O
How to Apply These Ideas to Parenting
NE OF THE
most common questions I hear from readers is something
along the lines of, “How can I get my kids to do this stuff?” The ideas
in
Atomic Habits are intended to apply broadly
to all of human behavior
(teenagers are humans, too), which means you should find plenty of useful
strategies in the main text. That said, parenting does face its own set of
challenges. As a bonus chapter, I’ve put together a brief guide on how to
apply these ideas specifically to parenting.
You can download this chapter at:
atomichabits.com/parenting
I
Acknowledgments
HAVE RELIED HEAVILY
on others during the creation of this book. Before
anyone else, I must thank my wife, Kristy, who has been indispensable
throughout this process. She has played every role a person can play in the
writing of a book: spouse, friend, fan, critic, editor, researcher, therapist. It
is no exaggeration to say this book would not be the same without her. It
might not exist at all. Like everything in our life, we did it together.
Second, I am grateful to my family, not
only for their support and
encouragement on this book but also for believing in me no matter what
project I happen to be working on. I have benefited from many years of
support from my parents, grandparents, and siblings. In particular, I want
my mom and dad to know that I love them. It is a special feeling to know
that your parents are your greatest fans.
Third, to my assistant, Lyndsey Nuckols. At this point, her job defies
description as she has been asked to do nearly everything one could
imagine for a small business. Thankfully, her skills and talents are more
powerful than my questionable management style. Some sections of this
book are as much hers as they are mine. I am deeply grateful for her help.
As for the content
and writing of the book, I have a long list of people to
thank. To start, there are a few people from whom I have learned so much
that it would be a crime to not mention them by name. Leo Babauta,
Charles Duhigg, Nir Eyal, and BJ Fogg have each influenced my thoughts
on habits in meaningful ways. Their work and ideas can be found sprinkled
throughout this text. If you enjoyed this book, I’d encourage you to read
their writing as well.
At various stages of writing, I benefited from the guidance of many fine
editors. Thanks to Peter Guzzardi for walking me through the early stages
of the writing process and for a kick in the pants when I really needed it. I
am indebted to Blake Atwood and Robin Dellabough for transforming my
ugly and insanely long first drafts into a tight, readable manuscript. And I
am thankful to Anne Barngrover for her ability
to add a little class and
poetic style to my writing.
I’d like to thank the many people who read early versions of the
manuscript, including Bruce Ammons, Darcey Ansell, Tim Ballard, Vishal
Bhardwaj, Charlotte Blank, Jerome Burt, Sim Campbell, Al Carlos, Nicky
Case, Julie Chang, Jason Collins, Debra Croy, Roger Dooley, Tiago Forte,
Matt Gartland,
Andrew Gierer, Randy Giffen, Jon Giganti, Adam Gilbert,
Stephan Guyenet, Jeremy Hendon, Jane Horvath, Joakim Jansson, Josh
Kaufman, Anne Kavanagh, Chris Klaus, Zeke Lopez, Cady Macon, Cyd
Madsen, Kiera McGrath, Amy Mitchell, Anna Moise, Stacey Morris, Tara-
Nicholle Nelson,
Taylor Pearson, Max Shank, Trey Shelton, Jason Shen,
Jacob Zangelidis, and Ari Zelmanow. The book benefited greatly from your
feedback.
To the team at Avery and Penguin Random House who made this book a
reality, thank you. I owe a debt of special thanks to my publisher, Megan
Newman, for her endless patience as I continually pushed back deadlines.
She gave me the space I needed to create a book I was proud of and
championed my ideas at every step. To Nina, for her ability to transform my
writing while still retaining my original message. To Lindsay, Farin, Casey,
and the rest of the PRH team for spreading the message of this book to
more people than I could ever reach on my own. To Pete Garceau, for
designing a beautiful cover for this book.
And to my agent, Lisa DiMona, for her guidance
and insight at every
step of the publishing process.
To the many friends and family members who asked “How’s the book
going?” and offered a word of encouragement when I inevitably replied
“Slowly”—thank you. Every author faces a few dark moments when
writing a book, and one kind word can be enough to get you to show up
again the next day.
I am sure there are people I have forgotten, but I keep an updated list of
anyone who has influenced my thinking in meaningful ways at
jamesclear.com/thanks
.
And finally, to you. Life is short and you have shared some of your
precious time with me by reading this book. Thank you.
—May 2018
I
Notes
N THIS SECTION
, I have included a detailed list of notes, references, and
citations for each chapter in the book. I trust that most readers will find
this list to be sufficient. However, I also realize that scientific literature
changes over time and the references for this book may need to be updated.
Furthermore, I fully expect that I have made a mistake somewhere in this
book—either in attributing an idea to the wrong
person or not giving credit
to someone where it is due. (If you believe this to be the case, please email
me at
james@jamesclear.com
so I can fix the issue as soon as possible.)
In addition to the notes below, you can find a full list of updated
endnotes and corrections at
atomichabits.com/endnotes
.
