How the book “Atomic Habits” can help you level up as a PM
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I’ll be honest, I only bought the book Atomic Habits by James Clear because it was so popular and I was feeling a bit of FOMO. I didn’t really expect to learn anything out of the ordinary.
I had read plenty of blog posts about the power of habits and how they shape our lives. Some of it had proven quite useful when applied to my life. My daily habits are pretty much on autopilot now—meditating, exercising, reading—you name it.
However, after reading this book, I realized the importance of habits in the product management journey. I had always considered habits to be a part of my personal life but turns out they are equally important in the professional sphere as well. Especially for a PM.
Let me explain.
Habits are the compound interest of self-improvement
It’s no secret that a PM has a plethora of responsibilities. We aren’t specialists. Our job, by definition, requires us to be a jack of all trades.
This means our work isn’t limited to the big-ticket items like writing a PRD or creating the roadmap.
There are a trillion tiny tasks that we need to do regularly. Some examples are
Looking at customer tickets and feedback
Checking in with designers and developers
Staying up to date with the competition and the market
Keeping an eye on key metrics
Managing an ever-growing backlog of non-urgent bugs and enhancements
This isn’t the complete list, of course. But you get the picture.
These tasks are essentially habits. Even if you invest a minute or two in these activities each day, they will add up over time and enrich your expertise and confidence as a PM.
“Habits are the compound interest of self-improvement. The same way that money multiplies through compound interest, the effects of your habits multiply as you repeat them. They seem to make little difference on any given day and yet the impact they deliver over the months and years can be enormous. It is only when looking back two, five, or perhaps ten years later that the value of good habits and the cost of bad ones becomes strikingly apparent.”
- Atomic Habits, James Clear
Most of us have a tendency to check customer tickets only when that quarterly roadmap meeting is scheduled. And we check in with our developers only when we remember that four sprints have gone by and we still haven’t seen the new feature in testing.
It can be overwhelming to think about doing these tasks regularly.
That’s where this book can help you. The author talks about how you can start small and reduce the friction involved in performing the habit.
For instance, you can start by reading five customer tickets every day. That doesn’t sound so hard, does it? Maybe in a couple of weeks, you’ll start reading ten. And that number slowly keeps increasing as the friction reduces over time.
“A new habit should not feel like a challenge. The actions that follow can be challenging, but the first two minutes should be easy. What you want is a “gateway habit” that naturally leads you down a more productive path. “
- Atomic Habits, James Clear
Real transformation happens when a habit becomes a part of your identity
A large part of the PM job is boring, non-glamorous work. They feel like terrible chores in the beginning. But if you design these tasks as atomic habits that require little to no thought, you will find them easier in the long run.
More importantly, once you see the long-term benefits of these habits, you will start internalizing them as vital parts of your job and your identity as a PM. And that shift in perspective will make all the difference.
“You might start a habit because of motivation, but the only reason you’ll stick with one is that it becomes part of your identity. Anyone can convince themselves to visit the gym or eat healthy once or twice, but if you don’t shift the belief behind the behavior, then it is hard to stick with long-term changes. Improvements are only temporary until they become part of who you are.”
- Atomic Habits, James Clear
How habits can take you to the next level as a PM
Once you’ve converted the mundane tasks into autopilot habits, you will find that you have the bandwidth to take on more challenging tasks.
Over time, even large tasks like creating a PRD become easy. At this point, you might spend your newfound energy into planning the big meeting with designers and developers where you have to negotiate for a specific feature.
With time, even that negotiation will become easy. After that, maybe you will utilize all that mental bandwidth to manage senior stakeholders and persuade them to reprioritize roadmap items.
“Mastery is the process of narrowing your focus to a tiny element of success, repeating it until you have internalized the skill, and then using this new habit as the foundation to advance to the next frontier of your development. Old tasks become easier the second time around, but it doesn’t get easier overall because now you’re pouring your energy into the next challenge. Each habit unlocks the next level of performance. It’s an endless cycle.”
- Atomic Habits, James Clear
At every point in your career, your existing tasks will become easier and you will find the time and space to take on more advanced challenges. This is the way we all grow in our roles.
This book helps us put that growth into a framework, and reach these milestones faster by taking deliberate steps and forming important habits. Atomic Habits is a must-read for every PM who wants to bring a bit of discipline and structure into their chaotic lives.