Category: Non-Fiction

You know how I keep saying I’m going to stop reading those self help books? Well, I am terrible at sticking to my word and I thought that maybe this would have some tips on how to better create habits that I hadn’t seen before.

Atomic Habits focuses on how to set you up best to make a new habit stick, from setting up your space to creating a system of accountability for yourself to make sure you stick to it. It discusses the theory and is peppered with anecdotes of how the theory might work in practice for other people, or how other people have implemented the theories to great success. The thesis is essentially that you start small and then add on, and do everything you can to set yourself up for success.

I struggled a little with the book because the information is ultimately not new to me, and I am less interested in theory than the practical aspects. Given the structure of the chapters, I could have used with subheadings that directed me to the practical portions rather than the end of chapter notes that summarized the main ideas.

It’s not bad overall, just not structured or done in a way that ultimately works for me. I got the same information in a more actionable way from this playlist. But if that doesn’t work for you and you want more of the theory, this might work better for you.

Despite the fact that I have historically just not liked self help books and books about how to live a better life, I keep reading them. I keep vowing not to do this anymore, but I had a moment and put a hold on this one at the library, forgot about it, and it was recently available for me again. So back in I go!

I found myself pleasantly surprised by this one, probably because it’s the first one that spoke my language. That language being that of a product designer. The book is largely filled with anecdotes and approaches to take to help you research and discover a new path in life if you are stuck, and to reframe the questions so that you can better get answers.

I’m sure some of this is because I work as a product designer by day, but I found it to be interesting to see how those research methods I am used to or familiar with could be repurposed for self discovery and planning for the future. I also quite liked the idea of trying things out in smaller capacities first and iterating on it once you get a better understanding as opposed to heading all in on a plan without doing the research or a trial run.

I’ve heard that these kinds of books are very hit or miss and it just requires you to find a book that speaks to you. I think this was the one that ultimately was done in a way that worked for me. I don’t know that I’ll take everything in it verbatim, but it did provide an interesting starting point for how I am going to approach the new year! It was definitely worth checking out.

I have been bullet journalling for years, but I’ve never really looked at the book from the guy who started it all. I looked at the articles and now have a significantly different system in place than the ones I started with, but I figured might as well get a refresher on what the actual system’s intent.

The book takes a bit of a sandwich approach to explaining the method. At the start, it’s a lot of very practical tips, tricks, and steps to set up your very first bullet journal. The ideas are great, and it gets you set up to start with the habit and start to see the ways in which it can work for your life. The end also has a lot of practical advice, particularly when it comes to talking about the boom of the aesthetic bullet journal practice that makes it look as if you have to be an artist in order to do it.

You don’t, by the way. You just need to find a way to make it work for you.

The middle took a bit of a strange turn. The framing of it is to talk about the other ways you can use a bullet journal other than just keeping it as a planner and to do list. It feels like a loose framework to talk about how the method has been motivational and substantially changed the lives of the people who have used it, which felt weird. It’s a way to keep organized, which can be life changing? But it felt like a bit much.

Overall, it’s great for if you want to get started and try it out. Now is a fantastic time to try out new things, and this is one of the rare self help things I think can actually be practically useful.