Using Atomic Habits to Build Daily Living Skills
If you are looking for a book that will help you build an effective (and easy) system to meet your goals – look no further than Atomic Habits by James Clear. This book has played a pivotal role in the work our team has done with teens as they work to build their daily living skills.
Many teens and their families have talked about how learning and becoming independent in all of the steps involved in getting ready for school in the morning can feel extremely overwhelming. However, using the principles in Atomic Habits, you can set up a system to target one step at a time to increase the likelihood of success. For example, if teens want to learn how to pack their own lunch in the morning, the following steps could be taken to help them meet their goal:
- Make it obvious – identify a “menu” of items that need to be included in the teen’s lunch (e.g., a “main thing” such as a sandwich, pretzels or crackers, a granola bar, a fruit/vegetable, and a drink). This can be used as a guide as the teen works to become increasingly independent in packing their lunch.
- Make it attractive – have the teen choose items that they like to eat for lunch to put on the “menu”
- Make it easy – Post the “menu” in the kitchen and have the food items easily accessible (e.g., in the pantry and in the refrigerator)
- Make it satisfying – reward the teen for packing their lunch each day be letting them include a dessert
For more information about Atomic Habits, see the below resources:
- Purchase Atomic Habits by James Clear
- Brene Brown’s podcast episode with James Clear (part 1)
- Brene Brown’s podcast episode with James Clear (part 2)
- Becky Kennedy’s Good Inside podcast episode with James Clear
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