15 Great Books Like “Atomic Habits” That Will Transform Your Life

Habits.

We all have them.

Some are good. While some are bad.

John Dryden said that “We first make our habits, then our habits make us.”

I read Atomic Habits a while ago.

It was a great read.

But it still left me wanting more and prompted me to read more books on habits.

If you are someone who is looking for books to learn more about habit-building and want to improve your performance in everyday life, congratulations, you are in the right place, my friend.

In this article, I will share with you 15 books that not only will teach you about habits, but also help you bring out your highest potential.

Without further ado, let’s get started.

15 Books Like Atomic Habits

Here we go, these are the 15 best books like Atomic Habits.

Kindly note that the list doesn’t follow any specific order, so you can read any book you want in any order.

Every book in this list is equally valuable and worth reading at least once.

Book #1: The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey

I’m starting with this one because it changed my life. If I hadn’t read it, you probably wouldn’t be watching this video.

In this book, author Stephen R. Covey presents a holistic, integrated, principle-centered approach for solving personal and professional problems. With penetrating insights and pointed anecdotes, Covey reveals a step-by-step pathway for living with fairness, integrity, service, and human dignity—principles that give us the security to adapt to change and the wisdom and power to take advantage of the opportunities that change creates.

Covey gives us seven habits that can transform every aspect of our lives, from physical and mental health to overall success.

Master these habits, and you’ll see a fundamental change. Trust me, success is almost guaranteed with this one.

What’s good about this book?

• The book gives you a lot of perspective.
• It discusses all dimensions of life, and doesn’t limit itself to a specific aspect.
• Charts and diagrams are given to explain the concepts properly.
• The book was written years ago, but its principles are still effective today.

What are the flaws of this book?

• Some readers might be turned off by the length of the book.
• Some might assume that it’s a business book, but it covers all aspects of life.

Read the book summary

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Book #2: Tiny Habits by BJ Fogg

A lot of us have big dreams. 

Dreaming is easy. 

It’s easy to dream big when you’re highly motivated. But as we all know, those big dreams require effort and execution on a daily basis.

That means all big dreams can be achieved by executing simple habits.

However, once the initial motivation wears off, it can be challenging to maintain those high performance habits.

This book tackles this issue.

According to the book, if you make your habits simple and small, you are more likely to stick to them. 

Don’t start big, start small.

If your goal is to lose weight, don’t do a 2-hour heavy workout. Start doing simple walks or push-ups.

The book challenges the conventional wisdom and says that you should not rely on your willpower alone.

Make tiny habits and execute them.

What’s good about this book?

• Well-structured and easy to understand.
•  It’s based on research. The author uses the methods of Behavioral Design.
• Based on common sense so that the ideas are easy to execute.

What are the flaws of this book?

• The subject of habit has been discussed in many books already. You may find the information to be somewhat outdated.

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Book #3: The Hidden Habits Of Genius by Craig M. Wright

The book takes a different approach than other books on Habit

It tries to explore what habits make geniuses different from the rest of the population.

What habits do they have that others do not?

Geniuses are not from another planet, they are just like us.

What makes them great?

Is it a matter of intelligence or hard work?

It is, of course, difficult to pinpoint the exact ingredient that creates a genius.

They have some habits that take their thinking and imagination to a different level.

For example, they are curious and willing to question their beliefs.

They are not afraid to try new things.

They are prepared to go against the conventional wisdom that is presented to us by society.

If you are looking to make a name for yourself and do something extraordinary, this book is a must-read.

It’ll give you insights on what genius people have in common.

What’s good about this book?

• Great read for those who want to achieve big and curious about unlocking their IQs and talents.
• Entertaining and keeps the reader engaged.

What are the flaws of this book?

• Not very actionable. The author circles around the idea of becoming a genius. You will find very few actionable strategies that guide you on becoming a genius.
• The meaning of the word ‘habit’ is different from what people expect. It doesn’t talk much about daily common habits.
• The word “genius” is highly subjective. So, this book might be a hit or miss for many people. But it does talk about the behaviors of successful people.
• The title of the book may be misleading to some readers.
• Success is subjective. So many readers may not agree with the ideas of the author.

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Book #4: Badass Habits by Jen Sincero

Many people look for techniques to change their habits.

In this book, the author focuses on setting clear boundaries, as they define who you are.

Your habits can’t be changed without changing your identity.

It can be challenging in the beginning, though.

Although the book says that you have to make badass habits, you must also know why you want to build a particular habit in the first place.

The core philosophy of the author is to become more conscious of our choices as well as habits.

Unlike other books on habits that only elaborate on scientific studies, it also deals with the emotional aspects.

If you are someone who wishes to read a simple and motivating guide about habits and still want to make a significant change in your life, this book is worth considering.

What’s good about this book?

• The author is inspiring and very relatable. If you already like her other books, you’ll also enjoy reading this.
• This is a feel-good book, but it’d be best if it had more scientific evidences. Newbie readers might enjoy it.
• Easy to follow and understand.

What are the flaws of this book?

• The book is a bit more on the self-help side.
• Lacks focus on creating new habits.
• You might not find any new information if you have already read Atomic Habits.

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Book #5: Good Habits, Bad Habits by Wendy Wood

We all want to adopt good habits and get rid of bad habits.

But where is most go wrong is: They try to achieve this through discipline and willpower alone.

The author suggests that the best approach is to replace bad habits with the good ones and make them automatic with time.

Whether you have to build a yoga routine or quit drinking, forcing yourself and using up all your willpower isn’t the answer.

Think about how you can make it automatic and turn those activities into simple habits.

If you are looking for a book that is highly backed by scientific research and evidences, this book is for you.

But note that the book isn’t easy to follow and may come off as dull if you don’t read non-fiction books a lot.

You will learn concepts like “how habits work and form,” “friction,” etc.

What’s good about this book?

• Heavily filled with researches and case-studies.
• Best for experts.

What are the flaws of this book?

• Too many statistics and studies might turn off new readers.
• Some readers may find it hard to finish.

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Book #6: Mini Habits by Stephen Guise

As the name suggests, this book discusses the basic habits that we do daily without even realizing.

For example, you may have a habit of drinking water after waking up in the morning.

But have you wondered why new habits are hard to form?

That’s because whenever a new habit is formed, neural pathways are created in the brain.

Those pathways take time to thicken and turn into a habit.

The book elaborates on this process and discusses how mini habits are formed and how you can become more productive by adding powerful mini habits into your life.

If you are someone who is looking to become more productive and lacks willpower and courage, this book might help you.

What’s good about this book?

• Very practical compared to other books on this topic, as it asks the readers to create simple and stupid habits in the beginning without fearing failures.
• Easy and enjoyable read.
• Can be read quickly.

What are the flaws of this book?

• Some readers complain and find this book repetitive.

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Book #7: The Now Habit: A Strategic Program for Overcoming Procrastination and Enjoying Guilt-Free Play by Neil A. Fiore

The reason you are looking for a book on habit is probably because you want to be efficient in your daily life and achieve more, right?

The book helps you do the same, but it takes a different approach.

Procrastination is an efficiency-killer. And we all know that.

We put off important tasks until the deadline is close.

And doing this again and again creates guilt within us.

Procrastination and Guilt become our habits over time.

If you want to unlearn all such bad habits and avoid procrastination by learning the habit of turning bigger tasks into mini, manageable tasks, you should check this book out.

What’s good about this book?

• Helpful for masses, as we all are good procrastinators by birth.
• Good for beginners who don’t read much self-help stuff.
• Very practical as it’s based on psychology.

What are the flaws of this book?

• Don’t expect advance strategies to beat procrastination. 

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Book #8: High Performance Habits by Brendon Burchard

Not all habits are the same.

For example, the habit of reading books is far better than the habit of watching news, as it’ll improve your concentration and knowledge in the long term.

The core philosophy of this book is to work on high-performance habits instead of other ones that don’t add much value in the long term.

What’s good about this book?

• The book is based on a large study that examined successful people from over 190 countries. 
• It makes things easier because it’s very practical to focus on a few key habits instead of building many.

What are the flaws of this book?

• If you read a lot of self-help books on habits, mindset, and time-management, you may find the information old. 

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Book #9: Making Habits, Breaking Habits by Jeremy Dean

The book not only teaches you how you can build great habits, but also how you can break the bad ones.

Let’s admit it. No matter how much willpower you have, bad habits are hard to break.

And you can’t ignore them either because they have consequences.

In the book, the author discusses how one can break bad habits by becoming more self-aware and mindful.

I’d say this book is short and might be helpful for someone who is looking for some quick takeaways.

Just like other books, it also talks about scientific studies. The first half discusses what habits are and how they are formed.

Often people suffer from bad self-image and blame themselves, but after reading this books you will realize that anybody can become a good person by building good habits. 

You might have heard the saying that “you are your habits,” but habits can be changed, which means that you can change as well.

What’s good about this book?

• Not like motivational self-help books. You can find research references if you want to dig deeper.
• Good recap if you have read Atomic Habits or The Power Of Habit.

What are the flaws of this book?

• Very similar to other books on habit.
• Redundant in many places.
• The author doesn’t go deeper into implementation. So don’t expect magic from this book. Only expect some common insights about how habits work.

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Book #10: The Power of Ritual: Turning everyday Activities Into Soulful Practices

Habits aren’t useful if you don’t know whether they are meaningful or not.

These days, many educated people in society are losing their spiritual values as they don’t associate themselves with any religion.

But if you pay attention, many religious rituals were created for a bigger purpose. 

Understand that not all rituals are illogical. 

Unfortunately, most people have forgotten or don’t know the more profound meaning of those rituals today.

For example: Praying wouldn’t make any sense to you if you live a secular life.

But praying is just a way to boost self-awareness and letting go, if you think about it.

Or a simple ritual like journaling can help you understand your own thoughts

So, the idea is: If you are not religious, it’s alright, you can still remain secular and practice simple rituals like eating meals with community or create rituals to deepen your relationship with nature and the Self, inculcate discipline, etc.

Please note that there is a difference between a spiritual person and a religious person.

Spiritual people are both scientific and religious, based on my understanding. 

What’s good about this book?

• Addresses the power of simple rituals that can help everybody.
• Focuses on discipline and patience, which are important in building great habits.
• Thought-provoking.

What are the flaws of this book?

• More on the self-help side.
• Some might not like the idea of following rituals.
• It might also offend religious people by hurting their sentiments. Some people complained that the author sounds arrogant.

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Book #11: The Power Of Habit by Charles Duhigg

Habits work.

And that’s why almost all companies use the power of habit to make us addicted to their products.

Wondering how they achieve so?

All habits stick because they create a craving for the reward.

For example, when you check your emails after waking up in the morning, you crave for something new. 

That new email could be anything and is a reward in itself.

That’s also why it’s so hard not to look at our smartphones after hearing the notification sound.

If you are someone who always struggles to get rid of such, I highly recommend you understand how craving for a reward builds a habit loop within your mind.

There are two types of people: First, those who change deliberately and consciously. Second, those who change only after a crisis.

Which one are you?

If you are type 1, you should consider reading this book.

What’s good about this book?

• The book is filled with so many interesting stories that discuss how habits might sometimes work against ourselves.
• The book helps you learn how to escape marketing that exploits our psychology.
• One of the best books in this category.

What are the flaws of this book?

• The book doesn’t give you a concrete plan or technique to change your habits. It only tells you that you can substitute the components of habit-loop. Some people may find it hard to apply in real life.

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Book #12: The High 5 Habit: Take Control of Your Life with One Simple Habit by Mel Robbins

This book isn’t particularly about habit, but it teaches you the habit of High Five.

Now, don’t get confused.

This book is not about cheering others.

The author Mel Robbins talks about how you can cheer, love, and praise yourself and derive encouragement from within.

This habit might make a big difference in your life, as it’s also backed by scientific studies and builds positive self-belief.

When you feel down, remember this habit, it’ll make a difference.

What’s good about this book?

• The habit is easy to apply, although it sounds weird.
• Teaches you how to live with gratitude.

What are the flaws of this book?

• So much about positivity, but as we all know life isn’t always great and carries suffering.
• It might not work for many people. Simply high-fiving doesn’t solve the real problems. To get joy, one has to tackle problems like a ninja.

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Book #13: Rewire: Change Your Brain to Break Bad Habits, Overcome Addictions, Conquer Self-Destructive Behavior by Richard O’Connor

We all have a tendency to give in to bad habits.

Giving in to them is easy.

But unlearning them takes a lot of work.

The author divides Self into two: Conscious and Automatic.

The author believes that by training automatic self, we can learn and unlearn habits.

The book discusses how brains can change and how we can use this knowledge to avoid addictions like smoking, and other self-destructing behaviors.

What’s good about this book?

• Talks about self-reflection.
• Very clear and concise with plenty of examples.
• Eye-opening and tells a lot about automatic self.

What are the flaws of this book?

• The first half of the book is technical, so many readers complain that they didn’t enjoy it.
• The book may get boring at times.
• Longer than usual.

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Book #14: Habits of a Happy Brain: Retrain Your Brain to Boost Your Serotonin, Dopamine, Oxytocin, Endorphin Levels by Loretta Graziano

We all want happiness, right?

But do you know what happens in your brain when you feel happy emotions?

Certain chemicals like Dopamine or Serotonin are released.

The core idea of this book is that you can trigger “happy emotions” by creating habits instead of focusing on the external problems.

By rewiring your own brain, you can program yourself to feel less anxious and be happier.

But don’t expect much from this self-help book. It just tells the same things that many books have already covered.

My opinion is that suffering and happiness are both part of life. That’s why the chase of feeling good all the time won’t help you much.

If you agree with the philosophy of being happy all the time, then you might read this book.

What’s good about this book?

• Written for beginners and easy to read.
• Provides an optimistic outlook on happiness.

What are the flaws of this book?

• Doesn’t go deep. Only discusses feel-good chemicals.
• Philosophers and spiritual people won’t agree with the ideas discussed.
• The author has no scientific background that could be a turn-off for some people. Although I’m not a big fan of academic institutions or formal education which lacks flexibility and dynamism.

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Book #15: Better Than Before: What I learned About Making and breaking Habits by Gretchen Rubin & Dorota Gruszka

If you have read all the books above, you can skip this one.

While I was researching, I noticed that many people don’t like the author’s style of writing.

If you have read other books by this author, and found it relatable, you will likely enjoy this one too.

But still, you will find some interesting ideas in it.

So, I suggest that you only buy this book once you have covered all the books above.

What’s good about this book?

• Some genuinely interesting ideas, but some people may still get annoyed by the author’s tone and style of writing.

What are the flaws of this book?

• Some people even complain about how obsessed the author is with her personal life and wants everybody to become like her.
• You won’t find too many new lessons in this book.
• Revolves a lot around eating food and working out.
• The author tries to motivate, but it feels shallow.

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Further Reading

Want to read more on habits and productivity?

Here are some best book summaries and articles that you should read:

• Book summary of Atomic Habits by James Clear
• How to be more productive in life
• Book summary of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People

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Final Thoughts

There you have it.

These are some of the best books to read about habits and understand how our brains simplify complex tasks and saves energy.

If you enjoyed reading this article, don’t forget to share it with your friends and family.