is a vote for the type of person you want to become.”

This applies just as much to leaders as it does to anyone else. You are what you repeatedly do — especially under pressure.

3. Big Concepts That Hit Home

✅ The 4 Laws of Behaviour Change

Clear’s framework for creating good habits:

Make it obvious
Make it attractive
Make it easy
Make it satisfying

I realised I’d been coaching many of these intuitively for years, especially in fitness:

Lay your kit out the night before = make it obvious
Buy good gear = make it attractive
Start small, like just putting on trainers = make it easy
Choose something you enjoy, like swimming over running = make it satisfying

❌ Breaking Bad Habits: Inverse the Laws

To break bad habits:

Make it invisible
Make it unattractive
Make it difficult
Make it unsatisfying

We apply this in nutrition coaching all the time:

Don’t keep junk food in the house (invisible)
Create a clear reason or visual for change (unattractive)
Make access harder (no “easy win” snacks) (difficult)
Build in accountability or consequence (unsatisfying)

The key isn’t willpower — it’s environment, intention, and identity.

4. Why It Matters for Leadership

Leadership is habit-based.

Whether it’s how you open meetings, manage stress, coach others, or reset under pressure — it’s all a series of repeated behaviours.

James Clear’s work lands so powerfully because it helps leaders:

Lead themselves first
Make better decisions consistently
Build visible, repeatable micro-behaviours that shape team culture
Shift from reactive leadership to system-driven performance

This links directly to the Tactical Reset Framework we coach at Be Fearsome — where leaders use short, regular resets aligned to the Four Pillars of Wellness (MOVE, FUEL, LIVE, THINK) to stay grounded, intentional, and resilient throughout the day.

It’s also baked into the C8 Leadership System:

Own it — which habits reinforce accountability?
Communicate clearly — are you in the habit of speaking with clarity and rhythm?
Review & reset — do you regularly pause to course-correct, or just press on blindly?
Deliberate practice — are you repeating with reflection, or just doing the same thing harder?

If leadership is performance under pressure — then habits are how we train for it.

5. Real-World Links

One client I worked with was spinning their wheels — overwhelmed by demands, always reacting, no space for real leadership. Instead of throwing more productivity tools at it, we started with one habit:

A 10-minute morning leadership reset — before email, before meetings. Just intention, clarity, control.

Anchored with a physical cue (phone face down, notebook open), it became his command post for the day. That one habit — small, simple — shifted how he led and how others responded to him.

We paired it with a short Tactical Reset in the afternoon: MOVE (walk), FUEL (hydration), THINK (one breath and question), LIVE (cut distraction). Over time, this created a natural rhythm of self-leadership throughout his day.

This is exactly what we embed in the C8 Leadership System.

At its core, C8 is built on four principles and four practices — and those practices are habits. We don’t just talk theory. We train leaders to do them daily, in the smallest way at first, and grow them over time.

Here they are:

Own it – Build the habit of personal responsibility. No blame. No excuses.
Communicate clearly – Habitual clarity in expectations, feedback, and presence.
Review and reset – A regular pause to course-correct. Like switching your mind off and on again.
Deliberate practice – Focused repetition to build mastery, not just activity.

We treat these like drills. Because if you repeat them — even in small doses — you hardwire them into your leadership identity.

That’s how Atomic Habits lands: it’s not theory. It’s a system you do. And leadership is the same.

6. Standout Stories or Moments

James Clear’s recovery from a serious brain injury, rebuilding his life one habit at a time — a powerful opener
The British Cycling story and “marginal gains” — Olympic performance via 1% improvements
The plateau of latent potential — progress that feels invisible until it isn’t. Every leader and client hits this point and needs this mindset.

“You don’t realise how powerful a small change is until you’ve repeated it 100 times.”

7. A Word of Caution

Some people read this book and think, “That’s interesting,” but never apply it.

Others try to do too much too fast — over-tracking, over-planning, over-optimising.

The point is:→ Start small. Stick with it. Build identity. Do the reps.

Also — forget the myth that it takes “21 or 66 days” to form a habit.

It’s not about time — it’s about repetitions. It's a little like saying it take 4 months to train for a marathon... Whats your starting point? How fast do you want to do it in? How many hours a week can you train? So many variables, just like all habits.

Deliberate practice, consistently, that's the key...