The Long Game — Issue No. 4
I wasn’t expecting Atomic Habits to feel like a mirror. But halfway through the audiobook, I paused and thought: Oh. I’ve been doing this. For years.
Atomic Habits seems to me to be one of those books that the internet collectively memorised. At this point, the quotes practically have their own personality cult. I wasn’t planning to add to that noise. But when I finally decided to pick it up as part of my Operation 66 challenge, the 66-day experiment in habit building, something shifted.
And maybe that’s why this feels like the next quiet step in The Long Game—another moment where something I’d already been doing quietly reveals its intention.
Not anything dramatic, or at an epiphany-level transformation.
Just a small shift that brought… clarity.
I realised I wasn’t starting from scratch, like I thought I would need to.
I’d been doing pieces of this work for years, quietly, almost accidentally.
Listening to Atomic Habits didn’t inspire me so much as it organised my thoughts, especially around identity, systems, and the kind of preparation that happens long before you know what you’re preparing for.
This isn’t a review of the book.
This is how it lived in me.
I. The Five Ideas Everyone Should Know (and Where They Already Live in My Story)
Atomic Habits has five core takeaways, and before we get into the lived experience, here’s the concise version: no hype, no diagrams.
1. Tiny changes compound.
Small actions done consistently lead to big change over time.
(I wrote more about how tiny shifts add up in my Long Game essay on micro habits — the quiet wins that rebuild your life.)
2. Goals give direction. Systems make progress.
Your outcomes reflect your systems, not your intentions.
(This is basically the soul of my Operation 66 post on systems that feel like play.) Link to: Building Systems That Feel Like Play: Behind the Operation 66 Tracker
3. Identity shapes behaviour.
Habits stick when they reinforce the story you believe about yourself.
(This one is new for the series and the centre of this essay.)
4. Make habits obvious, easy, attractive, and satisfying.
Reduce friction, increase likelihood.
(Echoed in my softer, “Lazy Overachiever Edition” rules for Operation 66.)
5. Environment matters more than motivation.
Design your surroundings so the better choice is also the easier one.
(I touched on this idea in my reflection on turning 38, especially how slowing down changed the way I shape my environment.)
That’s the foundation.
But most of these ideas were already floating around my life in some shape. What surprised me was noticing how much I’d already been doing without naming any of it.
And how those unnamed things quietly shaped the person I’m becoming.
II. Atomic Habits Lived: The Microshifts That Quietly Became Systems
When I look back at the last few years, I can see the small shifts now, the ones that didn’t feel like “habit building” at all.
They looked like:
- choosing water before coffee
- doing soft resets in the evenings
- tracking moods, routines, random metrics “just to see”
- taking the long way around my own perfectionism
- giving myself two-minute tasks when motivation was a myth
- reading a few pages even when I wasn’t in the mood
- rearranging my space so I could breathe again
Choosing water before coffee wasn’t about health; it was about proving to myself I could keep one small promise.
None of these were part of a plan.
I wasn’t “building a system.”
I wasn’t thinking about identity or compounding or any of the neat diagrams James Clear loves.
I was just… adjusting.
Tweaking.
Trying not to drown in intensity or exhaustion.
But listening to Atomic Habits made something click:
These weren’t random coping strategies. They were early systems.
Unnamed, unlabelled, unintentional but still systems.
They were my first attempts at:
- creating ease
- lowering friction
- honouring my energy
- building self-trust
- making room for a gentler life
It turns out I had been experimenting with behaviour change in tiny, almost invisible ways long before I had the language for it.
Atomic Habits didn’t tell me what to do.
It helped me recognise what I was already doing.
III. The Mindset Shift: I’ve Been Preparing Without Knowing It
Here’s the part that rearranged me.
As I listened, a sentence kept forming in the back of my mind:
“Oh. I’ve been preparing.”
Not hustling.
Not striving.
Not chasing a goal with colour-coded urgency.
Preparing.
Every tiny adjustment I’d made every glass of water, every page read, every slow morning, every softened expectation was shaping my capacity.
My systems weren’t perfect, but they were mine.
And they were working in quiet ways I hadn’t noticed because I was too busy trying to “finally get my life together.”
Atomic Habits helped me see that:
- capacity grows in small increments
- readiness is built long before you feel “ready”
- identity shifts happen under your feet, not in grand transformations
- gentle consistency builds a sturdier foundation than intense motivation ever could
The microshifts weren’t just stabilising my life.
They were scaffolding the future. I’m now walking toward university, career pivots, new creative chapters, and a version of myself who feels steadier and more available for growth.
I wasn’t preparing for something specific.
I was preparing for myself.
IV. The Realisation: Becoming the Person Who Feels ‘Ready’
There’s a moment where you look back and realise you’ve become someone you didn’t know how to be a few years ago.
Not because you transformed overnight.
But because your habits slowly rewrote your self-image.
That’s what Atomic Habits gave me, not motivation, not a system, but perspective.
I could finally see:
- the steadier version of me emerging
- the one who keeps promises to herself
- the one who shows up even when it’s imperfect
- the one who trusts small actions more than dramatic plans
- the one who no longer needs urgency to feel productive
- the one who makes decisions from gentleness, not chaos
These tiny shifts painted a new version of me —
not the final version, but a clearer one.
When you become someone who follows through in small ways, you begin to see yourself differently.
And when your self-image changes, your expectations, opportunities, and choices change with it.
People call the outcomes “luck.”
I’m starting to see that becoming the person who feels ready is what makes the timing feel lucky.
But that’s a story for the next essay.
V. Closing: Preparation Looks Ordinary Until It Doesn’t
Atomic Habits didn’t teach me how to build habits.
My life had already been teaching me that in microshifts, soft routines, and tiny experiments that kept me afloat.
What the book gave me was clarity.
The clarity to see that:
- consistency is a quiet preparation
- small actions are identity-shaping
- readiness is something you practice long before it’s required
- the life you want often begins with the smallest possible version of who you’re becoming
Preparation rarely looks impressive.
It looks like a glass of water, a slow morning, a few pages of a book, a daily checkmark, a choice not to rush, a breath that resets your entire day.
But one day you look up, and the preparation becomes a path.
A foundation.
A version of you that feels steady enough to step into whatever comes next.
It feels like the part of the story where preparation settles quietly into place, and the horizon starts to shift — the early murmur of opportunity.
And maybe that’s the real long game —
the becoming that happens quietly, before the moment that makes it visible.
Links & Further Reading
Book Details
Title: Atomic Habits
Author: James Clear
Category: Personal Development / Psychology / Behaviour Change
Why I Read It: As part of Operation 66 — to support consistency and mindset shifts.
Find the Book on…
- Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/
- Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/40121378-atomic-habits
Related Essays from The Long Game
If you want to explore more reflections on identity, growth, habits, or slow becoming, you can read the full series here: The Long Game: All Essays.
External Reading & Inspiration
- British Cycling & Marginal Gains
The story behind why 1% improvements matter.
James Clear’s Article: https://jamesclear.com/marginal-gains - Behaviour Design (BJ Fogg Model)
How environment and design influence behaviour more than motivation.
https://behaviormodel.org/
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If this post resonated, you might enjoy the rest of The Long Game series. I share stories like this whenever they’re ready — slow, honest, and human.
If you’re building your own long game this year, you’ll want to be on the list.
