How Atomic Habits Reinforced What I Learned Through GRIT

A friend told me I should read Atomic Habits by James Clear. So I did. And it hit me hard.

Every page felt like he was writing about what I had already lived. The small wins. The showing up. The consistency. That’s how I found GRIT. Growth, Resilience, Integrity, and Tenacity.

He talks about how tiny habits done over and over can change your life.
And I thought, yeah, that’s exactly how I rebuilt mine.

One choice at a time.
One honest moment at a time.
One day at a time.

There were years I wanted what everyone else had. Peace. Confidence. Success.
But I didn’t have the patience for the process. I wanted the results without the time it takes to earn them.

I didn’t realize that every day I showed up, even when I didn’t feel like it, was the real work.

The difference between Atomic Habits and GRIT is simple. His comes from science. Mine comes from survival.

James Clear focuses on systems and behavior.
GRIT focuses on mindset and emotional honesty.
Both change lives, just in different directions.

He calls it the science of habit formation.
I call it a check up from the neck up.

GRIT is my daily gut check.
Am I living in the solution or the problem.
Am I being the solution or being the problem.

And when life hits hard, because it will, I ask one more question.
Will this action get me closer to who I want to become, or take me further away.

That one pause has saved me more times than I can count.

James Clear says every action is a vote for the kind of person you want to become.
I didn’t know that when I started asking myself that same question years ago. I was just trying to survive my own chaos.

But we landed in the same place. Awareness. That’s where the shift happens.

James Clear gives the science behind how change happens.
GRIT gives the heart behind why it matters.

The science and the soul meet in that split second before we react.
That’s where change begins.

He calls it habits.
I call it GRIT.

Different words. Same fight. Same freedom.

Reflection: When emotions run high and everything in you wants to react, pause and ask yourself, will this action get me closer to the person I want to become, or take me further away.

That one pause, that one honest moment, is where GRIT lives.

Atomic Habits builds consistency. GRIT builds courage. Bring them together through the free 5-Day GRIT Challenge and Unshakable Grit book.