Welcome back to our monthly series where we review books that offer the best advice for those new to the world of VC and startups! Our co-founder and managing partner, John Vrionis, is book-obsessed; if you visit our offices, you’ll find plenty of reading material to take home with you.

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We are a mission-driven team, and for plenty of us, this is our first foray into venture capital. We often look for advice from business experts, experienced founders, and startup operators to help us learn about building great companies. We’re eager to learn from the best and enthusiastic about passing on this knowledge to others!

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This month, we’re reviewing Atomic Habits by James Clear, published in 2018. When it comes to maintaining or creating new habits, what allows you to do your best work? For small teams like ours, this book and its tips have provided us with ideas for aligning our behavior with the team we want to be. We’d love to hear what you and your teams are doing to create sustainable long-term habits!

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Atomic Habits has become a darling on social media and BookTok, and with good reason! The book dives into the science of habit formation, offering an accessible framework for creating positive changes in our lives. Clear's message is simple: small, incremental changes — “atomic habits” — can lead to significant transformations over time. 
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As you and your team explore these habit-building tools, keep in mind two key mindset shifts that Clear emphasizes: track your progress and set goals that align with who you want to become, rather than just focusing on the tasks you want to complete.
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Tracking habits creates a visual cue to reinforce your progress and motivate you to continue. It also provides a sense of accomplishment and helps you identify patterns or obstacles hindering your progress. Use a habit tracker, journal, or app to monitor your habits daily. This simple act can provide valuable feedback and support your commitment to your goals.
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It is crucial to align your habits with your desired identity, as sticking to habits becomes easier when they reflect your self-image. Instead of merely aiming to develop good habits, it is important to see yourself as a person who naturally exhibits those behaviors.
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And with that, we’ve gathered a few of our takeaways from the book to help you get started on any habits that you’re looking to commit to in the next few months. 
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1. Getting 1% better every day is enough; you don’t have to do it all at once

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One of the most compelling ideas in Atomic Habits is the notion that small, consistent improvements can compound over time to produce remarkable results. Clear explains that if you can get 1% better every day, you'll be 37 times better by the end of the year. This principle, known as the compound effect, emphasizes that the key to achieving long-term goals lies in making small, manageable changes rather than pursuing drastic transformations.

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To put this into action, consider one small habit that aligns with your goals. For example, if you want to shift your morning routine from reacting to emails and messages toward a more proactive approach, commit to hand-writing a three-item priority list each morning before you open your computer. Once this initial habit is established, you can build on it by increasing the intensity — complete item 1 on your list before checking your email, and continue this pattern with the remaining items.

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2. Cue, Craving, Response, Reward — you need all 4 to build a habit

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Clear builds on the concept of the habit loop, which Charles Duhigg first introduced in The Power of Habit. The habit loop consists of four components:

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• Cue: The trigger that initiates the habit.
• Craving: The desire or motivation behind the habit.
• Response: The actual behavior or habit you perform.
• Reward: The positive outcome you experience after completing the habit
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Understanding this loop is crucial because it helps you identify the components of your existing habits and modify them to create new, positive behaviors.
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Start by choosing a distinct and consistent cue to build a new habit. To continue the previous example, if you want to start your day from a proactive approach, you could use the clock striking 8 AM as your cue. Your craving might be the desire to feel in control and productive, and the response would be to hand-write a list of 3 priorities for the day. The reward could be achieving your top 3 priorities before the day slips away, leaving you feeling accomplished and confident in your work.

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3. Set yourself up for success
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Clear emphasizes the importance of environment design in habit formation. Your environment significantly influences your behavior, often more than motivation or willpower. By carefully designing your environment, you can make it easier to adopt good habits and more challenging to fall into bad ones.
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Conduct an "environment audit" of your spaces to pinpoint adjustments to support your desired habits. For instance, to start your day proactively rather than reacting to emails or Slack, consider relocating your phone to another room and investing in an alarm clock.
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You can simplify habit change by making your desired behavior obvious (put a notebook and a pen on top of your laptop), attractive (pick a pen you love to write with), easy, and satisfying (track how you feel on days where you write your 3 priorities versus days when you don’t, for two weeks).

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By understanding the science of habits and implementing the practical strategies outlined in Atomic Habits, you can build a system of behaviors that supports your goals and aligns with the person you want to become. The journey to success is not about making radical changes overnight, but rather about committing to small, consistent improvements that compound over time.
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‍If you want to give Atomic Habits a read in full, we encourage you to do so! You can check out James Clear’s website to find out where the book is sold. And, make sure you’re subscribed to our newsletter to ensure you don’t miss next month’s book review and plenty of other content from our team.